Christmas '24 on Freedom is back on after being cancelled

[bigeck]

Looks like a change of plan. It was cancelled so I changed to Oasis in November. 

About Your Upcoming Travels

Dear Guest, We recently communicated to you about the unfortunate cancellation of your upcoming 2024 sailing onboard Freedom of the Seas. This was due to a dry dock we had to schedule, but we’ve got some good news – we were able to adjust our scheduling and your previous sailing will be made available again! We understand you’ve already selected from the three options we provided in our last communication, but we want to let you know that if you’d like to return to your previous sailing on Freedom of the Seas, we’ve got you. Please see the below options we have for you, depending on what you chose back in July. If you previously chose to move to a select sailing: You are welcome to remain on your current sailing. Or If you’d like to return to your previous Freedom of the Seas sailing, we’ll move you back to a like-for-like stateroom and protect your pricing at your previous cruise fare rate or reduce it to the new cruise fare rate (whichever is lower). This excludes taxes, fees, gratuities, and other non-cruise fare items. If your booking was already paid in full and your cruise fare rate decreases, we’ll provide you with a refund for the difference. You can expect to receive your refund to your original form of payment within 14 business days after we move you. Kindly note, refund times may vary depending on your financial institution. If you previously chose to rebook any Royal sailing: You are welcome to remain on your current sailing. Or If you’d like to return to your previous Freedom of the Seas sailing, we’ll move you back to a like-for-like stateroom and protect your pricing at your previous cruise fare rate or reduce it to the new cruise fare rate (whichever is lower). This excludes taxes, fees, gratuities, and other non-cruise fare items. If your booking was already paid in full and your cruise fare rate decreases, we’ll provide you with a refund for the difference. You can expect to receive your refund to your original form of payment within 14 business days after we move you. Kindly note, refund times may vary depending on your financial institution. If you previously chose to cancel your booking: If you’d like to return to your previous Freedom of the Seas sailing, we’ll move you back to a like-for-like stateroom and protect the pricing at your previous cruise fare rate or reduce it to the new cruise fare rate (whichever is lower). This excludes taxes, fees, gratuities, and other non-cruise fare items. If you’d like to return to your previous Freedom of the Seas sailing, please call us at 888-281-9344 or contact your Travel Advisor by October 3rd, 2023. And know, hold times may be longer than usual. If we haven’t heard from you by October 3rd, no changes will be made to your existing booking. If you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor immediately or contact us at:  1 888 281 9344 in the U.S. 1800 754 500 in Australia / 0800 102 123 in New Zealand In the UK only, by using our webchat service or by calling 0344 493 4005 All other countries, please visit http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contactus for your local Royal Caribbean International office phone number. Thank you for understanding. Whether you choose to rejoin us on the Freedom of the Seas or on another cruise in the future, we have no doubt your time with us will be nothing short of amazing.   Sincerely, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez AVP | Guest Experience Royal Caribbean International

[moposh]

What are you going to do now?  It's a shame they couldn't get it all sorted before cancelling the cruise.  People may have bought airfare, etc.

[Ourusualbeach]

14 minutes ago, moposh said:

What are you going to do now?  It's a shame they couldn't get it all sorted before cancelling the cruise.  People may have bought airfare, etc.

Christmas 2024 is over 15 months away, not too many airlines have flights out that far ahead 

[bigeck]

14 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Christmas 2024 is over 15 months away, not too many airlines have flights out that far ahead 

Just glad I have plenty time and have nothing booked.

I'm going back on Freedom.

I am on Voyager Ta and the 4 night after then was going to drive down to get on Oasis. Saves me a drive I suppose

[FionaMG]

21 minutes ago, bigeck said:

Just glad I have plenty time and have nothing booked.

I'm going back on Freedom.

I am on Voyager Ta and the 4 night after then was going to drive down to get on Oasis. Saves me a drive I suppose

I received the email too but forthe 7th of December sailing. Probably going to move back to Freedom as well as it's quite an unusual itinerary.

Edited September 19, 2023 by FionaMG

[irishgal432]

15 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I received the email too but forthe 7th of December sailing. Probably going to move back to Freedom as well as it's quite an unusual itinerary.

What was the itinerary?

[FionaMG]

3 minutes ago, irishgal432 said:

What was the itinerary?

 

Three saints: Saint Martin, Saint Kitts and Saint Lucia. They only have that itinerary twice in the whole season. The other sailing is on the 1st of March 2025.

[bigeck]

6 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

Three saints: Saint Martin, Saint Kitts and Saint Lucia. They only have that itinerary twice in the whole season. The other sailing is on the 1st of March 2025.

Ive got St Thomas, St Kitts and St Maartin and on the 25th I have St Nicholas

[Husky1987]

We moved from the Freedom to Oasis.  Thinking about moving back since we've never been on a Freedom class and I'd rather go to St Lucia than St Thomas again.

[mmk123]

I just called them to move back to Freedom on Dec 21 2024. The agent said the cruise was still closed. My parents (who are on the cruise with us) travel agent said she never received the email. Was this email sent in error? Was it a scam? 

