Port Changes-Royal Caribbean

[3travelalot]

:mad: Has anyone else noticed the amount of port changes that have

just happened ?

We had a back to back booked for this January 09 . They changed too much on each cruise. Also the Yucatan (Progreso), Mexico is gone from all Itineraries. When I called they said alot of the port changes were due to rising fuel costs? Anyone else have any thoughts

[BrainChemicals]

You're not missing anything by not going to Progreso, just a five mile long pier and a so-so beach.

[gatour]

At least you got the probable truthful answer. Other people have called and asked about dropped/changed ports and were told any number of excuses and none of them were related to a fuel cost issue.

 

If you had your heart set on one or more of the ports and you are still in the cancel without penalty phase, cancel and let them know why. If you are in the penalty phase and don't want to forfeit the deposit etc. write a letter, but keep it evenhanded and expect no response.

[MDSue]

My sister and I were all ready to book Voyager out of Galveston this week when hours before booking [on their one day sale date] we noticed they had dropped Yucatan off the itnerary. I wonder how many people booked expecting 4 stops to sudddenly find out they now only have 3. When I called to inquire there was no explanation as to why it was dropped.

Personally, I can understand if a port has to be dropped last minute due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances, but I'd be peeved if I booked a 4 stop cruise to be switched to 3.

We didn't book.

[mrchips14]

They changed our Alaska cruise (may 09). No Hubbard glacier, now tracy arm.

I just sent a letter to RCCL asking how they can change this after they sold it. I have already purchased $1500 worth of airfare, so I will just have to stay with it, but not happy about it.

 

If the reason is fuel cost and they change the ports do they cancel the fuel surcharge too? They want their cake and eat it too.

 

I may have to look at other cruise lines when I look for my next cruise.

[hylasgirl]

Yep, Royal Caribbean has done this to me one too many times now... They canceled Newport R.I. last year, instead going to New London, CT. It was basically a crap stop. They gave us all kinds of crap for answers, saying that the ship was too big, etc... New London was letting them dock there for basically free... it was all about money, pure and simple. This was done after final payment, so we had no choice. There were a lot of upset CC people. Now we find out that plenty of large ships are tendering in Newport. It was the reason I booked the cruise. I now know NEVER to have your heart set on a particular port. So far, Royal is the only cruise line that has done this to me. 3 times now... I sure love their ships, but I don't trust them anymore.

[satxdiver]

It is all about money - that you can be sure. We have a cruise in February out of Galveston. We had expected to go to Progresso but see that they had canceled that stop and made it a day at sea. We did want to go there as we had a good time the last time we went. I wanted to go to Merida for the day but not now I guess. In their T&A they do mention that they can change the itinerary anytime they want. I understand that but they are absolutely killing us with it. I think the moral is if you book with RCL, they will guarantee the ship (I hope!) and the general area (i.e. Caribbean). The port stops are at their latest whim. Maybe if enough pax cancel their res when they make a change, they might get the point. Incidentally I hear that their Panama Canal trips are now Caribbean trips since they no longer enter the canal unless it is to totally traverse it. :(

[GXmanDC]

It is all about money - that you can be sure. We have a cruise in February out of Galveston. We had expected to go to Progresso but see that they had canceled that stop and made it a day at sea. We did want to go there as we had a good time the last time we went. I wanted to go to Merida for the day but not now I guess. In their T&A they do mention that they can change the itinerary anytime they want. I understand that but they are absolutely killing us with it. I think the moral is if you book with RCL, they will guarantee the ship (I hope!) and the general area (i.e. Caribbean). The port stops are at their latest whim. Maybe if enough pax cancel their res when they make a change, they might get the point. Incidentally I hear that their Panama Canal trips are now Caribbean trips since they no longer enter the canal unless it is to totally traverse it. :(

 

It is not just RCI. Every line is doing it. Cruise lines never guarantee ports anyway. Times are tough. It is all about the money and no one can get any. The credit markets are frozen. We just saw a $300B dollar bank fail two weeks ago, Wachovia was saved just days before they would have been seized by the feds. One of my firm's competitors just announced it was closing, a 118 year-old institution that was known to be a fiscally conservative business is closing shop, 2000 jobs gone.

[NautiqueBelle]

I think we've had an itinerary change (dropped port) on the past 5 Transatlantic and/or Med cruises we've taken with RCI. :mad: On our upcoming cruise, we have lost Tunisia.

 

We have learned to expect dropped ports now. What a shame. When we book a cruise now, we look at it as a "proposed" itinerary.

[sunlover5]

We just had it done after final payment too, but understandably it was for Grand Turk. Only thing we got an email from RC saying we would not get any obc or anything for our port charges back. Nothing we can do, but seems they are a little greedy. Paying for a stop that was replaced by a sea day!!??

