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Panama Canal Cruise "Adjusted"

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

We are on both the 3-9 and 3-16 Rhapsody sailings.  What a bummer...and then for them to tell me that they're "enhancing my experience" is just a big slap across the face.  I hate that !

 

The 3-9-24 Rhapsody replacement sailing has an overnight in Aruba which is kinda appealing...but not really appealing enough to get me to fly to Panama to do it !

 

We briefly thought about keeping 1 of the sailings and using the other week to hop around Central America a bit but the logistics of that are just going to be too difficult.  You cannot drive a rental car out of the country (from Panama) and besides...do I really want to be tooling around in Central America ?  Probably not.  Depending upon where you're going, it can be a 12-14 hour drive.  Probably neither wise nor safe.

 

I agree with @HappyTexan44.  It seems like they would have a bit of trouble filling these "new" sailings from Panama.  It seems it would be prudent for Royal to offer SOME kind of incentive to remain on these sailings but they aren't offering ANYthing.  Bupkis.

 

We have airline miles tickets.  I've never had to cancel a trip where miles were used.  I'm not sure what will happen with that.

 

This just stinks.  Major bummer.

 

For what it's worth my experience has been with a flight booked with mi,es it's easy to cancel. Much easier than had you paid for itmregular.

 

I'm so sorry this happened. They should at least offer some incentive to stay on this cruise considering where it leaves from. I got attached for saying rcl seems centered on profit a bit too much lately. Hurting themselves with pax. Hope you can cancel your flights and whatever and move on to something better.

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RFerrington

RFerrington

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

For what it's worth my experience has been with a flight booked with mi,es it's easy to cancel. Much easier than had you paid for itmregular.

 

I'm so sorry this happened. They should at least offer some incentive to stay on this cruise considering where it leaves from. I got attached for saying rcl seems centered on profit a bit too much lately. Hurting themselves with pax. Hope you can cancel your flights and whatever and move on to something better.

Thanks, Jane.  I’m a little less perturbed now.  I hope they won’t take our mikes for having to cancel.  I agree with you about offering some kind of incentive to remain on these less-than-ideal “enhanced” replacement cruises !  It seems like they’re cutting off their nose to spite their face !  Oh well….I’m doing nothing right now.  Just gonna wait and see.  Maybe I will just cancel these 2 cruises, keep my air reservations and wait to rebook once the prices crater on these replacement cruises !  LOL

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son3cruisers

son3cruisers

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

For what it's worth my experience has been with a flight booked with mi,es it's easy to cancel. Much easier than had you paid for itmregular.

 

I'm so sorry this happened. They should at least offer some incentive to stay on this cruise considering where it leaves from. I got attached for saying rcl seems centered on profit a bit too much lately. Hurting themselves with pax. Hope you can cancel your flights and whatever and move on to something better.

This is so disappointing. And yes, they are offering no incentive- not even stateroom credit. A $200 flight change reimbursement? We booked COPA airlines, so we will want a full refund, which $200 will not cover as will not use this airline again. 

We are booked on the March 9th sailing so the replacement for us is an overnight in Aruba and Curaçao, just did those ports last March. 

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twangster "Live from...." Rare

twangster

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Glad we didn't book this cruise.

 

Looks like Buyer Beware in ugly way.

 

Glad I did the canal in May.  

 

I've been wondering if the canal would raise rates because of the drought.  They are projected to lose $200M at the moment.  It was just a matter of time before they had to prioritize and motivate cruise lines to find another place to sail.    

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Jimbo

Jimbo

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, twangster said:

 

Glad I did the canal in May.  

 

I've been wondering if the canal would raise rates because of the drought.  They are projected to lose $200M at the moment.  It was just a matter of time before they had to prioritize and motivate cruise lines to find another place to sail.    

Wonder if they are thinking of changing more Panama Canal itineraries?

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gilbster

gilbster

Posted
Posted

Also got this email for the 24/2 sailing, it's now one day shorter too. In some respects thankfully sorting out flights / hotels was one of the next things I was intending to do within the next month or so, so I don't have to re-arrange a million things. 

Not entirely decided what I am doing but I definitely don't fancy the new itinerary, what's the point in flying to Panama (which isn't even direct from the UK) for a cruise that isn't a Panama Canal cruise.  

 

If I wanted Southern Caribbean I would have booked Southern Caribbean from a slightly easier to get to port! 

