RCCL just changed our itinereary!

[wantocruisemore]

We're booked on Mariner for Western Med next summer. We chose that cruise because of the itinerary. Apparently when they shut down the website for improvements, they also did the itinerary change.

 

Now, instead of Corsica the new stop is Monte Carlo (which we did not want to go to) and instead of Tunis, Tunisia the substituted stop is Valencia. I don't have a problem with Valencia, it's just that my DD's were especially looking forward to Tunis and we had even booked our private tour already. I can understand if because of a dangerous situation a cruiseline changes a stop, but they have taken Tunis off all next summer.

 

Now, not sure if DH will want to go at all. He was wanting to do a land trip to England/Scotland, I was pushing returning to Rome and a cruise. DD's wanted a cruise if out of Rome and they liked Tunis.

 

This ever happen to anyone? Now I have to break it to my family about the change. I just checked the other European itineraries. None will interest them. Looks like it may be a land tour or a cruise to the Caribbean.

[LeeBe]

Sorry to hear about your disappointment, but the North African ports of call have been a bit iffy for sometime. Happened to us on our last TA a couple of years ago.

[Az's Cruising Nana]

That really bites when you have picked a cruise due to itinerary and or ship. We have had cruises shortened and chartered out from under us. I'm sure whatever you decide you will make some good memories with your family. At least you still have the winter to plan. Have a good time whatever you decide to do, let us know what it is.

 

Sue

[sr4mjc]

We did a repo cruise in Nov 2008 that included Casablanca and Tunis. I wondered if they still stopped there now. I'm not sure I would be as up for it now to be honest. We didn't have any issues thankfully. And Sidi Bou Said and Carthage were pretty amazing.

 

Sorry they changed your route, did you already book airfare?

[Ashland]

Sorry for the change..That's always upsetting..But why do you not want to go to Monte Carlo ? As far as Tunisia goes..my DD just returned from a cruise that ported there and I can understand now with safety being an issue why it has been changed...

[wantocruisemore]

Thankfully we had not booked the airfare yet. I was going to be doing that before Dec. I had already arranged for Rome in Limo to handle our transfers pre and post cruise and was in the process of narrowing down our apartment choices. So we're not out any money, just disappointment. It just bites that none of the other European itineraries were of any interest; especially since we did Eastern Med a few months ago.

 

And we had gotten the really large balcony corner room on Deck 7 too.:(

[cb at sea]

At least they changed them before you set sail! They can make changes and substitutions, or even cancellations, up to the last minute!

[bluemarble]

I can understand your disappointment. We are on the upcoming November 3, 2011 Brilliance of the Seas cruise from Barcelona to Dubai. We booked this cruise way back in July, 2010. The original itinerary had stops in Alexandria, Sharm El Shiekh, and Safaga, Egypt.

 

After the unrest in Egypt earlier this year, the three Egyptian ports were dropped from the itinerary. Stops in Rome, Messina, Eilat, Muscat, and Abu Dhabi were added.

 

We are disappointed that we won't be seeing the pyramids at Giza or the temples at Luxor. However, we will be seeing a few other places we haven't been to before. And we were able to take advantage of a nice price drop after the itinerary changes. So we are sticking with this cruise.

 

Regards,

John.

[Bobal]

I can understand why you're so disappointed. We looked at this itinerary too and really fancied it because of the ports of call - Tunis sounded like something a bit more exciting than the usual Med ports. Why people think Tunis has been cancelled because of troubles in Egypt is beyond me :rolleyes:

 

As for replacing Corsica with Monte Carlo :eek: I assume the changes are to fit in with a new route but if I booked a cruise with Tunis and Corsica and found them replaced with Valencia and Monte Carlo I wouldn't be happy either.

[wantocruisemore]

I can understand your disappointment. We are on the upcoming November 3, 2011 Brilliance of the Seas cruise from Barcelona to Dubai. We booked this cruise way back in July, 2010. The original itinerary had stops in Alexandria, Sharm El Shiekh, and Safaga, Egypt.

 

After the unrest in Egypt earlier this year, the three Egyptian ports were dropped from the itinerary. Stops in Rome, Messina, Eilat, Muscat, and Abu Dhabi were added.