[FionaMG]

23 minutes ago, bigeck said:

Ive got St Thomas, St Kitts and St Maartin and on the 25th I have St Nicholas

 

Good one! 😂

[bigeck]

16 minutes ago, mmk123 said:

I just called them to move back to Freedom on Dec 21 2024. The agent said the cruise was still closed. My parents (who are on the cruise with us) travel agent said she never received the email. Was this email sent in error? Was it a scam? 

Doubt if it's a scam. I usually give it a couple of days before I call

[Ourusualbeach]

21 minutes ago, mmk123 said:

I just called them to move back to Freedom on Dec 21 2024. The agent said the cruise was still closed. My parents (who are on the cruise with us) travel agent said she never received the email. Was this email sent in error? Was it a scam? 

It's legit.  I am a TA and I received the  email.

 

Actually a bunch of them as in addition to this I received a bunch of e mails letting me know my clients Jan 2025 sailings on freedom were cancelled for a drydock and they have options on Oasis

 

If your parents TA had them booked in a group then the e mail would have gone to the groups department at their agency.  Very frustrating when I worked for another company, it was days before I was forwarded the emails.

Edited September 19, 2023 by Ourusualbeach

[mmk123]

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It's legit.  I am a TA and I received the  email.

 

Actually a bunch of them as in addition to this I received a bunch of e mails letting me know my clients Jan 2025 sailings on freedom were cancelled for a drydock and they have options on Oasis

 

If your parents TA had them booked in a group then the e mail would have gone to the groups department at their agency.  Very frustrating when I worked for another company, it was days before I was forwarded the emails.

 

How would you know its legit? When I call RCCL they tell me its still showing in dry dock. They are not aware of the email or change. 

[irishgal432]

8 minutes ago, mmk123 said:

 

How would you know its legit? When I call RCCL they tell me its still showing in dry dock. They are not aware of the email or change. 

Phone reps are the last toknow. Have your ta call their RCCL rep.

[Cigar King]

When they cancelled it, we had a B2B and chose to move to Oasis.  It looks like only one leg of our B2B is back, or at least we have only received one notice so far.  I imagine we'll just stay with Oasis if that's the case.

[Ourusualbeach]

35 minutes ago, mmk123 said:

 

How would you know its legit? When I call RCCL they tell me its still showing in dry dock. They are not aware of the email or change. 

Because I received the email from Royal.  Trust me, I've been through this probably close to a fifty times and their reps are alwsys the last to know.  Always wait 2 days before calling.  

 

E mail comes from yhe same address that it always does and is written as it always is.

 

 

[Onvacationmn]

Sailings for Freedom for November and December 2024 are once again available to book on the RCCL website. We opted not to move our sailing back to Freedom. 

[monorail81]

We moved back to our original sailing today. I reached out to my TA and she hadn’t gotten the email from Royal yet. Maybe it was mixed in with the January cancellations and she just hadn’t sorted through to it yet. Either way, I was able to get my original room and am happy. We had gone from an 8 night to a 7 because it was the only thing that fit my schedule and didn’t get any compensation for the loss of day since prices skyrocketed since I had booked. Now we’re back to our 8 with no Labadee or Coco. Very happy to have the extra sea day again. It’s one of the things that made me want to book that particular sailing. Keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t re-cancel it. 

[Russ Lomas]

On 9/19/2023 at 5:28 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

Actually a bunch of them as in addition to this I received a bunch of e mails letting me know my clients Jan 2025 sailings on freedom were cancelled for a drydock and they have options on Oasis

I was shocked to hear that RCCL was planning a drydock over X-mas and New Year, their 2 most profitable (overpriced) weeks of the year.  They will probably make more in those 2 sailings than the next 4-6 sailings combined in January after the holidays.  Makes much more sense to take the ship out of commission in January.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, Russ Lomas said:

I was shocked to hear that RCCL was planning a drydock over X-mas and New Year, their 2 most profitable (overpriced) weeks of the year.  They will probably make more in those 2 sailings than the next 4-6 sailings combined in January after the holidays.  Makes much more sense to take the ship out of commission in January.

Sometimes their hands are tied by maximum lengths of times between drydocks and drydock schedules so they have no choice.  Somehow I think they caught a break and were able to reschedule

[FionaMG]

9 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

I was shocked to hear that RCCL was planning a drydock over X-mas and New Year, their 2 most profitable (overpriced) weeks of the year.  They will probably make more in those 2 sailings than the next 4-6 sailings combined in January after the holidays.  Makes much more sense to take the ship out of commission in January.

 

I'm pretty sure they weren't planning it that way originally; when I booked, there was a 6-week break in the schedule that started just after New Year, so something must have forced their hand to make that change.

The New Year sailing was never cancelled, but Thanksgiving was, which would obviously have meant a huge amount of lost revenue.

[Rubyfisch]

The rates right now are really quite good for the Christmas cruise. I just booked a cabin - I had been looking at it before it was cancelled, and so was pretty excited that it appears to now be back on.