ever receive compensation for missed ports?

[PescadoAmarillo]

If it's the ship's fault, i.e., mechanical issues, you will get some compensation beyond the port fees.

And sometimes it's not even that straightforward. On the Sapphire in it's inaugural year, it had trouble with thrusters, and in Moorea, we lost the last remaining thruster, so we continued on using solely tugs to help dock until we arrived at Sydney where they could all be repaired. Luckily that was not a port intensive cruise, and we were able to do pretty well, but in New Zealand, we had a heck of a time getting out of Auckland and never did make up the time. We were still 2 days away from Wellington when one of our CC friends (with a Garmin) said that we were running about 5 hours late, and he didn't think we would get to go to Wellington. It wasn't until the morning we were supposed to be in Wellington that the captain said we could not get in, due to winds. In reality, it was probably due to a mechanical issue; the winds were more easily explained. We received our port charges, but no other compensation for this missed port.

 

The kicker was that several couples had disembarked in Auckland, intending to travel by land and reboard the ship in Wellington. When that port was cancelled, they were forced to fly to Sydney and then board the ship in port and pack their suitcases, as it was the end of the cruise.

 

In 33 cruises, I can't recall a single time when we received compensation over and above port charges for a missed port, and we've missed plenty of them.

[tothemall&beyond]

On our Hawaiian cruise, we couldn't get into Kauai and rough seas coming home slowed us up so much, we just did a "touch and go" in Ensenada without any debarkation. Princess credited our onboard account for the fees and taxes for Kauai, but couldn't do anything about Ensenada because Mexico still required payment from Princess for the mandated pit stop. So the answer is "it depends".

[Aussie Gal]

Has anyone from the Uk received the port charges back

 

 

I have contact Princess UK about a missed port on our cruise in the summer and have been told that it is only american passengers that receive the port charges back and the uk do not pay the port charges in the first place

 

Just wondered if this is right or not

 

When we missed the two ports in South America back in 2006, the U.K. passengers were very upset as they didn't receive any refunds for their port charges. They went en masse to the front desk to air their views but I don't think they were very happy with the outcome.

 

Jennie

[greatamerguy]

Before the turnaround in Dover of our roundtrip out of NYC, we were informed that we would not be stopping in St. John's, Newfoundland, because Princess caved in to French authorities on the French island of St. Pierre off the SE coast of Newfoundland, and changed our arrival in St. Pierre to a day earlier because of " port operational problems", making our original schedule into St. John's impossible. Princess did add another stop to replace St. John's (Sydney, Nova Scotia) but I think that it actually cost the passengers more because of the changes ( difference in port charges between Sydney and St. John's.) If Princess had just stayed with the original port arrival into St. John's, and told the French in St. Pierre, THANKS, BUT NO THANKS, it would have made most of the passengers on our cruise a lot happier, and it would have been a lot less costly to Princess in the long run, as our departure in Sydney was delayed over 12 hours because of weather and lack of port resources ( No pilot or tugs available). Even though we were very disappointed with the decision to cancel St. John's ( which under the very biased contract that all passengers must agree to in order to receive passage and is well within the cruiseline's rights) we still had a great time. I just wish Princess and the other cruiselines would be more sensitive to itinerary changes when it is usually the itinerary that determines a customer's selection of a particular voyage.

[tothemall&beyond]

On our Hawaiian cruise, we couldn't get into Kauai and rough seas coming home slowed us up so much, we just did a "touch and go" in Ensenada without any debarkation. Princess credited our onboard account for the fees and taxes for Kauai, but couldn't do anything about Ensenada because Mexico still required payment from Princess for the mandated pit stop. So the answer is "it depends".

 

Forgot to say that capt gave us a 360 degree sail-around the entire island (Kauai) so we actually go to see the entire Na'Pali Every cloud has a silver lining.

[geoherb]

We received onboard credits for arriving late in St. Thomas on the Sun Princess. I think it was $75 per person, but I'm too lazy to find my review from then. We hit the trifecta of engine problems, strong headwinds, and being diverted to assist the Coast Guard in rescuing people from a sailboat that had become stuck on a reef on the way there. We were about five hours late.

 

Of course some passengers were not pleased and wanted more. I thought it was extremely generous, considering they did not have to give us anything since we had gone to the port (even though a lot of people missed their excursions--but those who could not get rescheduled receive a refund).

[FritzG]

If the missed port is due to weather conditions there's no reason to expect compensation. The passenger contract covers this, and I wish cruise lines were clearer on this so people wouldn't be surprised when it happens. The captain is in charge of the vessel, and if he thinks it's too dangerous to go into a port I'm with him. I was appalled at the attitudes of some passengers when we missed Monaco on our Ruby TA in April. I don't get the attitude that the captain is missing a port on purpose to ruin your vacation. They're in the business of providing a good cruise so you'll return. I'm sure a number of people attending the Captain's Circle receptions have missed ports, and they returned to Princess. You'll get your port charges refunded, and that's all you deserve.

[paul929207]

If the missed port is due to weather conditions there's no reason to expect compensation. The passenger contract covers this, and I wish cruise lines were clearer on this so people wouldn't be surprised when it happens. The captain is in charge of the vessel, and if he thinks it's too dangerous to go into a port I'm with him. I was appalled at the attitudes of some passengers when we missed Monaco on our Ruby TA in April. I don't get the attitude that the captain is missing a port on purpose to ruin your vacation. They're in the business of providing a good cruise so you'll return. I'm sure a number of people attending the Captain's Circle receptions have missed ports, and they returned to Princess. You'll get your port charges refunded, and that's all you deserve.

I suspect that the people yelling the loudest about missed ports would be yelling the loudest about rough seas if the captain tried to go thru a storm to get to a port.

[FritzG]

How true! They would be the ones suing the line because of injuries caused by negligence. On the Ruby TA a particularly nasty group was going to disembark in Monaco. They had a young woman purser's assistant cornered and kept yelling at her. Every once in a while an older gentleman would interrupt her and say, "You go to Hell." They kept insisting that the poor purser's asst. should go to the captain and insist that he dock in Marseilles instead, like it was a mall and you could just chose another parking place. On top of that, it was already late in the afternoon, and we should have docked in Monte Carlo at 6 a.m. Someone with more authority should have come to her rescue because they were really out of line.