 

We are disappointed that we won't be seeing the pyramids at Giza or the temples at Luxor. However, we will be seeing a few other places we haven't been to before. And we were able to take advantage of a nice price drop after the itinerary changes. So we are sticking with this cruise.

 

Regards,

John.

 

 

I can totally understand your disappointment. We had looked at cruises that went to Egypt too and decided that when we want to tour Egypt we will do it as a land tour/Nile River cruise combination in order to see all we want.

That must be the reason when I went looking for a suitable alternative I could not find any that went to Egypt. I was trying to find a suitable substitute so my DD would not be disappointed.

 

I understand about emergencies. We were holding our breath this past summer about Athens since a few lines had re-routed to a different port the week before our cruise due to port strikes.

[negc]

At least they changed them before you set sail! They can make changes and substitutions, or even cancellations, up to the last minute!

 

They also made the change well before any cruisers were in the penalty period, so aside from the obvious disappointment involved, the OP and others have time to make other arrangements and won't suffer any monetary loss.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Why people think Tunis has been cancelled because of troubles in Egypt is beyond me :rolleyes:

 

There have been recent signs of renewed unrest in Tunisia, which was the first state to have a government overthrown in the 'Arab Spring'.

[Gordo]

This happened to us as well with our Mediterranean cruise on Mariner of the Seas this past September. RCCL cancelled Alexandria, Egypt about six months out because of civil unrest and replaced it with Istanbul, Turkey. We specifically booked this cruise because of the overnight in Egypt so we completely changed our plans and booked an Australia cruise instead.

 

We found out recently that less than a week before the cruise departed RCCL also replaced the Naples stop with Malta due to an issue at the port. That would have been another big disappointment because we really wanted to see Pompei as well.

 

This is the first time that we have had a port cancelled (let alone two). It will affect our future travel decisions for those places that are "must-sees" for us. I hope your family is not too disappointed.

[wantocruisemore]

This happened to us as well with our Mediterranean cruise on Mariner of the Seas this past September. RCCL cancelled Alexandria, Egypt about six months out because of civil unrest and replaced it with Istanbul, Turkey. We specifically booked this cruise because of the overnight in Egypt so we completely changed our plans and booked an Australia cruise instead.

 

We found out recently that less than a week before the cruise departed RCCL also replaced the Naples stop with Malta due to an issue at the port. That would have been another big disappointment because we really wanted to see Pompei as well.

 

This is the first time that we have had a port cancelled (let alone two). It will affect our future travel decisions for those places that are "must-sees" for us. I hope your family is not too disappointed.

 

Funny, we almost booked that same cruise for this past summer and then decided we wanted to spend more time pre-cruise in Rome and several of us could only take off 2 weeks at a time. When I saw they had changed it, I was glad we went with the Navigator.

 

Well, told DH. He is VERY disappointed. His first response was to cancel. But then he had started to get really excited about returning to Rome. So we will talk to DD's about it. When we called the one in college she was stressing over mid-terms this week so we didn't mention it.

 

In the meantime I'm searching for other alternatives. If we do a European cruise we want to stay with RCCL because they allow smoking on the balcony. I've already checked Carnival's and the itinerary for the one ship in the Med does not interest us.

 

I'm doing some checking into going out of Venice and staying either pre-cruise or post-cruise in Rome and taking the train or flight between. Now if only those cruises had Instanbul we would jump on them.

[TigerLady]

Thankfully we had not booked the airfare yet. I was going to be doing that before Dec. I had already arranged for Rome in Limo to handle our transfers pre and post cruise and was in the process of narrowing down our apartment choices. So we're not out any money, just disappointment. It just bites that none of the other European itineraries were of any interest; especially since we did Eastern Med a few months ago.

 

And we had gotten the really large balcony corner room on Deck 7 too.:(

 

 

Just a thought, contact RCCL, tell them the issue. Maybe you can get a different cruise everyone is happy with, or just cancel.. Don't go just because it's booked. There are always other options.

[Paulxyz2004]

Yep has happened to me a number of times and probably will again in the future. It´s not uncommon.

[traveling1969]

They also made the change well before any cruisers were in the penalty period, so aside from the obvious disappointment involved, the OP and others have time to make other arrangements and won't suffer any monetary loss.

