Anthem's January 11-day cruises changed

[toad455]

Received an email on Thursday that my Jan. 18, 2024 cruise has to drop Puerto Plata and instead replaced it with an evening stop in San Juan(4pm-11pm). Disappointing to have a new port canceled, but it is what is it. However, the next cruise on Jan. 29 dropped Puerto Plata as well but didn't replace it with another port. Additionally, the prior cruise(Jan 7) has kept Puerto Plata and their itinerary remains unchanged. I had assumed PP was dropped as RCCL didn't think the ship could arrive on time as its the first port, but since the previous cruise has kept it, it's a bit odd for the cancellation of Puerto Plata on two of the itineraries, but not all three. Thinking of changing to the Jan 7 cruise just to go to Puerto Plata, but I wonder if RCCL will eventually remove it from that itinerary, too?

 

Dear Guest,

To maintain a safe and comfortable speed along our journey, we’ll now visit San Juan, Puerto Rico instead of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Additionally, we’ve adjusted our arrival and departure times for Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis. While we’ll lose a little time in Basseterre, we’ve added an extra two hours in Charlotte Amalie so you can explore everything this beautiful destination has to offer. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this. Nevertheless, we’re excited to sail away with you! Below, please find our revised Anthem of the Seas January 18^th, 2024 itinerary.

[nelblu]

46 minutes ago, toad455 said:

Received an email on Thursday that my Jan. 18, 2024 cruise has to drop Puerto Plata and instead replaced it with an evening stop in San Juan(4pm-11pm). Disappointing to have a new port canceled, but it is what is it. However, the next cruise on Jan. 29 dropped Puerto Plata as well but didn't replace it with another port. Additionally, the prior cruise(Jan 7) has kept Puerto Plata and their itinerary remains unchanged. I had assumed PP was dropped as RCCL didn't think the ship could arrive on time as its the first port, but since the previous cruise has kept it, it's a bit odd for the cancellation of Puerto Plata on two of the itineraries, but not all three. Thinking of changing to the Jan 7 cruise just to go to Puerto Plata, but I wonder if RCCL will eventually remove it from that itinerary, too?

 

Dear Guest,

To maintain a safe and comfortable speed along our journey, we’ll now visit San Juan, Puerto Rico instead of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Additionally, we’ve adjusted our arrival and departure times for Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis. While we’ll lose a little time in Basseterre, we’ve added an extra two hours in Charlotte Amalie so you can explore everything this beautiful destination has to offer. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this. Nevertheless, we’re excited to sail away with you! Below, please find our revised Anthem of the Seas January 18^th, 2024 itinerary.

If I recall, I believe there was a poster that reported propulsion issues and ship could not maintain proper speeds.

[Another_Critic]

24 minutes ago, nelblu said:

If I recall, I believe there was a poster that reported propulsion issues and ship could not maintain proper speeds.

Hopefully our 2023 eastbound and westbound TAs aren't impacted. 

[mets123]

30 minutes ago, nelblu said:

If I recall, I believe there was a poster that reported propulsion issues and ship could not maintain proper speeds.

I think it means Royal doesn't want to cancel a cruise or two (lost revenue?) to correct the issue. They would rather inconvenience passengers for a year or so until the next dry dock. I'm on the first and third January 2024 11 day cruises. I'm waiting to get their email for the first sailing (Jan 7).

[nelblu]

I'm on the Easter cruise and wondering if problems persist or gets worse, would Royal move Odyssey to Bayonne ahead of schedule.

 

Here's a link describing her cause of her problems.

 

Anthem of the Seas Suffered Propulsion Damage in Storm (maritime-executive.com)

[Saab4444]

2 hours ago, nelblu said:

If I recall, I believe there was a poster that reported propulsion issues and ship could not maintain proper speeds.

This is for 2024.

[Saab4444]

1 hour ago, nelblu said:

I'm on the Easter cruise and wondering if problems persist or gets worse, would Royal move Odyssey to Bayonne ahead of schedule.

 

Here's a link describing her cause of her problems.

 

Anthem of the Seas Suffered Propulsion Damage in Storm (maritime-executive.com)

And this is from 2016.....

[nelblu]

11 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

And this is from 2016.....

Mea Culpa.

[Tatka]

Interesting that we on January 7th 2024 did not get this email.

I will be OK with San Juan instead of Puerto Plata even though of course it is always interesting to see a new port. This cruise is not booked for specific ports for us and we like San Juan at night.

[toad455]

3 hours ago, nelblu said:

If I recall, I believe there was a poster that reported propulsion issues and ship could not maintain proper speeds.

 

My issue is why is Puerto Plata still on the Jan. 7 cruise but removed from the Jan. 18 & 29 cruises?

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, toad455 said:

 

My issue is why is Puerto Plata still on the Jan. 7 cruise but removed from the Jan. 18 & 29 cruises?

Likely something other than the Azipods but we may not know until someone asks the question at some Captain's Corner.

[mets123]

FYI.  On the 29th, they dropped Puerto Plata and made it a sea day, no substitution of a new port. You would think with 9 months to go, they could have found another stop. But, we are getting an extra two hours in St Thomas.

[VTSKIandCRUISEGUY]

9 hours ago, toad455 said:

 

My issue is why is Puerto Plata still on the Jan. 7 cruise but removed from the Jan. 18 & 29 cruises?

Well, since I'm on the Jan 18 cruise, my guess is that they just like us better 🤣 😂

Edited April 17, 2023 by VTSKIandCRUISEGUY

[twangster]

I'm still trying to rationalize in my head why two ships had to swap home ports due to speed restrictions imposed for the safety of marine wildlife.   Adventure and Voyager are both Voyager class yet Royal had to swap the ship home ports, Galveston < > Port Canaveral or else wildlife speed restrictions would be an issue.  Ummm - they are same class of ship with the same propulsion systems.  

 

There are factors beyond my brain's capacity or there are factors beyond the ability to use the excuse of speed or engine restrictions to put something in a letter to guests to explain the why.  In truth I'll never know why Royal changed ships on me citing speed restrictions. 

 

In this case I'm not sure we will ever know why speed restrictions created this change.