Itinerary Changed with No explanation

[RumpunchGirl]

I booked my cruise out of San Juan, Puerto  Rico back in June for January 2021. The I frequently check my booking to see if any excursions have been added of if the price has dropped. Today when I checked, 3 of the ports had been changed.  I was so surprised that was no email or info sent letting me know of the change. Is that typical? What if I don't like the new ports? I've never had this happen in the 20 years I've sail with Carnival. 

[yogibear]

What were your ports originally? What are they now?

 

Karen

[RumpunchGirl]

Originally it was sail from San Juan to St.Thomas, St. Maarten, St.Kitts, St. Lucia, Barbados, day at sea, and back to San Juan. Now its sail from San Juan to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antiqua, Dominica, Barbados, day at sea and back to San Juan. I don't really mind the 3 new ports. I'm just baffled at the lack of communication about the change.

[shof515]

how did you book? if it was a travel agent, most communication is sent to the travel agent and it is up to the travel agent to notify you. some travel agents do a good job with communication and some do a horrible job

[Elaine5715]

No, they don't notify this far before sailing.  They can change the ports at any time for any reason.

[LittleYiaYia]

13 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

No, they don't notify this far before sailing.  They can change the ports at any time for any reason.

 

We were notified back in June of this year of a change in port time on our Fascination, February 2020 cruise. 

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, LittleYiaYia said:

 

We were notified back in June of this year of a change in port time on our Fascination, February 2020 cruise. 

We had three days and two ports eliminated, to this day I have not gotten notification of the change. Found out from people on CC, and copied the itinerary and compensation letter. 

[luv2trvlnow]

15 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

No, they don't notify this far before sailing.  They can change the ports at any time for any reason.

It doesn't matter how far away the sailing is.  We were notified by email in March of this year for a change of itinerary for one of our Breeze cruises in April 2021. 

[Retired_to_Cruise]

18 hours ago, RumpunchGirl said:

I booked my cruise out of San Juan, Puerto  Rico back in June for January 2021. The I frequently check my booking to see if any excursions have been added of if the price has dropped. Today when I checked, 3 of the ports had been changed.  I was so surprised that was no email or info sent letting me know of the change. Is that typical? What if I don't like the new ports? I've never had this happen in the 20 years I've sail with Carnival. 

I am surprised you have never read Section 7, Item (d) of the Carnival Ticket Contract since you have sailed with Carnival for 20 years. It clearly defines the situation you have been talking about, and you had to agree to it during your cruise booking process.

[yogibear]

18 hours ago, RumpunchGirl said:

Originally it was sail from San Juan to St.Thomas, St. Maarten, St.Kitts, St. Lucia, Barbados, day at sea, and back to San Juan. Now its sail from San Juan to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antiqua, Dominica, Barbados, day at sea and back to San Juan. I don't really mind the 3 new ports. I'm just baffled at the lack of communication about the change.

Yuck. I'd be upset too. St. Maarten is my favorite island!!

 

Karen

[jimbo5544]

7 hours ago, skrufy said:

We had three days and two ports eliminated, to this day I have not gotten notification of the change. Found out from people on CC, and copied the itinerary and compensation letter. 

How did you book?

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

How did you book?

We always book through a Carnival PVP. 

[Kelownacruiser]

7 hours ago, Retired_to_Cruise said:

I am surprised you have never read Section 7, Item (d) of the Carnival Ticket Contract since you have sailed with Carnival for 20 years. It clearly defines the situation you have been talking about, and you had to agree to it during your cruise booking process.

So you’d be OK showing up for your cruise and going to completely different ports than you were expecting? 
 

OP didn’t dispute that they COULD change the ports, rather that they did and didn’t tell him. I think a simple email notification in this circumstance isn’t unreasonable and in fact should be expected. 

[jimbo5544]

9 hours ago, skrufy said:

We always book through a Carnival PVP. 

We have always been notified when changes to itinerary occur and notify our clients.  I assume that is true (the notification) of PVP's but unsure.

