Itinerary Change - fare reduction or moveovers

[Embracedbylife]

I just got off the phone with a Princess rep regarding our Egypt cruise in May, discussing what to do if ports of call are changed, and she told me that they would not cancel the cruise all together but if the itinerary is changed they will offer a fare reduction.

 

Is this really the case? She told me that when a cruise ship is unable to make the scheduled ports of call (even if due to weather) they will reimburse some of the fare to all passengers. That seemed crazy to me, but if it's true that's wonderful!!

 

Also she said that in some cases if the cruise is changed a lot, they have an entire "move-over" department that will book you on an alternate cruise if you are not happy with the port changes and will help pay for your changes to airfare to move over to another cruise. Sounds almost too good to be true. Thoughts? Experiences??

[Pam in CA]

If a ship doesn't make a port for whatever reason, the only thing you can count on is a return of port charges and fees. If it's a significant change in the itinerary before the ship sails, you may be offered the option of a fare reduction or OBC, or offered the chance to move to a different sailing, dependent on space available.

 

In 2001, we were scheduled to go to Israel for two days but due to bombings and a State Department warning, our itinerary changed to two days in Instanbul plus a $500 fare reduction (this was before final payment.) We were thrilled with the change and loved our days in Istanbul.

[Toto2Kansas]

I agree with Pam, the minimum is the return of your port fees for the missed port. I have to admit though, when an important port is missed, they usually do compensate in some way for it. I can't promise you that will happen, but it has happened to us in the past.

[Jasperdo]

My wife and I were on the Golden Princess 14 day cruise to Hawaii last month. We had to miss 2 of the 4 Hawaii ports due to weather. Everyone on the ship was given a $250 discount on a future cruise. I thought this was a very nice compensation from Princess, since the cruise contract specifically stated they are not responsible for missing any port due to weather.

[paul929207]

Read thru the Passage Contract. It says the cruise line can do almost anything that they want and you have no real complaint. If there is danger, they can cancel a port. We missed the Seychelles in 2009 because of the threat of pirates. We got a refund of the port charges & government fees & taxes. We did not get any other compensation.