Any issues with cancelled ports?

[chocchic]

We're booked on Sirena Hamburg to Oslo in August.  I'm running into excursions that will only give refunds if provided anywhere from 48 hours to 1 week notice of cancellation. I'm a little nervous since we cruised Oceania in New Zealand January 23 and had 3 ports cancelled.  I'm wondering if it was Oceania or New Zealand ?  They were not necessarily weather related.  

Any thoughts on whether I can be confident about Sirena making it to ports in August?

[alcpa1]

It's a toss up. On our March Sirena cruise our embarkation port was changed. We lost a port for a sea day and a tender port (Barbuda) was cancelled to sea conditions.

We have had changes on each of our three O cruises but continue to book aditional sailings for their itineraries.

Good luck.

[1985rz1]

8 hours ago, chocchic said:

We're booked on Sirena Hamburg to Oslo in August.  I'm running into excursions that will only give refunds if provided anywhere from 48 hours to 1 week notice of cancellation. I'm a little nervous since we cruised Oceania in New Zealand January 23 and had 3 ports cancelled.  I'm wondering if it was Oceania or New Zealand ?  They were not necessarily weather related.  

Any thoughts on whether I can be confident about Sirena making it to ports in August?

Just to put excursion cancellations into a bit of perspective, we returned from an Azamara in February, and two nights in Tasmania were cancelled because of sea conditions.

 

We're on the Sirena from Oslo to London on the Sirena from August 10 - 28, 2024.  We risk likely cancellations on the Norway to Edinbugh portion at Faeroe islands,  Historicaly it's  50-50.

 

Edited May 3 by 1985rz1

[ronrick1943]

Truly you never know.  The odd's are with you-but canceled port happen.  You just have to roll with it.

[edgee]

Can happen with any cruise line, but in my experience with nearly 50 cruises, ten of which were on Oceania, Oceania tends to alter itineraries and times in more often than other cruise lines.

[Vallesan]

19 hours ago, chocchic said:

We're booked on Sirena Hamburg to Oslo in August.  I'm running into excursions that will only give refunds if provided anywhere from 48 hours to 1 week notice of cancellation. I'm a little nervous since we cruised Oceania in New Zealand January 23 and had 3 ports cancelled.  I'm wondering if it was Oceania or New Zealand ?  They were not necessarily weather related.  

Any thoughts on whether I can be confident about Sirena making it to ports in August?

Do you have, or can you add, ‘missed port’ insurance. If so that might mitigate some of the cost of trips you might not be able to take.

[ronrick1943]

12 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Do you have, or can you add, ‘missed port’ insurance. If so that might mitigate some of the cost of trips you might not be able to take.

Wouldn't normal cruise insurance cover that, it's a cost you incurred no fault of yours.  Don't know, but it's seems logical.

[Vallesan]

4 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Wouldn't normal cruise insurance cover that, it's a cost you incurred no fault of yours.  Don't know, but it's seems logical.

 
I really don’t know.

Here in the UK we pay an optional extra cover of £40 per year   to cover both of us, to insure for missed ports. Cover is a one off payment, no matter how many cruises we take during the year and the compensation is £150 pp for each missed port.

 

I don’t know about insurance in the US but it’s worth checking! Here it’s a no brainer really!

[QuestionEverything]

Cancelled ports for dubious reasons......

Here is a NCL thread on the same issue.

Oceania is part of NCL................

Cruisers are asking questions and getting suspicious like I am.

For those who book for the destinations, like me, take care.......................

 

 

[Socal404]

We had 2 ports cancelled and 1 port of call reduced from an overnight to 1 day, all due to sea conditions. Our cruise insurance reimbursed us $100 per person, per port. $600 for wife and me. 

[Redtravel]

Most reputable companies understand if a cruise itinerary changes.  We have booked and have never had a company keep our money if the ship is late or doesn’t make the stop. We had a delay reaching Naples. We contacted the tour company. They waited for us and gave us the full tour. 

[clo]

7 hours ago, edgee said:

Can happen with any cruise line, but in my experience with nearly 50 cruises, ten of which were on Oceania, Oceania tends to alter itineraries and times in more often than other cruise lines.

