This really irks me

[sally r]

We are booked on the Voyager for 10/21/05 and I just noticed today that the itinerary has changed. It is not a huge change but was the reason I booked the cruise. Originally we would arrive back at NJ at noon and now it is at 7 am. We can't get a flight until 6 pm so the noon debarkation worked great. Plus I liked the idea of not having to get up early and be shoved off at the crack of dawn. I am really considering canceling the whole cruise.

 

Also, what is with the 2006 sailings? Where are they? I have already booked two cruises for 2006 and they are not on Royal Caribbean because RCI has nothing to book!

 

I guess I just feel that Royal Caribbean is getting sloppy or maybe just too cool for us non -Freedom cruisers?

[2VaCruzers]

Sally...I too am getting a little impatient for those summer '06 bookings to become available. I wanted to book while onboard Explorer last month but couldn't. I did, however, get a coupon for the onboard credit. But it IS getting a little frustrating. When we were talking to the loyalty embassador back in March, he said he was thinking it would be about 4 weeks. We'll see.

[Guest OBAYbee]

We are booked on the Voyager for 10/21/05 and I just noticed today that the itinerary has changed. It is not a huge change but was the reason I booked the cruise. Originally we would arrive back at NJ at noon and now it is at 7 am. We can't get a flight until 6 pm so the noon debarkation worked great. Plus I liked the idea of not having to get up early and be shoved off at the crack of dawn. I am really considering canceling the whole cruise.

 

Also, what is with the 2006 sailings? Where are they? I have already booked two cruises for 2006 and they are not on Royal Caribbean because RCI has nothing to book!

 

I guess I just feel that Royal Caribbean is getting sloppy or maybe just too cool for us non -Freedom cruisers?

 

 

Maybe they are loading the 2006 cruises right now. Travelocity AND RCCL.com websites are either down or working on their cruise page (such is the case at Travelocity)

[yogimax]

Are you sure the original itinerary called for a noon arrival? Every cruise ship I know of, docks early in the morning, so that departing passengers can disembark and the ship prepared for those coming on board. We have sailed three times from New Jersey and all had early morning returns. Is it possible they told you not to book a flight until after noon? That would make sense.

[csk]

I agree with the above post and have been on at least 30 cruises and have always arrived earlly in the morning, never been past 9am, they have to get you off and get the next group on.

[gizfish]

The original poster is correct in that many of the sailings on Voyager from Cape Liberty returned to NJ at noon. Specifically the nine night cruises followed that rule. I just checked our itinerary and it too has changed to arriving back in NJ at noon. I also noticed they decreased the amount of time in Freeport too, probably to make that earlier arrival.

[Elexman]

Are you sure the original itinerary called for a noon arrival? Every cruise ship I know of, docks early in the morning, so that departing passengers can disembark and the ship prepared for those coming on board. We have sailed three times from New Jersey and all had early morning returns. Is it possible they told you not to book a flight until after noon? That would make sense.

 

I checked the itinerary on cruise.com a bit ago, and indeed it did say 12:00 pm. It doesn't make sense, but it does say that. To OP, did the actual cruise documentation also indicate noon? Just curious, that's all.

[cruisin-Trish]

I have been on one cruise(NCL Spirit 10/22/04) that returned and was scheduled to return at 12 noon. It was very nice getting a little more shut eye than usual! You can check for yourselves. The last 9 day sailing of the Spirit is on April 15.

[suziehmkr]

Maybe they are loading the 2006 cruises right now. Travelocity AND RCCL.com websites are either down or working on their cruise page (such is the case at Travelocity)

They aren't working for Princess tonite either...... so it isn't an RCCL thing.

 

Gosh - I don't know that I would cancel an entire cruise just because it gets into port early..... Will those few hours make that big of a deal that you would change your entire vacation? :( Our holiday cruise gets in at 6am... I am not thrilled about it, but I wouldn't change my entire plans just because I have to get up early. But that is just me....

[sally r]

I just checked again and now RCL says 9am not 7am!

 

You are right Gizfish, the time in Freeport is also changed..now the website says 6:30 am to 1:30pm..guess I just don't handle change well but Freeport is not a favorite so I can live with it.

 

Elexman, I printed out the itinerary from the Royal Caribbean website when I booked but my TA didn't send an itinerary.

 

I know that ports/times can change but we are on a back to back, two different cruise lines, and this blew the whole thing up! I had such a perfect plan, too.

 

I had pictured a leisurely breakfast and an enjoyable morning on the balcony coming into port. I feel like I have been taken by a bait and switch deal.

[dc-snoopy]

When the ship gets into port before 9AM then the the ship will usually be ready to sail by 5PM.

 

If the ship gets in at NOON, it will usually not sail until 8PM.

 

I remember this from 2001 when we were looking for our first cruise. Since we were flying from the East Coast to the west coast (either Seward, AK or Vancouver, BC) we wanted to make sure that we had an early morning arrival so that we could get a flight home same day. A NOON arrival meant that we would not be able to get home (with the east-bound time differential) the same day.

[MonaCK]

You can stay on the ship up until the last color tag is called - so take advantage of that, and spend some time up on deck while waiting to get off the ship...

[Croozin Soozin]

Sally - sorry you're unhappy with the changes. I know that it's a real pain when a change is made - for instance, our Radiance cruise was scheduled for departure from San Diego, but it was changed a couple of months ago to depart from Ensenada. Bill was ready to cancel, but I convinced him that the cruise will be worth the little inconvenience. At least it's the first day - the rest of the cruise should make up for it!!!

 

How are you and Rick doing?? I really envy you being able to cruise so much!!!!

