Stops at San Juan cancelled for 2020/2021 season!

[ONECRUISER]

5 hours ago, orville99 said:

Not at all surprising statement. The last place any company would choose to acknowledge such a drastic shift in future operations would be on a social media site (unless you're Elon Musk that is).

...or if Live with a Rock.

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Full refund or move to another sailing and OBC.

 

Biker, who has doubts any current sailings would  be affected for the next 18 months.

 

No problems yanking Indy from England😉

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Uh-oh!! 

 

And now I suppose John is now laughing his butt off?  😮 

 

And I am also booked and paid for B2B2B on Vision this coming January/February 2020.  Yikes!  Hotel and flight paid for as well for Vision.  😬

 

Not really, sucks to see plans change

[BND]

People on FB keep saying but my itinerary doesn't show any changes.  LOL.  They obviously don't know that if there are going to be changes, it won't show on the website for a while.  They also believe when they call RCI that the reps know ALL the answers.😂

[Ashland]

We're booked on Harmony May 2020 with a port stop in San Juan...I hope they don't substitute Nassau !!!!

 

Also booked a B2B on Freedom April 2021 out of San Juan...so confused !!!

[BND]

2 hours ago, Ashland said:

We're booked on Harmony May 2020 with a port stop in San Juan...I hope they don't substitute Nassau !!!!

 

Also booked a B2B on Freedom April 2021 out of San Juan...so confused !!!

We're on Adventure in May 2020 with a stop in San Juan.  We'll see what happens.  This just hit the news today so don't expect RCI to do anything for a while if it turns out to be what happens.  It's how they roll.

[taglovestocruise]

Cruise Ships Canceling Calls to San Juan

According to El Nuevo Dia, Royal Caribbean is canceling 90 calls to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the 2020 and 2021 season. The news was released by Fermin Fontanez, the director of the Authority for Public-Private Partnerships that these cancellations would happen.

However, the cruise line has apparently confirmed to the site that no itineraries have been changed and they are “still standing on the same full itineraries.”

The reason for the cancellations is the privatization of the cruise docks in San Juan due to much-needed maintenance that is needed. Around $250 million investment is needed to make sure cruise ships can continue to dock there in the years to come. There is an urge for governer Wanda Vazquez to not go ahead with the privatization so this news is fluid.

We will have to see how this works out as the port authorities and Royal Caribbean usually have an open dialogue and it has come as a surprise with the cancellations.

The 90 canceled visits to the eastern Caribbean island would mean 360,000 fewer tourists and in turn, would have an economic impact of $44 million. Authorities have also stated that an additional 30 departures from San Juan are being canceled and that apparently includes Freedom of the Seas which is operated by Royal Caribbean.

Allure of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas which are both Oasis-class cruise ships are also impacted by the canceled calls. Carnival Cruise Line has remained committed to the island and has even recently announced new sailings with the Carnival Fascinationcruise ship in 2021.

[robmtx]

I think I know what's going on here. I got the drink package for $18, 2 device stream for $15 and ultimate dining for $99, so RCI's plan is to just cancel my freedom 2020 cruise and blame it on the port! 😉

 

[fedexretiree]

31 minutes ago, robmtx said:

I think I know what's going on here. I got the drink package for $18, 2 device stream for $15 and ultimate dining for $99, so RCI's plan is to just cancel my freedom 2020 cruise and blame it on the port! 😉

 

wow how did you get the drink pkg for 18.00?  Would love that deal.

[robmtx]

Just now, fedexretiree said:

wow how did you get the drink pkg for 18.00?  Would love that deal.

Technical glitch on the website a few months back. I got it for both of my 2020 bookings. Royal decided to honor the price rather than cancel out everyone who got it on it.

[vacationers]

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

Cruise Ships Canceling Calls to San Juan

According to El Nuevo Dia, Royal Caribbean is canceling 90 calls to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the 2020 and 2021 season. The news was released by Fermin Fontanez, the director of the Authority for Public-Private Partnerships that these cancellations would happen.

However, the cruise line has apparently confirmed to the site that no itineraries have been changed and they are “still standing on the same full itineraries.”

The reason for the cancellations is the privatization of the cruise docks in San Juan due to much-needed maintenance that is needed. Around $250 million investment is needed to make sure cruise ships can continue to dock there in the years to come. There is an urge for governer Wanda Vazquez to not go ahead with the privatization so this news is fluid.

We will have to see how this works out as the port authorities and Royal Caribbean usually have an open dialogue and it has come as a surprise with the cancellations.