It seems like your saying it's not necessarily weather or other uncontrollable things.

[edgee]

7 minutes ago, clo said:

It seems like your saying it's not necessarily weather or other uncontrollable things.

Well, just let me say out of my ten cruises on O, I think two of them have stuck with the exact itinerary listed when I booked the cruise. My other cruise experiences on Celebrity, Crystal, Princess, HAL, and Regent, I can remember five times itineraries have been changed and two of those were on Regent which is also owned by NCL Holdings and shares some staff with O. I believe there are many times when it is a close call weather wise, O always makes the more conservative decision. Just my opinion based on experience.

[chocchic]

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, clo said:

It seems like your saying it's not necessarily weather or other uncontrollable things.

No Reason was given for 2 of the 3 changes - could have been anticipated weather that didn't happen but we never really heard.

[chocchic]

On 5/3/2024 at 10:08 AM, Vallesan said:

Do you have, or can you add, ‘missed port’ insurance. If so that might mitigate some of the cost of trips you might not be able to take.

Going to have to read the fine print I think.  Thanks

[clo]

5 minutes ago, chocchic said:

No Reason was given for 2 of the 3 changes - could have been anticipated weather that didn't happen but we never really heard.

Thanks.

PS: Love your screen name 🙂

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, chocchic said:

No Reason was given for 2 of the 3 changes - could have been anticipated weather that didn't happen but we never really heard.

That would be the piece I would find very frustrating. If a port is skipped, it seems to me that an explanation on why is not at all unreasonable to expect.  

[edgee]

3 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

That would be the piece I would find very frustrating. If a port is skipped, it seems to me that an explanation on why is not at all unreasonable to expect.  

Except they tend to do the "airline thing." Blame it on weather, either actual or predicted regardless of whether or not weather really justifies the change. Also, there is always the "operational reasons" excuse. Sort of like the Seinfeld episode exchange between the wonderful Jerry Stiller and Julia Louis Dreyfus. " What does that mean?" "It means whatever the hell you want it to mean!" 😁

Edited May 7 by edgee

[Vineyard View]

8 hours ago, edgee said:

Except they tend to do the "airline thing." Blame it on weather, either actual or predicted regardless of whether or not weather really justifies the change. Also, there is always the "operational reasons" excuse. Sort of like the Seinfeld episode exchange between the wonderful Jerry Stiller and Julia Louis Dreyfus. " What does that mean?" "It means whatever the hell you want it to mean!" 😁

Total truth. But at least say something. Total silence on a skipped port is really obscure to me. 

[QuestionEverything]

9 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Total truth. But at least say something. Total silence on a skipped port is really obscure to me. 

Vineyard View.

I appreciate your analysis and thoughtful posts.

Total silence on a skipped port is not acceptable. The minimum I expect is the usual bull excuses we hear all the time.

But nothing, demonstrates, contempt for the customer.

This does not surprise me considering it is O.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

On 5/2/2024 at 3:21 PM, chocchic said:

We're booked on Sirena Hamburg to Oslo in August.  I'm running into excursions that will only give refunds if provided anywhere from 48 hours to 1 week notice of cancellation. I'm a little nervous since we cruised Oceania in New Zealand January 23 and had 3 ports cancelled.  I'm wondering if it was Oceania or New Zealand ?  They were not necessarily weather related.  

Any thoughts on whether I can be confident about Sirena making it to ports in August?

My first trip on Sirena was not that long ago (maybe 2022?) and we made all ports on our 14 day cruise with many ports.  My second trip on Sirena was last year, and I think we may have missed one port out of 14 days and many ports. Both were in Europe, though different times and regions.  And in Australia & New Zealand, we did experience 3 port misses.  One was due to horrible fires in Australia, another to weather, and I don't know what the third was attributed to.  One port was replaced with another port and the other 2 became at sea days.  It was definitely disappointing, but unfortunately it's something you can experience with cruising, and perhaps with all kinds of travel. And as everyone is now back to vacationing after a long pandemic drought, and with cruising becoming extremely popular, I wouldn't be surprised if more than the usual number of dock overbookings occur for a while. 