Edited December 15, 2019 by jimbo5544

[Retired_to_Cruise]

For those of you who have agreed to the Ticket Contract without reading it, here is the exact quote I referred you to: 

 

"(d) Carnival may change the duration and/or itinerary of the cruise at any time. The Vessel shall be entitled to leave and enter ports with or without pilots or tugs, to tow and assist other vessels in any circumstances, to return to or enter any port at the Master's discretion and for any purpose, and to deviate in any direction or for any purpose from the direct or usual course, and to omit or change any or all port calls, arrival or departure times, with or without notice, for any reason whatsoever, including but not limited to safety, security, adverse weather, hurricanes, tornadoes, strikes, tides, hostilities, civil unrest, port closings, emergency debarkations of Guests or crew, late air, sea, car or motor coach departures or arrivals, mechanical breakdowns, US or foreign governmental advisories or travel warnings, all such deviations being considered as forming part of and included in the proposed voyage. Except as provided in Clause 7(c) with regard to early termination of a voyage, Carnival shall have no liability for any compensation or other damages in such circumstances for any change in itinerary, ports of call, ports of embarkation and debarkation, and/or or duration of the cruise, other than as provided by Carnival's change of itinerary policy at the time Guest or his agent acknowledges receipt and acceptance of the terms and conditions of the cruise ticket contract. Carnival’s change of itinerary policy can be found at on Carnival's Website or at Carnival's FAQ page."

Edited December 15, 2019 by Retired_to_Cruise

[ABCGreys]

We've always been notified of port changes or timing changes. Maybe the notice went to your spam folder?

 

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, ABCGreys said:

We've always been notified of port changes or timing changes. Maybe the notice went to your spam folder?

 

kind of why I asked how they booked.

[Pyrate13]

It appears the phrase "with or without notice" are the key words in that contract quote. Should they give notice when change is known beforehand, yes, do they have to, no, not according to the contract.

[VentureMan_2000]

21 hours ago, skrufy said:

We had three days and two ports eliminated, to this day I have not gotten notification of the change. Found out from people on CC, and copied the itinerary and compensation letter. 

 

Sounds like the Panama Canal cruise in March.  We were almost going to book this 17 day cruise... sounded wonderful and the price was very nice.

[JandPB]

20 hours ago, luv2trvlnow said:

It doesn't matter how far away the sailing is.  We were notified by email in March of this year for a change of itinerary for one of our Breeze cruises in April 2021. 

We're on the 4/10/2021 8 day on the Breeze and haven't seen a change for that. We booked it to be able to go to Bonaire. It's a great itinerary. 

[skrufy]

49 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

 

Sounds like the Panama Canal cruise in March.  We were almost going to book this 17 day cruise... sounded wonderful and the price was very nice.

You are correct. We were disappointed that the cruise was adjusted. But we wanted to do the canal again so we stayed with this cruise. The compensation was good also. Reduction in price, plus $250.00 in OBC. Also wife loves sea days.

[ontheweb]

We've even been notified when the times at a port were adjusted a few hours. I don't remember whether the notification came from the cruise line or our TA.

[bakersdozen12]

I can guarantee you that they absolutely do send emails when they change an itinerary. The emails look like junk emails, though, so you could very well have just deleted it. The message is not in the body of the email, it’s in an attachment to the email. So again, very easy to mistake as junk email. 

[joepeka]

3 hours ago, bakersdozen12 said:

I can guarantee you that they absolutely do send emails when they change an itinerary. The emails look like junk emails, though, so you could very well have just deleted it. The message is not in the body of the email, it’s in an attachment to the email. So again, very easy to mistake as junk email. 

Agree. We've had a couple of itin changes and always got an email from the cruise line (Carnival in both cases) informing us. The "why" of the change wasn't explained beyond a vague "operational considerations" reason but we were notified.

Edited December 15, 2019 by joepeka

[coscab]

We love St Lucia so I would be very disappointed, probably would have booked it just for St Lucia.  On the other hand we love Dominica, Scotts Head is our favorite snorkel spot so would be happy about that. 

 

I understand the contract states everything clearly but it would be nice if people were contacted about changes as soon as possible even though they could change again and again, at least you would have an idea if you might get to do some things that you had your heart set on doing on certain islands.  Just my 2 cents.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise!!