The 90 canceled visits to the eastern Caribbean island would mean 360,000 fewer tourists and in turn, would have an economic impact of $44 million. Authorities have also stated that an additional 30 departures from San Juan are being canceled and that apparently includes Freedom of the Seas which is operated by Royal Caribbean.

Allure of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas which are both Oasis-class cruise ships are also impacted by the canceled calls. Carnival Cruise Line has remained committed to the island and has even recently announced new sailings with the Carnival Fascinationcruise ship in 2021.

 

Talked to my sister today who is in PR and is very connected to the government, This  is a matter of politics and who is going to buy and administer the ports. This includes Old San Juan as well as Ponce. They feel the cruise ship should not be there. They want new rules, money etc..Not only RCL had been affected but other cruise lines are looking into it as well. As everyone knows it is sad to say that things in Puerto Rico are shaky all over. There s not really a government and decisions and finance are are mainly made by an Assembly in Washington DC.  This is going to cause a lot of lay offs and a lot of loss of business. But of course they do not realize this.  All this came out this morning in an announcement made by the tourist dept. So I am sure that things have not been worked out yet in the cruise lines. Too early to really tell. 

[fedexretiree]

9 minutes ago, vacationers said:

 

Talked to my sister today who is in PR and is very connected to the government, This  is a matter of politics and who is going to buy and administer the ports. This includes Old San Juan as well as Ponce. They feel the cruise ship should not be there. They want new rules, money etc..Not only RCL had been affected but other cruise lines are looking into it as well. As everyone knows it is sad to say that things in Puerto Rico are shaky all over. There s not really a government and decisions and finance are are mainly made by an Assembly in Washington DC.  This is going to cause a lot of lay offs and a lot of loss of business. But of course they do not realize this.  All this came out this morning in an announcement made by the tourist dept. So I am sure that things have not been worked out yet in the cruise lines. Too early to really tell. 

Is this for both piers in San Juan or just the one in Old San Juan.  We are taking Celebrity out of San Juan in Jan and I called and no one knows anything.

[fedexretiree]

13 minutes ago, robmtx said:

Technical glitch on the website a few months back. I got it for both of my 2020 bookings. Royal decided to honor the price rather than cancel out everyone who got it on it.

WOW good for you...Wish I would have seen that for my cruise last week.  2 mix drinks were 18.00

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, fedexretiree said:

Is this for both piers in San Juan or just the one in Old San Juan.  We are taking Celebrity out of San Juan in Jan and I called and no one knows anything.

Sailings in January will not be affected

[fedexretiree]

8 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Sailings in January will not be affected

GREAT THANKS

[Ivy86]

The  Cruise Hive page on Facebook made the announcement too. Royal want people to keep buying their cruises that’s probably the reason hey still haven’t said anything because the sales may go down . The tourism office in PR announced today that Royal took them by surprise. All the news outlets in PR are talking about the situation and how that’s going to affect the tourism in the island. 

[Ivy86]

39 minutes ago, fedexretiree said:

Is this for both piers in San Juan or just the one in Old San Juan.  We are taking Celebrity out of San Juan in Jan and I called and no one knows anything.

Celebrity hasn’t announced anything about pulling out their shops from SJ . So far it’s just Royal Caribbean. Carnival May follow too but they haven’t said anything yet . 

[Ourusualbeach]

Has anyone else noticed the coincidence in timing to the new itineraries being released. I still say the dates are a typo or mis quote and that they should be referring to the 2021 and 2022 dates that have just been released.

 

The article only refers to 3 ships specifically.  Freedom, Oasis and Allure.

 

We know that Royal is pulling Freedom from San Juan in 2021 which is 25 sailings.

 

With Oasis going to New Jersey she’s she’s only visiting San Juan 6 out of the 26 weeks (allowing for the alternating east / west schedule) so that’s another 20 weeks.

 

Allure, covering for Harmony and visiting new ports then being redeployed to Galveston is not going to San Juan at all so there is another 26 sailings

 

Harmony going to the Med, and then doing the same itineraries as Allure is no longer visiting San Juan so there is another possible 26 itineraries

 

Symphony is only going there 17 of 26 weeks due to the addition of another couple of ports of call so there’s another 9 sailings.

 

Add those up and it total 106 sailings.  That’s over the 90 that the article quoted.  I think this is just Royals deployment of ships that is causing this.  Yes some of this, particularly leaving San Juan without a ship in the summer could have been helped by the situation in San Juan with the port however most of it is simply redistributing it’s ships to more profitable areas.  

