Did Princess really change our itinerary a few days prior to our cruise?!

[Yehootu]

12 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Well my travel summary now shows that there is a change due to congestion in Cozumel.  Not sure how that wasn't known prior since as Paula_MacFan pointed out, they are done months in advance.  And we are still the same amount of ships at the pier even with the change, so it's a bit odd.

We had a change to our itinerary although not as drastic as yours also due to "port congestion" Our stop in Honolulu was moved a day and Moorea was substituted for Kona. Ours was a win. We got the same BS excuse and after looking it up, the Celebrity ship will be there on an overnight. We still arrive and depart while they are in port.

[johnnyq627]

We are on this weekend's sailing with you.  I was surprised to see the ports changed without an email of any type.  Luckily we didn't have any private plans to adjust.

[aimee0715]

We had Cozumel dropped from a NCL itinerary in January due to "port congestion."  We found out when we were handed a sheet of paper about it at embarkation.  I don't understand how this happens since the schedules for these ports are set so far in advance.  Thankfully, we didn't have an excursion planned for that stop and we weren't all that disappointed since we've been many times but still sucks to get a port cancelled altogether.  We'll be on Sky in January on this same itinerary. No planned excursions as of right now.

[Jadn13]

56 minutes ago, johnnyq627 said:

We are on this weekend's sailing with you.  I was surprised to see the ports changed without an email of any type.  Luckily we didn't have any private plans to adjust.

Strange, I am on this sailing as well and received an email.  I wonder why such the inconsistency ??

[snoozecrooze]

The "port congestion" reasoning Princess has used here is about as believable as the excuse NCL uses about "environmental reasons" when they suddenly drastically change their itineraries. For shame.

[negn]

I had port changes from east Caribbean to western Caribbean and informed when we got to cruise terminal.   It was weather related.  Just go with the flow.  

[Honolulu Blue]

25 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

The "port congestion" reasoning Princess has used here is about as believable as the excuse NCL uses about "environmental reasons" when they suddenly drastically change their itineraries. For shame.

I believe it. Cozumel is super busy as a port all the time.  Perhaps another cruise line had to reserve dock space on short notice? Perhaps Princess was offered the option of tendering in its guests and they refused?

[Bgwest]

https://www.cruisehive.com/itineraries-changed-for-princess-cruise-ship-for-unusual-reason/117500

[memoak]

14 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

Not sure.  They haven't told us anything.  We were 3 ships in Cozumel which Puerta Maya can handle and now we are 3 ships in Cozumel again.

 

I know they can cancel or change a port and have had that happen before, just not days prior to a cruise.  

I had an entire itinerary changed with ports dropped due to weather and that happened on the day we boarded

[Happy2cruise]

15 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I doubt it's a mistake. It looks like they flipped the order of the ports around. They can do this. I'm sure they're sorry. I'm more curious about why they did it. Weather? Congestion in Cozumel or somewhere else?

Email we received noted congestion.

[Jaymuxman]

15 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Okay, my Sky sailing leaves Saturday and now it looks like Princess has just changed the ports without letting us know.  We were:

At Sea

Cozumel 8-5

Roatan 9-6

Belize City 7-6

Costa Maya

At Sea

 

Today it's changed to:

At Sea

Belize City 8-7

Roatan 7-6

Costa Maya 8-6

Cozumel 7-5

At Sea

 

Come on Princess, you expect everyone to change their plans with days to spare?  It also can mess with our speciality dining plans that we have made.  

This has got to be a mistake.

 

 

They have done the same thing for 12/23 cruise. Still no email from them notifying us, just noticed it when checking something else on our booking this morning.

[startedwithamouse]

16 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Okay, my Sky sailing leaves Saturday and now it looks like Princess has just changed the ports without letting us know.  We were:

At Sea

Cozumel 8-5

Roatan 9-6

Belize City 7-6

Costa Maya

At Sea

 

Today it's changed to:

At Sea

Belize City 8-7

Roatan 7-6

Costa Maya 8-6

Cozumel 7-5

At Sea

 

Come on Princess, you expect everyone to change their plans with days to spare?  It also can mess with our speciality dining plans that we have made.  

This has got to be a mistake.

 

 

When they change, you should receive a PDF via email with the changes noted. 

[snoozecrooze]

2 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I believe it. Cozumel is super busy as a port all the time.  Perhaps another cruise line had to reserve dock space on short notice? Perhaps Princess was offered the option of tendering in its guests and they refused?

OK, I did some quick research into the amount of ships in port and I will have to give them something...but also, absolutely nothing for this last-minute notice. I mean, these deployments are known months in advance!

 

• Belize City -- Sky is now the only ship in town on December 11 when there were 3 total ships on December 13
• Roatan -- has not changed and they're still the only ship at Mahogany Bay on December 12
• Costa Maya -- Sky would've been the fourth ship on either the 13th or 14th, but the 13th has comparably smaller ships, so...that's something?
• Cozumel -- Sky is actually now the 7th ship in town on the 14th, when there would've only been 6 ships, including Sky, on the 11th.

