Dominica has been removed from Carnival Victory stops..

[CALIBLUGIRL03]

I'm so sad....if you don't believe me call your TA or PVP. The announcement should go out tomorrow. I think it starts in Nov. It was the main reason I booked. :( To top it all off I was told it would NOT be replaced by another island.

[jam82]

If this is true, why?

[scooch63]

yes it is true:( Victory will make it's last stop there on 2 Nov 2010. We will be on this cruise. They state it is due to "fuel costs" after dry doc this will be a at sea day. I have read thast CCL will be sending out emails this Friday to everyone effected.

[Aplmac]

IF this is real, I reckon this is a huge mistake.

 

Better they had dumped crummy St.Thomas :cool:

but I know they take on lotsa food and bev. supplies at St.Thomas

so they couldn't dump St.Thomas

although as a destination they should, in preference to Dominica...

.

[CALIBLUGIRL03]

and it sucks!!! I don't like being on ships for that long which is why I wanted a port a day. Now Carnival is gonna make loads of money for all the people who drink all day and are stuck on-board. Getting a refund on the port/gov fees does not make me feel any better about missing the port I have looked do forward to going to. :o:o:(:(

 

So far Carnival has not impressed me in any way. The least they could do is offer another island...I feel short sticked!!

[Petert102]

I'm so sad....if you don't believe me call your TA or PVP. The announcement should go out tomorrow. I think it starts in Nov. It was the main reason I booked. :( To top it all off I was told it would NOT be replaced by another island.

Take Celebrity, they still call there, better product anyway !!!!

[Fourseventeen]

Talked to my PVP today and he did confirm nov 2nd will be the last time they will port in Dominica. He says that it has to do with issues there in Dominica...Carnival feels the town is unsafe to call on...this is what my PVP states. I have personally never been there but I have been to St Thomas...and I LOVE St Thomas and the surrounding islands.

[tmackel]

Got the e-mail today about carnival canceling the Dominica stop.:mad: I've been to Dominica 3 times and it's always been one of my favorite places to go.

[davidnkim]

Talked to my PVP today and he did confirm nov 2nd will be the last time they will port in Dominica. He says that it has to do with issues there in Dominica...Carnival feels the town is unsafe to call on...this is what my PVP states. I have personally never been there but I have been to St Thomas...and I LOVE St Thomas and the surrounding islands.

 

I do not believe it had anything to do with safety - it had to do with dollars - and Carnival told the Tourism Minister that was the reason.

 

 

"The cost of fuel has forced us to restructure the Carnival Victory itinerary. Cancelling Dominica would save us more fuel than any other alternative considered. In addition to the fuel costs we have had complaints from our passengers regarding the excessive number of port calls on this seven day itinerary.”

 

http://www.caribbeandailynews.com/dominica-government-laments-cruise-ship-departure/

[Dagny]

The cost of fuel has decreased so we know that's a porker, but their lie does give you a possible out. The timing of and stated reason for the itinerary change, both within Carnival’s control, certainly offer a case for canceling your cruise and claiming the total amount in refund, as outlined in the Cruise Cancellation and Itinerary Change Policy.

[karenesl79]

Too bad for the people living there. Many lived on the wages they made driving for cruise people. We really looked forward to our visit there. Actually it was the only place we have made solid plans.

 

Hope the folks there will manage. Stinks that we have to spend a day at sea, but we'll be okay.

 

Hope there will be no more suprises from carnival.

[markstudy]

There is a large discussion going on about this in the Carnival section if you haven't seen it yet

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1264901

 

:mad:

[schmoopie17]

Let's hope RCCL doesn't follow suit. Really looking forward to tubing there...

[Smallbore]

Fuel doesn't make sense because Barbados is the furthest away. Dominca is on the way to 2 more islands. And isn't all the ports the reason people book that itinerary? That's what drew me to it.

[Aplmac]

I do not believe it had anything to do with safety - it had to do with dollars -

and Carnival told the Tourism Minister that was the reason.

 

 

"The cost of fuel has forced us to restructure the Carnival Victory itinerary.

Cancelling Dominica would save us more fuel than any other alternative considered.

In addition to the fuel costs we have had complaints from our passengers

regarding the excessive number of port calls on this seven day itinerary.”

Yes' date=' I've read several comments re. Victory's cruise being kinda hectic, with a port [i']every single day[/i]

so that bit makes sense, I guess.

 

 

Still..it's a great shame and I feel for the Dominicans who made some money from that call, every Tuesday of life!

This is NOT a rich island, and the loss has got to hurt them somewhat.

 

__________________________________________

 

 

 

So now Victory will slowly wend its way from St.Thomas on a Monday evening..

 

 

-Southward to Barbados, arriving Wednesday morning.

 

 

You should get decent -if distant- views of the Lesser Antilles as she heads South

so keep your tele lenses handy!

 

That's Martinique, as seen from the stern of Caribbean Princess..

.

[Quampapetet]

Yes, I've read several comments re. Victory's cruise being kinda hectic, with a port every single day

so that bit makes sense, I guess.

.

 

Doesn't make much sense to me - if ppl didn't want a port every day, why did they book that cruise? And then get off at every port when they could've stayed on the ship at whichever ones they wanted?

