Changes to Baltic Cruise Itinerary

[postcardswansea]

8 hours ago, merryjewelhound said:

I just got this from Princess for the repostioning on the Enchanted

 

ITINERARY CHANGE

In light of the recent attacks by Russia in Ukraine, Enchanted Princess will no longer call to St. Petersburg, Russia on Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30, 2022. Instead, we have added an additional day and overnight call in Stockholm, Sweden on Monday, May 1, which allows us to berth in a more central location and experience the beautiful archipelago as we cruise into the city. Additionally, we have added a call to Visby, Sweden on Thursday, April 28. As a result of these changes, we have adjusted call dates and times for Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia. The itinerary listed below does not yet reflect these changes, and we will send you a full, updated itinerary next week once our system has been updated.

 

Guests with Princess shore excursions for St. Petersburg will receive a refund to the original form of payment. Tours for Visby and Stockholm should be available to book within the next three weeks. We look forward to taking you to these new destinations can't wait to welcome you on board.

Hoping our May itinerary (which has been stated as having the same changes as these, according to Princess' FB page) will also mean a change to the central Stockholm berth.  I was wondering how an overnight would work if we were still going to be berthed in Nynashamn for Stockholm.

[NavArch64]

The June 17 sailing has been modified ... I now know the new itinerary. The port rotation is Tallinn, Helsinki, Visby, Stockholm (2).

 

[susancruzs]

Received an email, too from my TA.  I'm on the Grand Adventure, Baltic + TA 22nd of August.  I've been to St. Petersburg, extra time in Sweden is great.  Email says ship will dock in a more central location, which also is a major plus.  

 

I know people look at St. Petersburg as the highlight, but with my half Scandinavian heritage, this is perfect for me.

Edited March 5, 2022 by susancruzs

[Kim Viktor]

Yes Enchanted Princess will mostly dock at Stadsgården in Stockholm. Which is much better than Nynäshamn, you will be able to see the archipelago and just have a 20 minutes walk to Old Town. Win win situation. 😉

[mjmalino]

On 2/26/2022 at 7:42 PM, NavArch64 said:

I am waiting for news re Enchanted Princess sailing June 17 from Copenhagen. I presume that St. Petersburg will be replaced given Carnival Corp statement in Miami this afternoon ... very surprised that RCCL confirmed that, as of now, Voyager OTS will call St. Petersburg. 

That has changed. I have clients sailing on the 10 August sailing and they received notification that SBP is no longer on the itinerary.

[brisalta]

Princess has posted the following on their twitter feed.

 

[penneloppe]

june 28 2022 cruise

ITINERARY CHANGE In light of the recent attacks by Russia in Ukraine, Enchanted Princess will no longer call to St. Petersburg, Russia on Monday, July 4 and Tuesday, July 5, 2022. Instead, we have added an additional day and overnight call in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday, July 6, which allows us to berth in a more central location and experience the beautiful archipelago as we cruise into the city. Additionally, we have added a call to Visby, Sweden on Sunday, July 3. As a result of these changes, we have adjusted the call dates and times for Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. The itinerary listed below does not yet reflect these changes, and we will send you a full, updated itinerary next week once our system has been updated. Guests with Princess shore excursions for St. Petersburg will receive a refund to the original form of payment. Tours for Visby and Stockholm should be available to book within the next three weeks. We look forward to taking you to these new destinations and can't wait to welcome you on board. Thank you for your attention to this notification.

[wblotner66]

Is anyone happy with the substitution of Gdańsk? Not sure Poland will be safe if there’s a no fly zone order imposed over Ukraine. Princess should be giving OBC in addition to adding a port. Thoughts???

[wowzz]

16 minutes ago, wblotner66 said:

Is anyone happy with the substitution of Gdańsk? Not sure Poland will be safe if there’s a no fly zone order imposed over Ukraine. Princess should be giving OBC in addition to adding a port. Thoughts???

If a no-fly zone was to be established,  it would lead to WW3, so that won't happen.

And if Poland is not safe, basically the whole of Europe, assuming it still exists, would be off limits,  unless you enjoy the delights of a nuclear winter. 

I believe you are over thinking the geo-political situation and its impact on cruising.

[wblotner66]

I’m now reading that all the other sailings have an overnight in Sweden and the July 20th has Gdańsk. I’m returning from a cruise tomorrow and will call princess. I may want to cancel as Gdańsk is a far inferior option vs an extra night in Stockholm

[Wendylala]

we also lost Helsinki on our may 15th sailing. did any other enchanted sailings lose helsinki?

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, wblotner66 said:

I’m now reading that all the other sailings have an overnight in Sweden and the July 20th has Gdańsk. I’m returning from a cruise tomorrow and will call princess. I may want to cancel as Gdańsk is a far inferior option vs an extra night in Stockholm

Does the ship still have a full day in Stockholm and do you get to experience the sail in/out of the archipelago?  Was that the original itinerary? 

 

I don't know if your opinion on Gdansk is based on experience or not.  But to add one more opinion, we found Gdansk a surprising - in a good way - scheduled stop in 2009.  We had an excellent tour guide on a Princess tour (which we usually don't take) and his history of the rebuilding of the city after WWII with major monies donated by US Polish-Americans and his stories of the Solidarity Movement of the 1980s which he lived thru as a child were fascinating.  Since that time a new and expanded museum has opened  Of course, we were old enough (and even older now 😄) to remember Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement.  Don't miss the excellent Solidarity Museum if interested in that history.