So the only argument they could make this congestion thing is really about...Belize???

 

[Host CJSKIDS]

51 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

OK, I did some quick research into the amount of ships in port and I will have to give them something...but also, absolutely nothing for this last-minute notice. I mean, these deployments are known months in advance!

 

• Belize City -- Sky is now the only ship in town on December 11 when there were 3 total ships on December 13
• Roatan -- has not changed and they're still the only ship at Mahogany Bay on December 12
• Costa Maya -- Sky would've been the fourth ship on either the 13th or 14th, but the 13th has comparably smaller ships, so...that's something?
• Cozumel -- Sky is actually now the 7th ship in town on the 14th, when there would've only been 6 ships, including Sky, on the 11th.

So the only argument they could make this congestion thing is really about...Belize???

 

 

So glad that we were changed due to port congestion in Cozumel and we now have 7 ships rather than 6!   Makes perfect sense to me LOL 

[kywildcatfanone]

2 hours ago, Happy2cruise said:

Email we received noted congestion.

Isn't the whole congestion thing booked well in advance?

[kywildcatfanone]

Well, hope you get better than this week. Ice and coffee machines still broken, find the ice scoop in the bucket like always, and the find out with 2+ days left on our cruise, they are out of iced tea for the rest of the week.

[PescadoAmarillo]

18 hours ago, day-day said:

Regal Princess departure out of Galveston on December 10 has been changed.  Roatan and Belize have switched days and Roatan arrives one hour earlier.  Our Cozumel date and time did not change.

 

I found out when I received an email today from my independent excursion operator which told me the date had changed and they provided me with new reservation details.

We received an email about that from Princess in the past day or two. 

[SargassoPirate]

This would be a big nothing burger for me, personally. I wouldn't get off the shio in any of these ports anyway. Just me, but they give me a quiet day on the ship.

[Hlitner]

8 hours ago, Jadn13 said:

Strange, I am on this sailing as well and received an email.  I wonder why such the inconsistency ??

We are on the Sky now , back to back and have still received no notification of the itinerary change.  Our cruise agent did get an email, today, about one of our excursions being cancelled, with little explanation or no chance to book an alternative.

 

Hank

[Paula_MacFan]

3 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Isn't the whole congestion thing booked well in advance?

Exactly!  Last minute weather changes are understandable.  'Congestion' at ports that have had published schedules for months -- not so much.  

[Host CJSKIDS]

32 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We are on the Sky now , back to back and have still received no notification of the itinerary change.  Our cruise agent did get an email, today, about one of our excursions being cancelled, with little explanation or no chance to book an alternative.

 

Hank

 

Can't believe you haven't been notified... just crazy. I can't thank you enough for confirming with passenger services last night.  

 

So let's see if we end up with 3 ships (2 carnival and ours) at the Puerta Maya Pier in Cozumel and then find out there are another 4 ships at the other 2 piers,  We were 3 ships at the pier prior and now look like 3 again.  

 

Hope you can figure out a new excursion for whatever port got canceled. 

[MacMadame]

 

12 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

I also like less people however, there are still 7 ships the day I'm there so I'm not sure how that helps us. 

Are the ships smaller than the ones that would originally be there? Also, maybe there are more passengers per ship than usual due to the holidays (i.e., more kids)

Edited December 7, 2023 by MacMadame

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

Can't believe you haven't been notified... just crazy. I can't thank you enough for confirming with passenger services last night.  

 

So let's see if we end up with 3 ships (2 carnival and ours) at the Puerta Maya Pier in Cozumel and then find out there are another 4 ships at the other 2 piers,  We were 3 ships at the pier prior and now look like 3 again.  

 

Hope you can figure out a new excursion for whatever port got canceled. 

Kind of funny because we do not like excursions and avoid them like the plague.  But on this short 2 week cruise we got a tonof non refundable OBC. So booked a few excursions to use some of the OBC.  Now they cancel our Belize tour.  We might need to buy expensive booze in the shop to use up some of this OBC.  Princess is not making it ez to book excursions.  
 

By the way, we are enjoying the cruise and the food/entertainment has been above our expectations.
 

Hank

[Host CJSKIDS]

@Hlitner that's fantastic to hear.  Always love when things meet expectations, let alone are above. 

 

Have you gone to the excursion desk to see if they are doing a tour similar to yours?  The notification did say that one would find out about excursions once on board. 

 

I'm so looking forward to having my first cocktail on board.  We will have to coordinate to have a drink together via our roll call once I'm on board. But remember, what happens on the ship, stays on the ship!  LOL

[Host CJSKIDS]

35 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

 

Are the ships smaller than the ones that would originally be there? Also, maybe there are more passengers per ship than usual due to the holidays (i.e., more kids)

 

In looking at the capacity of the ships there on our original day, it shows 17,864 as possible passengers.  For our new day, the ships there show 20,277 possible passengers and once you add in the Sky Princess it goes to 23,937.  

 

I wonder if any of the ships on Thursday have also been moved.