[LonW]

It is all about money - that you can be sure. We have a cruise in February out of Galveston. We had expected to go to Progresso but see that they had canceled that stop and made it a day at sea. We did want to go there as we had a good time the last time we went. I wanted to go to Merida for the day but not now I guess. In their T&A they do mention that they can change the itinerary anytime they want. I understand that but they are absolutely killing us with it. I think the moral is if you book with RCL, they will guarantee the ship (I hope!) and the general area (i.e. Caribbean). The port stops are at their latest whim. Maybe if enough pax cancel their res when they make a change, they might get the point. Incidentally I hear that their Panama Canal trips are now Caribbean trips since they no longer enter the canal unless it is to totally traverse it. :(

 

As one of the many stock holders that has seen his stock value go down the crapper.:eek: I hope they run it like a business, (all about the money).;)

[Ocean Boy]

They changed our Alaska cruise (may 09). No Hubbard glacier, now tracy arm.

I just sent a letter to RCCL asking how they can change this after they sold it. I have already purchased $1500 worth of airfare, so I will just have to stay with it, but not happy about it.

 

If the reason is fuel cost and they change the ports do they cancel the fuel surcharge too? They want their cake and eat it too.

 

I may have to look at other cruise lines when I look for my next cruise.

 

Actually, the answer is pretty simple. Read the cruise contract. The cruise line can pretty much do whatever it wants and for the most part leaves you with no rights. They say that they have the right to change ports of call, as well as ships, for any reason. You might especially appreciate the part of the contract that states the cruise line takes no responsibility as to the seaworthiness of its ships.:rolleyes:

 

That aside, I feel that the cruise lines really should rethink some of these short sighted business decisions. At least that is how they seem to me. This is not a good economic time for a company to be annoying its customers.

[Cruising89143]

Here is a link to a thread that I started sometime ago. It states that RCI would be changing itineraries to achieve fuel savings.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=813940&highlight=goldstein

[penelope42]

It is all about money - that you can be sure. We have a cruise in February out of Galveston. We had expected to go to Progresso but see that they had canceled that stop and made it a day at sea. We did want to go there as we had a good time the last time we went. I wanted to go to Merida for the day but not now I guess. In their T&A they do mention that they can change the itinerary anytime they want. I understand that but they are absolutely killing us with it. I think the moral is if you book with RCL, they will guarantee the ship (I hope!) and the general area (i.e. Caribbean). The port stops are at their latest whim. Maybe if enough pax cancel their res when they make a change, they might get the point. Incidentally I hear that their Panama Canal trips are now Caribbean trips since they no longer enter the canal unless it is to totally traverse it. :(

 

 

Thanks to reading at CC I now know to not be too set upon my itinerary. Since the two times we cruised we did so mostly due to the itinerary, I know to be very careful on where and with which cruise line I book any future cruises.

 

A Panama Canal trip is high on the list of cruises we would like to take but fortunately for us a full transit of the canal is our priority and I could skip any given port without a problem. I am thinking it would be hard for them to cancel a full canal transit without the ship not being able to end up in the correct port for disembarking. In light of this our PC trip will most likely be on RC because it seems their panamax ships have the most amenities to keep us amused for the large number of sea days.

 

I am not a big fan of sea days so I guess we will continue to cruise only to very select regions. I think Europe and the Med are the only other areas that I would like to cruise and as long as we had several ports in those locations I am not as particular about which specific ports.

[cassieroll]

I feel like I'm the only one who really doesn't care where we stop. I just want to be on the ship. LOL

[GXmanDC]

We just had it done after final payment too, but understandably it was for Grand Turk. Only thing we got an email from RC saying we would not get any obc or anything for our port charges back. Nothing we can do, but seems they are a little greedy. Paying for a stop that was replaced by a sea day!!??

 

Which RCI cruise was scheduled for a stop in Grand Turk? It is an unusual port for RCI, though I did visit it on Liberty last January. I think you should get your port fees back if you are not stopping there, I doubt if RCI would still have to pay GT for a non-visit. I don't know if you have been there and I have read on the HAL forums that many people like GT, but I thought it was worst port on my Liberty cruise. I'd much rather see Providenciales.

[bluefintuna]

I was astonished at the price cruiselines have to pay to traverse the Panama Canal. That is another reason most do not go through. It would be interesting to see a list of charges for various ports of call.

[jst]

An article was printed some time ago, that taking out some port stops saves them unlimited gallons of fuel due to the fact they can cruise slower to the next port. We have lost Grenada (a port we haven't been to before), but as we like sea days it's OK. The article also mentioned they may start leaving a little earlier at embarkation, and arriving a little later at debarkation, how they will manage the unload and load of not only luggage, but also provisions remains to be seen. We to are stock holders to, and have watched not only RCCL's stock, but all the other lines go down recently.

We still like RCCL the best.:)

[3travelalot]

As a Diamond plus member and also a stock holder I feel RCI is doing an injustice to its loyal cruisers .As for our B2B it's canceled and they know why. Also we had a large group of friends from all over the country meeting for this B2B . In case anyone needs a Junior Suite they are now 12 available plus a couple of inside rooms. Unfortunately we did not book as a group but we each made our displeasure known. A few years ago Carnival did this, we did not take that cruise either. We are working out a land based vacation in Belize. So all is not lost