 

This is a cruise to celebrate my 40th birthday - for my 30th I did my first ever cruise and swam with dolphins, for my 35th I did a 2 centre land holiday to Thailand and bathed elephants.  I'm trying for the "bigger" birthdays to do special holidays to celebrate.   Now need to rethink everything and am eyeing up a pricier but longer and far more exciting looking cruise over on NCL instead! 

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cuterlmt

cuterlmt

Posted
Posted

Ours was cancelled too, for 4/6/2024. Thankfully I hadn't booked our air yet.

But this was a casino comp and I chose it out of at least a few hundred cruises I was offered. I wonder if I'll be able to go back and pick a different one from the casino comp.list that we got in May after our last cruise. So disappointed. 

 

 

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son3cruisers

son3cruisers

Posted
Posted (edited)

So if Im understanding this correctly, if we cancel completely, without rebooking another cruise, (there is nothing we like) there will be no compensation for our flight changes/cancelations? We will only get a refund in our deposit? 

Thinking maybe we should hold on to it, as others have said this is a strange itinerary now and it might change yet again? 

Edited by son3cruisers
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Rusty_lock

Rusty_lock

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, RFerrington said:

We are on both the 3-9 and 3-16 Rhapsody sailings.  What a bummer...and then for them to tell me that they're "enhancing my experience" is just a big slap across the face.  I hate that !

 

The 3-9-24 Rhapsody replacement sailing has an overnight in Aruba which is kinda appealing...but not really appealing enough to get me to fly to Panama to do it !

 

We briefly thought about keeping 1 of the sailings and using the other week to hop around Central America a bit but the logistics of that are just going to be too difficult.  You cannot drive a rental car out of the country (from Panama) and besides...do I really want to be tooling around in Central America ?  Probably not.  Depending upon where you're going, it can be a 12-14 hour drive.  Probably neither wise nor safe.

 

I agree with @HappyTexan44.  It seems like they would have a bit of trouble filling these "new" sailings from Panama.  It seems it would be prudent for Royal to offer SOME kind of incentive to remain on these sailings but they aren't offering ANYthing.  Bupkis.

 

We have airline miles tickets.  I've never had to cancel a trip where miles were used.  I'm not sure what will happen with that.

 

This just stinks.  Major bummer.

 

It depends of the airline.  I've had success doing it with Delta and Alaska airlines. It was no problem with them.  Of course southwest is always interchangeable as well.  Which airline are you on?

 

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son3cruisers

son3cruisers

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, gilbster said:

Also got this email for the 24/2 sailing, it's now one day shorter too. In some respects thankfully sorting out flights / hotels was one of the next things I was intending to do within the next month or so, so I don't have to re-arrange a million things. 

Not entirely decided what I am doing but I definitely don't fancy the new itinerary, what's the point in flying to Panama (which isn't even direct from the UK) for a cruise that isn't a Panama Canal cruise.  

 

If I wanted Southern Caribbean I would have booked Southern Caribbean from a slightly easier to get to port! 

 

This is a cruise to celebrate my 40th birthday - for my 30th I did my first ever cruise and swam with dolphins, for my 35th I did a 2 centre land holiday to Thailand and bathed elephants.  I'm trying for the "bigger" birthdays to do special holidays to celebrate.   Now need to rethink everything and am eyeing up a pricier but longer and far more exciting looking cruise over on NCL instead! 

I agree. But we got quite a good deal on this cruise as we booked when it was first released. So booking another cruise right now is almost double the price we paid. Thinking maybe its best to keep this for now and see how it all rolls out by December, the PIF date. If it does sail on this new itinerary, our flights will work. We would just need transportation from the airport to COLON now.

Edited by son3cruisers
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son3cruisers

son3cruisers

Posted
Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, son3cruisers said:

I agree. But we got quite a good deal on this cruise as we booked when it was first released. So booking another cruise right now is almost double the price we paid. Thinking maybe its best to keep this for now and see how it all rolls out by December, the PIF date. If it does sail on this new itinerary, our flights will work. We would just need transportation from the airport to COLON now.

 

Heres an example of some pricing for March 2024 😂😂

Screen Shot 2023-08-08 at 8.47.58 PM.png

Edited by son3cruisers
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RFerrington

RFerrington

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Rusty_lock said:

It depends of the airline.  I've had success doing it with Delta and Alaska airlines. It was no problem with them.  Of course southwest is always interchangeable as well.  Which airline are you on?

 

AA

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