Peira

I wrote it in such a way to attempt to avoid posters who state the obvious (such as the Jones Act - of course it would never come into play). No I did not succeed. Ha!

No biggie but I was surprised Princess denied our route deviation request to disembark in Lisbon, three days before the cruise ends. Yes, we understand it is within the cruise line's right to reject deviation request, and sometimes they do, and in our case they did. Yes Princess asks that deviation request be submitted 30 days or so in advance but Princess will act on requests closer to the embarkation date (and even when pax are onboard). No, it is not a problem for us as Princess approved our disembarkation one port/one day earlier, in Cadiz. No, the Jones Act does not come into play. We often request route deviations and disembark (days) early if it suits our travel needs. Yes, sometimes the ship misses the deviation port due to weather or other issues, and it's on us to adjust our plans. Yes we pay full fare and staff gets tips for all days (we book Premier package). No, Princess does not prorate a fare if pax departs early. I guess my question is: Isn't it odd that Lisbon would be denied and Cadiz would be approved? If you had to guess, wouldn't you think (Immigration) officials would be staffed in Lisbon, and the request for disembarkation in Cadiz would be a problem (b/c officials aren't available)? Yes, I am assuming it was an Customs/Immigration issue and I could be way off with my guess of why we received a "Sorry, nope" to Lisbon. Here's what Princess said in their email (Princess's wording is why I assume it's related to having no officials on hand to OK our disembarkation). Finally, when we received the "Sorry" email I immediately contacted Princess to request the deviation to occur one port earlier, and it was approved in less than 18 hrs. And no, I didn't see anything in our booking that indicated exactly why the request was denied. Please be advised that your request for deviation from the scheduled cruise itinerary has been denied. The reason for denial is noted in the passenger's booking. In most circumstances a request is denied for one of the following reasons: Governmental restrictions Operational reasons Requested port does not support embarkation/disembarkation Request will violate the Passenger Service Act

We share a hobby of reading/posting on CC. And we also share a travel agency. Guess some clients are more important than others.

Unless they aren't. Like me. How hard would it have been to "cc" the pax booked on this itinerary and include something like "your TA will provide further information" or "your TA will be contacting you soon with options" or something similar?

I'm booked on Mumbai-Piraeus and haven't heard a peep. If it's true there are only ~100 passengers on this cruise, what gives that I hear about the cancellation not from my TA (who works for the agency of choice for many CC members) nor from Crystal?

Ibis, Everyone involved (Crystal, other cruise lines, pax, crew, provision providers, excursion providers, airlines, ports, etc.) is dealing with having what they thought were set plans now be up in the air. This is an extremely complicated matter, with no easy solutions. Crystal is working overtime trying to figure this out. Let's all take a breather and let them work on this.

What kml246 said.

I know it's not a smart idea to book an 11am LHR flight when the ship doesn't officially allow passengers off until 7am. Delays happen, especially when you least expect it. I am holding a mid-afternoon backup flight that I can cancel once we're at the airport and checked in for our 11am flight. It's more than 4x the cost of the 11am flight, so I'm hoping we don't need to take it.

Thanks for all these suggestions. We've an 11am International flight out of LHR that I have every confidence in making so we booked a car for a 730am pickup at Southampton. We'll be off early, and I have no doubt the driver will arrive early, too. OK, time to cue the "You're crazy to cut it so close" posts. We're good with the tight connection, that's all that matters. And if we miss our flight, we'll swim to France.

Sorry, found my answer in the FAQs.

"The problem is 200% covid blameable Huh? 100% SES (the satellite provider) said they had issues blah blah blah 100% NOW EVERYONE wants internet" Of course everyone wants internet. A successful company figures out how to deliver goods/services its customers want, at a price that results in satisfied customers as well as profit for the company. Princess fails to deliver internet services their customers want. And they charge an exorbitant fee for it.

Lucky you! We got off last Saturday. You have the absolute best Cruise Director we have ever come across, Matt Something-or-other. Matt, besides being a hoot, is incredibly friendly and his "Wake Show" is a must watch. We were so impressed with him that we'd book a cruise simply because he's the CD.