 

Soozin

[Hflors]

You could change ships. Why not move to the Maasdam. From their on time record you would be lucky to be back in Norfork by NOON!

 

I know, it's just a little joke

 

I'm sorry for the change. I do hate that about cruising. The times of dep/arrival and port times have been changed or several cruises. Never did get an explanation from the cruise line. Anyway have a great cruise.

[cruisinfanatic]

RCL pricing for 2006 is to be out sometime this week.

[cruisinfanatic]

Are you sure the original itinerary called for a noon arrival? Every cruise ship I know of, docks early in the morning, so that departing passengers can disembark and the ship prepared for those coming on board. We have sailed three times from New Jersey and all had early morning returns. Is it possible they told you not to book a flight until after noon? That would make sense.

 

The 9 day out of NJ has been scheduled for a noon arrival since it's first sailing almost a year ago.

[2VaCruzers]

Cruisingfanatic...how do you know the RCCL pricing for summer 2006 will be out this week? I sure hope you're right!! :D

[rcicruiser]

Prices will be out the first week in May. They had to finish up with their new policies for TA before the released inventory for the rest of 2006.

[rcicruiser]

Oh and be glad you are not on the Norwegian Dawn this weekend. When it returns it is coming in at 5 am and all the passengers have to be off by 7 am. the ship is then leaving the dock for a little while.

[sally r]

Hflors, very funny!

 

Soozin, I would have been really mad at the change to Ensenada. Glad to hear that Bill is up to cruising again. We leave in four days for our first Panama Canal cruise. We leave from Miami and end up in Vancouver, BC 22 days later!

I have been trying to log on to the RCI site this morning..finally got on and nothing has changed!

 

Anyway, DH and I discussed this itinerary change last night and decided to just stick with it. We need to book our flights this week before first class fills up. Now what to do in NJ for the day with huge amounts of luggage to drag around?!?

[suziehmkr]

Our Radiance cruise was scheduled for departure from San Diego, but it was changed a couple of months ago to depart from Ensenada.

Soozin - are they bussing you down to Ensenada? My understanding is that when RCCL ships embark in Ensenada, you actually check in at the San Diego Harbor and they bus you down to the ship.

[Croozin Soozin]

Suzie - yes, we are being bussed to Ensenada - the reason for the change is because there are so many ships in port at San Diego the day of our departure. So I don't think that we'll be checking in there. I wish they would go back to the way they used to do things and check people in at the hotel. It used to be nice going over to the port and walking right on the ship because we were already checked in and issued our sea pass cards.

 

Sally - I want to hear all about it!!!! I'm so looking forward to our Panama Canal cruise, since it will be a first for us too. We'll be on our cruise when you get back from your Voyager cruise!!! Which ship are you on for the Panama Canal??? Not RCI?? I hope you have a great time!!!

 

Soozin

[bingo3]

The Bermuda cruises on Voyager now are scheduled to leave N.J. at 5:00 p.m. instead of the original 10:00 p.m. I was wondering how we were going to be able to do that if the Caribbean cruise didn't return until noon. Now this change to your itinerary explains it. They changed you guys and changed us. Although for us, will be nice to get on the ship earlier and sail earlier than 10:00 p.m. Sorry it's at your expense though!

[wineandbeach]

I just checked our itinerary and saw the changes. Although I was looking forward to a relaxing morning getting off the ship, I'm more annoyed about the freeport stop. I know most people don't like this port but I have never been there and like to try new places. We were going to make it a beach day and leaving at 1:30 pretty much ruins that. You have to be back on the ship a half hour early plus there is nothing close to port in Freeport leaving little time to do anything. Why bother stopping? This really leaves us with only 3 port days (one being Labadee). I've never cruises RCI before and between this and the "No beverage rule", I'm wondering if we made a mistake but I will go in openminded. We have only cruised Hal and Celebrity before and loved them both so we'll probably love this too.

[LuvMyVette]

:) Hi:

 

DH/I are going on VOS on July 15 for a nine day Caribbean cruise. I noticed yesterday that our itineray had changed. We were suppose to be in Freeport from 8am until 3pm and now it's changed to 6:30am to 1:30pm. The arrival time back in Cape Liberty changed from noon to 9am. I think the reason why they are doing this is that the ship alternates its route (9 day cruise to Caribbean, 5 day cruise to Bermuda) that no way the ship can be ready in five hours to leave for Bermuda and people are already boarding before noon. I guess this wasn't realized when the two itineraries were created and then the lightbulb went off looking at the time slots. I was looking forward to the noon departure but guess that's not happening anymore...

I've been on several RCI cruises and little by little they are going down hill in certain areas. I almost gave up last year but figure give it one more chance. I hope things will be much better on VOS than on Grandeur last year.

I wouldn't cancel your cruise due to this. I understand that it's really annoying but it could be a lot worse. Here's a good story for you....Last year on Grandeur DH/I went for a 10 day cruise out of Baltimore. Due to Hurricane Jeanne our itinerary completely changed! I called RCI in the morning to verify the itinerary and everything (except Freeport) remained the same. The guests coming off of Grandeur from the New England cruise informed us that our itinerary has completely changed. Hello.. does that make sense? To make this short.. we spent more time at sea than in ports and it was very annoying. We didn't go to any of the ports we were suppose to go to and wasn't credited for the port charges. We originally have five ports and ended up at three. That was beyond frustrating. The time slots on one of the ports was insane you didn't have a full day there which was unfair. Many passengers complained and nothing was done to compensate it. To make it even more funny.. the ship was running out of food toward the end of the cruise.. now that's sad.