Independence of the Seas Nov 9 2020 sailing cancelled

[Lindas 1st cruise]

Just got notification that our cruise has been cancelled due to a 'charter', whatever that means.

 

We are going Oct 17 instead, same itinerary.  

 

Has anyone else had this happen, and what exactly does it mean?

 

Thanks.

[grapau27]

Just now, Lindas 1st cruise said:

Just got notification that our cruise has been cancelled due to a 'charter', whatever that means.

 

We are going Oct 17 instead, same itinerary.  

 

Has anyone else had this happen, and what exactly does it mean?

 

Thanks.

Never experienced it but a charter is when the whole ship is booked for private groups or organisations and fortunately you are rebooked for another date.

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, Lindas 1st cruise said:

Just got notification that our cruise has been cancelled due to a 'charter', whatever that means.

 

We are going Oct 17 instead, same itinerary.  

 

Has anyone else had this happen, and what exactly does it mean?

 

Thanks.

 

Someone paid Royal big bucks to take over the entire ship.  Happens fairly often.

[MommaBear55]

Have had it happen 3 times. It means Royal Caribbean has sold the whole shop to a group. Generally you are offered three or 4 other cruises on which you are price protected and you get OBC. November and April are common months..

[Big_G]

24 minutes ago, Lindas 1st cruise said:

Just got notification that our cruise has been cancelled due to a 'charter', whatever that means.

 

We are going Oct 17 instead, same itinerary.  

 

Has anyone else had this happen, and what exactly does it mean?

 

Thanks.

 

Just got our email for November 14th. That must be one long charter. We rebooked on Allure for the 15th with the price protection and received another $400 in OBC (suite) on top of our $300 for an onboard booking. Nice deal for us but they only offered two options for price protection so I'm sure there will be some unhappy cruisers.

[sburrus4]

We had our Explorer of the Seas cruise canceled for a charter, then rebooked a week later.  Then they chartered that cruise too!  We finally were given an option to change ships to Indy and change itineraries and took it. We did get $200 OBC each time we switched, so that was nice (basically they gave us $50 a person each time they chartered). 

[Lindas 1st cruise]

I am concerned that we won't get the same choice of cabin by having to change our booking - not sure how fast the ships fill up.  I know they guarantee the same stateroom category, but we are sailing with friends and did originally have adjoining balcony cabins (2D) on Deck 7.

 

We got $100 in OBC.

 

Thanks again for the explanation and responses!

[Tulsacoker]

Sorry about that, nothing personal .Wanted a little peace and quite for my cruise after the election 

Edited January 15, 2020 by Tulsacoker

[sburrus4]

2 hours ago, Lindas 1st cruise said:

I am concerned that we won't get the same choice of cabin by having to change our booking - not sure how fast the ships fill up.  I know they guarantee the same stateroom category, but we are sailing with friends and did originally have adjoining balcony cabins (2D) on Deck 7.

 

We got $100 in OBC.

 

Thanks again for the explanation and responses!

In my experience, they’ve tried to put us back into the exact same room if at all possible. When you or your travel agent contact them, just let them know your intentions with your friends and they should be able to assist, especially if the bookings are linked. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by sburrus4

[WeMissSeaView]

This happens quite often.  In the past few years I have had seven cruises cancelled because of charters.  I have always been able to rebook and enjoy the extra onboard credit.

[ChicagoRC]

November 21 canceled as well.  The only offered re-booking dates were October and December, with no other consideration or attempt to get us on another Thanksgiving week cruise, which were all much, much more expensive.  We're pretty limited to holiday week travel because of school and work, so we had no option but to cancel.

 

Additionally, I was told that a RC gift certificate we received specifically to help pay for this trip was non-refundable, so now we're left with no family vacation this year, and no funds to re-book something else.

 

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by ChicagoRC

[R&S]

Happened to us as well.  21 November.  Unfortunately none of the pre selected dates work for us so will cancelled and will find another cruise to go on.  To bad too, we were going on a small family cruise. 

 

[Cel_cruise]

On 1/15/2020 at 3:38 PM, ChicagoRC said:

November 21 canceled as well.  The only offered re-booking dates were October and December, with no other consideration or attempt to get us on another Thanksgiving week cruise, which were all much, much more expensive.  We're pretty limited to holiday week travel because of school and work, so we had no option but to cancel.

 

Additionally, I was told that a RC gift certificate we received specifically to help pay for this trip was non-refundable, so now we're left with no family vacation this year, and no funds to re-book something else.

 

 

 

 

OH MY - THIS IS AWFUL!!!  Thanksgiving week with no alternative sailings that week and losing  your gift certificate?    I think you should write to Mike Baileys office - they won’t be able to protect you on another thanksgiving sailing but they should be able to do something about the gift certificate- even if it’s in the form of a future cruise credit!!

[lovesthebeach2]

On 1/14/2020 at 4:55 PM, Lindas 1st cruise said:

Just got notification that our cruise has been cancelled due to a 'charter', whatever that means.

 

We are going Oct 17 instead, same itinerary.  

 

Has anyone else had this happen, and what exactly does it mean?

 

Thanks.

years ago our Baltic cruise got cancelled for a charter. Unfortunately we couldn’t rebook due to our jobs. At that time I don’t recall them offering any incentives such as OBC. We were very disappointed.

[sburrus4]

We had this happen twice recently. We first booked the Explorer for mid-February and it was chartered.  They offered us $50/person in OBC for switching to a March date with the same itinerary. Fast forward a month and the cruise was chartered again. This time we were offered two additional dates, or a different itinerary/ship.  We accepted the switch to Indy on 2/22/20 and the additional $50/person OBC. 
 

While super frustrating, it worked out for us.  Better ship/itinerary, and $400 OBC.  Sorry you are going through this too! 

[compman9]

Is there anywhere we can see who has chartered it?

 

 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, compman9 said:

Is there anywhere we can see who has chartered it?

Usually a Google search using some combination of ship name and date produces results.

[trini princess]

The boat has been chartered by a group for 2 separate sailings. Not sure why the 21st was cancelled. It is a Caribbean group that charters a boat with Royal every year for the last 5 years. Royal should have relayed this information to you all a long time ago. 

 

 

[Lindas 1st cruise]

Thanks for the info!

 

I have tried to Google and find out who it was for a few weeks, and could not find it.

 

Luckily for us it was not a big deal to change our dates so we could keep the same itinerary, but I know others are not as fortunate.

 

I guess my only concern is that this will result in the other sailings being more crowded.  We changed our date to October 17, 2020, which is still during the school year for the US, so we will just have to wait and see.

 

 

[RCLcruiser2012]

On 1/15/2020 at 12:38 PM, ChicagoRC said:

November 21 canceled as well.  The only offered re-booking dates were October and December, with no other consideration or attempt to get us on another Thanksgiving week cruise, which were all much, much more expensive.  We're pretty limited to holiday week travel because of school and work, so we had no option but to cancel.

 

Additionally, I was told that a RC gift certificate we received specifically to help pay for this trip was non-refundable, so now we're left with no family vacation this year, and no funds to re-book something else.

 

 

WOW!  You didn't cancel the cruise, RCCL did....  Definitely go up the food chain in regards to not receiving your GC back.  That is not right!  I'd be livid...........  So sorry!

[Cozzette3]

We went in to book a cruise on the Indy for next Nov 15th. We went to the travel agent right after Thanksgiving and were told that that sailing was completely booked. So we booked for the Allure and are super excited but it seems like they knew this for a while