That's not necessarily true. If their flights are booked, then change fees could be considerable. Also, many folks take advantage of non-refundable hotel specials. You are correct in that changes in the cruise itself won't result any monetary loss but planning for a European cruise includes many other considerations. I'm with the OP. Changes like that can be disconcerting (as well as EXPENSIVE!).

[wantocruisemore]

OK I just checked the website because I was searching if there might possibly be another cruise we may want to do. I was even checking on China. Then I noticed that for some of the Mariner cruises next summer they have now replaced Cannes and put Corsica back in! And for some they have put Sardinia instead of Tunis.

 

I understand about unrest in Tunis, and although we were really looking forward to that stop I can see the cruiseline playing it safe. But Cannes was the last straw.

 

If anyone with RCCL is listening, PLEASE change the June 16th itinerary to reflect the better amended itinerary for the July sailings? We're on the verge of cancelling.

[negc]

That's not necessarily true. If their flights are booked, then change fees could be considerable. Also, many folks take advantage of non-refundable hotel specials. You are correct in that changes in the cruise itself won't result any monetary loss but planning for a European cruise includes many other considerations. I'm with the OP. Changes like that can be disconcerting (as well as EXPENSIVE!).

 

If you read the original post again, you will see that they had not purchased their airfare before the change was made, so there are no change fees involved. When the change does involve a change fee, the cruise lines frequently are willing to reimburse the passenger for that amount. No one is saying that such changes are not disappointing but in the case in question there was no additional expense involved.

[richstowe]

This happened to us as well with our Mediterranean cruise on Mariner of the Seas this past September. RCCL cancelled Alexandria, Egypt about six months out because of civil unrest and replaced it with Istanbul, Turkey. We specifically booked this cruise because of the overnight in Egypt so we completely changed our plans and booked an Australia cruise instead.

This is the first time that we have had a port cancelled (let alone two). It will affect our future travel decisions for those places that are "must-sees" for us. I hope your family is not too disappointed.

We booked our Mariner cruise late. The original itinerary had an Egyptian port in it . And then came "the Arab Spring".

 

I understand your disappointment and also understand the desire of cruise lines to minimize any possible danger.

Perhaps there is a non RCL cruise that would meet your needs.

[traveling1969]

If you read the original post again, you will see that they had not purchased their airfare before the change was made, so there are no change fees involved. When the change does involve a change fee, the cruise lines frequently are willing to reimburse the passenger for that amount. No one is saying that such changes are not disappointing but in the case in question there was no additional expense involved.

I see that now. They mentioned that in a later post. Good for them.

[Gordo]

We booked our Mariner cruise late. The original itinerary had an Egyptian port in it . And then came "the Arab Spring".

 

I understand your disappointment and also understand the desire of cruise lines to minimize any possible danger.

Perhaps there is a non RCL cruise that would meet your needs.

 

We are watching for a replacement that includes other cruiseline options for future travel, but will probably do a land tour for places that are on our list of "must-sees".

[herbanrenewal]

I can sympathize. I just found out the Celebrity Holy Lands cruise we booked in April 2011 for November 2012 has been canceled. Its a long way off, but the price was good.

We were offered the same ship, same room on a trip from Southampton to wines country of France and Spain...sounds good but not even close to the Holy Lands.

the only Holy Lands for Celebrity in November 2012 is 3 days longer and will cost us a couple hundred dollars more. We were offered $200 obc.

 

I took the Celebrity Solstice Holy Lands offer, but I'm seriously considering changing it for one from RCCL when I'm onboard the Navigator in 2 weeks I'll see what can be done.

[Priusprof]

We were just blindsided by a change in our itinerary for May 2012 on Mariner. We were on a Holy Land cruise that included 2 days in Israel and 2 days in Egypt. These were eliminated and now the itinerary shows stops in Sicily, Crete, Rhodes and Istanbul. The stops in Naples, Athens, and Kusadasi remain unchanged.

They are still not selling these two 12 day cruises in May.

[old sole]

We are booked on Brilliance OTS Dubai-Rome 4/19/2012, which has 3 ports (4 days) in Egypt, and have heard nothing from RCCL about changes. Does anyone have any info to the contrary?