 

I strongly doubt that there will be any changes to any of the itineraries up until April of 2021 and in all likelihood 2023 as well.  

 

What the paper refers to as cancelled can easily be a reduction from the prior year and not that Royal is cancelling already released sailings. 

 

[robandana]

13 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

OMG, I absolutely DETEST the Costa Maya port (as do the locals)!

The port company owns virtually all the shops (with all their "made in China" wares), and they make it darn near impossible to get out of the port to get a local taxi or take a private tour.  

Clarification:  Love Costa Maya as a port stop, but hate the PORT COMPANY itself!

The company that owns the Costa Maya port area also owns the majority of Mahahual restaurants, bars and shops. Many of the people are bussed in to work these shops. 

[A&L_Ont]

21 hours ago, molly361 said:

It won't be long  before Coco Cay is the only stop- okay maybe Labadee as well.  😇

and soon to be their beach stop in Antigua. 😉

 

21 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Totally agree, we used to do an Adventure B2B every Jan/Feb, but have not had the desire to do that with Freedom.

We have January 2021 booked on Freedom after being amplified.  Sailed from SJ once, am I missing something other than the cultural immersion.

 

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Has anyone else noticed the coincidence in timing to the new itineraries being released. I still say the dates are a typo or mis quote and that they should be referring to the 2021 and 2022 dates that have just been released.

 

The article only refers to 3 ships specifically.  Freedom, Oasis and Allure.

 

We know that Royal is pulling Freedom from San Juan in 2021 which is 25 sailings.

 

With Oasis going to New Jersey she’s she’s only visiting San Juan 6 out of the 26 weeks (allowing for the alternating east / west schedule) so that’s another 20 weeks.

 

Allure, covering for Harmony and visiting new ports then being redeployed to Galveston is not going to San Juan at all so there is another 26 sailings

 

Harmony going to the Med, and then doing the same itineraries as Allure is no longer visiting San Juan so there is another possible 26 itineraries

 

Symphony is only going there 17 of 26 weeks due to the addition of another couple of ports of call so there’s another 9 sailings.

 

Add those up and it total 106 sailings.  That’s over the 90 that the article quoted.  I think this is just Royals deployment of ships that is causing this.  Yes some of this, particularly leaving San Juan without a ship in the summer could have been helped by the situation in San Juan with the port however most of it is simply redistributing it’s ships to more profitable areas.  

 

I strongly doubt that there will be any changes to any of the itineraries up until April of 2021 and in all likelihood 2023 as well.  

 

What the paper refers to as cancelled can easily be a reduction from the prior year and not that Royal is cancelling already released sailings. 

 

 

So at this rate do you think my January 2021 on Freedom is safe, as of now?  I know speculation but wondering. 

[Ourusualbeach]

7 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

So at this rate do you think my January 2021 on Freedom is safe, as of now?  I know speculation but wondering. 

Personally I do.  

 

Last year about this same time there was a big uproar in Jamaica about Royal “cancelling cruises”. None of the existing itineraries were cancelled it was just a reduction from what the locals expected to see for the next year based on wha5 Royal has done in the past.

 

I’m sure that cruise lines would have agreements in place to cover existing dates and that a new company would have to honour existing agreements however future berths would be wide open for discussion and I could certainly see cruise lines taking a stand and reducing bookings.

 

 

[Milwaukee Eight]

23 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

So at this rate do you think my January 2021 on Freedom is safe, as of now?  I know speculation but wondering. 

I figured you were the go to guy for all things Royal. 
 

In my opinion 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Milwaukee Eight

[Clarea]

24 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

We have January 2021 booked on Freedom after being amplified.  Sailed from SJ once, am I missing something other than the cultural immersion. ...

 

I didn't see much of a cultural immersion on our cruises out of San Juan.  We just didn't like the crowding on Freedom class.

[A&L_Ont]

22 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I figured you were the go to guy for all things Royal. 
 

In my opinion 

LOL, you should have responded to Ourusualbeach for this one. 

 

19 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I didn't see much of a cultural immersion on our cruises out of San Juan.  We just didn't like the crowding on Freedom class.

Gotcha. Having only sailed this class once we didn’t notice it. That being said we only have one sea day so I don’t think it will be bad. 

[NateUpNorth]

Seems pretty logical:

 

Cruise lines: "What will port fees look like in 2021-2022?"

San Juan (government or port management company): "No idea"

Cruise lines: "What's the reno plan, will it affect access?"

San Juan: "No idea"

 

Cruise lines: "We're gonna hold off planning any itineraries for now."