 

All cruise lines with St. Petersburg on their itineraries are competing for limited alternative ports that can accommodate additional ships on any given day during the busy summer season. The scheduling must be a nightmare.

[Dockyardie]

Our 14 day Princess Sky cruise out of Southampton (9 - 23 July) has now also removed Helsinki. Gdansk (Gdynia) was always on the itinerary, a place I most definitely want to visit. In lieu of St. Pete's and Helsinki we have overnights in both Copenhagen and Stockholm. While I doubt Gdansk will be removed I suspect Tallinn may be the next port taken off the itinerary. I'd like to cancel the entire cruise but will lose deposits and pre-paid excursions.

[Wendylala]

5 hours ago, wblotner66 said:

Is anyone happy with the substitution of Gdańsk? Not sure Poland will be safe if there’s a no fly zone order imposed over Ukraine. Princess should be giving OBC in addition to adding a port. Thoughts???

i do agree. it might not be in their power to add more ports. but it is in their power to give OBC to compensate us for the lost port days. also aren't we charged for port fees? shouldn't we be at least refunded that if we don't sail into a port?

[capriccio]

34 minutes ago, Wendylala said:

also aren't we charged for port fees? shouldn't we be at least refunded that if we don't sail into a port?

In my experience the fees for missed ports are refunded more or less immediately to your folio during the cruise.

[JacobZ06]

Here's my best guess at the Enchanted Princess revised itinerary, based on the ports and dates mentioned in the Princess email.

 

[billco]

1 hour ago, Wendylala said:

i do agree. it might not be in their power to add more ports. but it is in their power to give OBC to compensate us for the lost port days. also aren't we charged for port fees? shouldn't we be at least refunded that if we don't sail into a port?

When you booked you agreed to the passage contract. 

[NavyVeteran]

2 hours ago, Wendylala said:

i do agree. it might not be in their power to add more ports. but it is in their power to give OBC to compensate us for the lost port days. also aren't we charged for port fees? shouldn't we be at least refunded that if we don't sail into a port?

Princess will reimburse for unused port fees. It is common to see a port fees adjustment on the onboard folio. Any refund of port fees will be in refundable OBC.

 

I don't believe Princess has any obligation to give OBC to compensate for lost port days. This is certainly something beyond their control. They are doing the best they can to respond to changing world conditions.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

Princess will reimburse for unused port fees. It is common to see a port fees adjustment on the onboard folio. Any refund of port fees will be in refundable OBC.

 

 

There will be port fees for any added ports. So, those might counterbalance some of the fees for St. Petersburg (or any other cancelled port due to itinerary change).

[Wendylala]

19 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

I don't believe Princess has any obligation to give OBC to compensate for lost port days. This is certainly something beyond their control. They are doing the best they can to respond to changing world conditions.

i agree they are totally free to screw up their customers' vacations as they like. but they can also choose to make it seem less terrible. contractually, they don't have to go to any ports. is it a good business practice that will ensure repeat business and company loyalty? heck no. do i believe they're doing their "best"? no. because there ARE other cruiselines (royal carribean and celebrity) that ARE giving their customers the option to cancel without any penalties. so no they're not doing their best and they should be called out for it. 

Edited March 7, 2022 by Wendylala

[Wendylala]

20 hours ago, billco said:

When you booked you agreed to the passage contract. 

yes when i booked there is also an expectation that they would try to make this vacation comparable to what is advertised. right now it isn't and there is no option to cancel without penalties. is this a legal practice? for now in the US yes. but not in some other countries where this is considered an illegal practice. is it ethically right? imho no. i think the cruiseline has an obligation to give what it advertised and if it can't, it should allow the customer to cancel. there are laws in the US against untruthful advertising practices like bait and switch.

[susancruzs]

Well, this is why there are choices and all cruise lines handle things differently.  You can voice your opinion here, get in touch with Princess. Best, in a big picture view, can mean many things.

[capriccio]

27 minutes ago, Wendylala said:

do i believe they're doing their "best"? no. because there ARE other cruiselines (royal carribean and celebrity) that ARE giving their customers the option to cancel without any penalties.

Out of curiosity, I googled RCI cancellation policies for Baltic cruises and didn't return any info.  I did see similar current policies to Princess for covid.  I then checked the first few pages of the RCI forum and didn't see any discussion. Can you point me in the direction of the official information from RCI?  Thanks.

[Wendylala]

34 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Can you point me in the direction of the official information from RCI?  Thanks.

Additionally, if we do end up changing your itinerary, we’ll offer you the opportunity to cancel for a full refund. If you have any questions or wish to move to a new ship and sail date, please feel free to contact Celebrity Cruises at 1-844-418-6824 in North America or (316) 554-5961 worldwide.

 

https://cruisefever.net/cruise-line-issues-statement-regarding-cruises-to-russia/ 

 

RC is sending out the same email since it owns celebrity. 

 

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-provides-update-to-guests-booked-on-sailings-to-russia/66635 

 

here's another article that outlines RC's policy of letting guests cancel for a "full refund."

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by Wendylala

[trafficgirl124]

Super happy with the new itinerary for May 26 on the Enchanted Princess. I have done St Petersburg and Estonia (in Sept 21 on the Regal).  Now a few new ports in Denmark and in Finland. Love that we will be in Berlin on a weekday and not a Sunday as shops in Germany are closed on Sundays.