 

I don't like to book with any vendor that has a hard and fast rule about either 24 hour or 48 hour notification of a cancelation.  But some will put in writing that if your ship doesn't visit the port at all, they will not charge anything.  And many vendors don't even charge anything anyway until the day of the cruise visit to their city.  And a few vendors (like the mailman's tour in Akaroa, New Zealand), do make it clear no cancelations of any kind are accepted. In this last case I determine if the price of the tour is such that I'd prefer not to lose any money if you don't make the port.  So far I have not lost any money from booking with a third-party provider, and I've been on quite a few cruises in various regions of the world at different times.  But it IS best if you clarify things before you book, and get things in writing, as weather/sea/dock conditions don't always make themselves known to a Captain more than 24 or 48 hours in advance. 

 

As for other cruise experiences, it's my feeling (but not based on any data) that the other cruise line we use about a third of the time has more skipped ports than Oceania does.  I always figured it was because their ships are newer and they don't want to risk them, but who knows?  And as for the larger, more main stream lines, they tend to stick to the larger, tried and true ports, and repeat the same itineraries from one month to another.  And Oceania goes to smaller places, with smaller ships, and with less experience.  So maybe that accounts for some difference, if there are differences.  Again, who knows? Maybe the higher seas from global warming, or port congestion, or a ton of other factors are at play.  I've just learned to roll with the punches....and I tell myself that a missed port is an opportunity to go back.

 

In any case, good luck.  Australia and New Zealand are fabulous places to visit.

Edited May 8 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea

[travelingJimmy]

Here's a rather long winded string on the same subject from last year.   Cancelled ports and shortened port stays were beginning to be a bit of an issue.   Not sure if it has improved.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2967387-cancelled-ports/

 

[Hlitner]

With the two O cruises we had booked (one of which we finally cancelled less than 3 weeks prior to the completely changed itinerary) we have had more cancelled and altered ports then in all of our 100+ cruises over the years.  Why?  Some of the changes were not completely the fault of O while others were certainly questionable changes Since O is not always transparent on changes, one can only speculate as to why?  

 

Speaking as a long time student of the industry (more than 50 years of extensive cruising) I do think there are differing corporate philosphies.  Some cruise lines (HAL comes to mind) will do everything possible to keep to their itinerary,  This can mean going to ports in bad conditions and giving it the old "college try."  Sometimes it works and other times cruisers will have a missed port with a sea day.  O, on the other hand, seems to more easily make itinerary changes based on forecasted weather, with the goal of changing to an alternative port or perhaps avoiding some nasty weather.  Tjhis recently happened on our Vista cruise when, 2 days prior to our scheduled arrival, O changed Funchal to Madeira.  They were hoping for more favorable conditions at Madeira, and it did work out.  However, looking at the actual weather and sea conditions it did appear that we could have also gone to the original port (Funchal).

 

Hank

[ronrick1943]

This a hard one, for us if it's really bad weather we'll stay on the ship, getting out in torrential rain in't a pleasant day for touring.  We generally don't book private tours unless we also know we'll not be charged if the ship doesn't make Port.  Most of the time we wait until we arrive--we can book a car or taxi on the spot.

[ORV]

Just as a data point here we have been on Marina and Regatta this year for 35 days. We had no cancelled ports. We did have an itinerary adjustment in South America, but we still saw everything that was originally planned. 

 

My opinion on the thread from last year is that a few people on a couple of cruises that had issues were doing a lot of posting. Then others see it and comment about all those people talking about Oceania cancelling ports. These things have a way of ballooning out of reality.

 

My bottom line is if I didn't trust the judgement of the Captains that Oceania hires then I wouldn't cruise with them. One thing I've seen no shortage of in the 20 years I've been reading cruise critic are those that think they're smarter than the Captain or General Manager. I truly don't need or expect them to consult with me before they make decisions about our overall safety and their policies and procedures. Once again if it bothered me enough, I'd make other vacation arrangements and not waste time complaining about it on CC. Not cheerleading, just my personal reality.