 

They're not going to cancel Barbados, as they sometimes (all the time?) pick up passengers from there who do Barbados-to-Barbados cruises at the same time as the San Juan-to-San Juan cruises. So, that island makes them money.

[nikimouse]

I'm so sad....if you don't believe me call your TA or PVP. The announcement should go out tomorrow. I think it starts in Nov. It was the main reason I booked. :( To top it all off I was told it would NOT be replaced by another island.

 

 

im disapointed but at least i get to go there in october. it will be a real shame for people of dominica :(

[Beckaroous]

I just called carnival and they first said because it was so violent and I said "Where can I find info on the violence because I did not hear anything" The customer service agent said "Google it" I said "I can't find anything all I am finding is Dominica Newspapers saying its because of the gas prices and customer's complaining there were too may ports" She than said "No carnival would pass the gas prices on to you and I worked in sales and that was a popular crusie BECAUSE it stopped EVERYDAY. Its Violence." I then said "Why are you still going to St Thomas, they killed one of your passenger and Mexico isn't exactly a safe place these days." She went on some speech about St THomas and then thought for a minute and had to agree that Mexico isn't exactly safe. I then said "Did carnival release a PR statement about Dominica or ANYTHING" after 3 minutes on hold she told me it was because of Gas costs and passenger comments and told me to call Guest Relations at 1-800-929-6400 Ask for Guest Relations on Tuesday when they are open...Is no one able to give a strait answer anymore

 

PS I will be calling I recommend you do too so they get some "Customer Feedback" about the change they made based on "Customer Feedback"

[MDSue]

I'm in the process of booking a Princess cruise that's supposed to stop in Dominica in April. It is a ten day cruise and if they cancel a port, it may be a deal breaker for me. I prefer port days to sea days. I was really looking forward to going there.

Please tell me Princess won't cancel too:(. I have till Wednesday to cancel my hold.

[Cinder Again]

I just called carnival and they first said because it was so violent

I'm betting NO on the violence, because Carnival owns Holland America and Princess, and they continue to go there. In fact, I'm on a January 2011 cruise on HAL, and Dominica was just ADDED in place of St. Vincents. Like you, however, it's hard to get a straight answer on why. We got "for the comfort of our passengers the change in island was made". Who knows what that means?:rolleyes:

[Gary72]

Caribbean Princess is my only option now that Carnival has pulled Dominica. I am not sure if I will switch as I am still reseraching the other ports and comparing them with Carnival ports. One thing is for sure, whichever ship I take (and I have little choice since non-refundable tickets to San Juan lock me in), I will NEVER SAIL WITH CARNIVAL AGAIN!

[khm1]

Caribbean Princess is my only option now that Carnival has pulled Dominica. I am not sure if I will switch as I am still reseraching the other ports and comparing them with Carnival ports. One thing is for sure, whichever ship I take (and I have little choice since non-refundable tickets to San Juan lock me in), I will NEVER SAIL WITH CARNIVAL AGAIN!

RCL goes to Dominica as well. The Serenade stops there on it's winter itineraries. Serenade sails from Saturday to Saturday though. Victory and Caribbean Princess go from Sunday to Sunday, I believe.

[MDSue]

RCL goes to Dominica as well. The Serenade stops there on it's winter itineraries. Serenade sails from Saturday to Saturday though. Victory and Caribbean Princess go from Sunday to Sunday, I believe.

The Princess (Star) itinerary we are booked for is a 10 day cruise that departs on a Wednesday.

[schmoopie17]

Adventure of the Seas goes Sunday to Sunday and stops in Dominica (at least for now...)

[sunseeker09]

I saw this news on the Carnival forum and posted a reply there, then came here to see if people were talking about it here. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one disappointed with this news.

 

We cruised the Victory in Jan. Carnival changed our itinerary for that cruise too. We were supposed to stop in Antigua and instead stopped in St. Maarten. At least they didn’t drop a port. So that’s two major itinerary changes in one year! (IMHO they should’ve dropped St. Lucia)

I don’t think dropping it has anything to do with people complaining of too many ports. If you don’t like that, don’t book it, or stay on the ship for a port of your choice. That reasoning is just ridiculous to me. So is so-called the fuel savings, as they cruise right by. I think they just want more of our money on a sea day.

 

We loved Dominica. It was one of our favorite ports. We did a private tour with Bumpiing. I think Carnival can’t compete whatsoever with excursions, since there are so many great tour ops there with decent prices.

 

I read a LOT of reviews of the Victory before and after our cruise. The people who loved that cruise did so BECAUSE of the port a day itinerary and no sea days. The ship itself is nothing to write home about. It was ok, but not a cruise people take for that ship. It was all about the itinerary for most of us.

We were considering doing another Victory cruise one day. Not likely now. At this rate there won’t be any ports left. We’ll definitely be looking at other cruise lines offering Southern Caribbean cruises now. The others have a sea too, so we might as well go on a different ship with new (better) ports... like including Dominica and not including St. Lucia... and maybe the ABC islands this time... Bye bye Carnival! This is the last straw for us.