Complete Itinerary Change

[rienreiter]

Hello Fellow Cruisers:

 

I was wondering how many of you out there have ever had the experience of having a cruise itinerary completely changed after you've made your booking.

 

I booked in April 2 Junior Suites on the Radiance of the Seas departure out of Miami on 1/2/06. It was supposed to be an Eastern Caribbean itinerary. This past weekend I found out that the itinerary has been changed to a Western Caribbean itinerary.

 

I am very well aware of the fact that cruise lines reserve the right to replace or change ports even at the last minute. However, this was a complete itinerary change. Nevertheless, we ended up cancelling our reservations and cruise on the Radiance as none of us were interested in the Western itinerary.

 

My curiosity has brought me here to ask you if this has happened to you before and what have you done. Does this happen often?

 

I know that I particularly booked this cruise because of the itinerary as this was important to me. I am wondering if most of us think the same way or if most of us would just keep the reservation just to go on a cruise even if it is not the itinerary that you desire.

 

Thanks for your input.

[Skipgil]

You know what...? I have been wondering about this all day today!

 

We are scheduled out of Port Canaveral Sunday for the Western. I am convinced that we will revert to the Eastern trip because of Hurricane Emily. At what point would they tell us what I am guessing will already happen? Probably not until we are on board!

 

We are prepared for the Eastern side now and we have excursions selected just in case. I just hope I am wrong with my gut feeling on this one!

[love2cruiz]

It's funny you said that..I am looking at Eastern Excusions just in case. I think probably right when you get on the ship go to the pursurs desk and book your "new" excursions!

 

 

have fun! Hopefully Emily will not affect us??

[kenandlaura06]

I think there was a thread about this same topic last week. Search back a few days.

[98Charlie]

Regarding the OP question, was yours the only week changed? Or, was there a more complete change of itineraries?

 

It does happen where the cruise line reassigns ships for various reasons. Celebrity Century comes to mind.

 

As far as complete last minute itinerary changes, it happens also. But, docking a cruise ship isn't the same as pulling into the Wal-Mart parking lot. :D

 

The lines may have some contigency plans. However, it seems that when a change occurs, there is a tendancy to lose some ports and pick up more sea days. I didn't track what happened to all of the cruises last year but, it seems most picked up extra sea days. (Not counting the ones that couldn't get back to port and wound up with extra days on the cruise.)

 

Charlie

[Murphy]

Well, yes, and no. We booked the Celebrity Century that was to sail the Southern Caribbean this fall, while on our cruise last fall. In December, our TA called us to let us know that Celebrity had decided to move the Century to Europe for the summer and it would not be doing the Southern Caribbean when we were booked. So yes, we had the itinerary change, but no, we didn't stay on the same ship, as they offered us some onboard credit to book a different Celebrity or RCCL cruise instead.

[dolphincruiser404]

The only changes I've ever had are skipping Coco Cay and doing Nassau instead of Labadee. I know that changes are common during hurricane season. Just something you have to be ready for.

[szdiver]

We were booked on a repo cruise on the then-new NCL Dawn. We had an owners suite, so were very excited. A few weeks before the cruise, we started seeing indications in cruise critic postings that our cruise was no more. They transferred the boat to NY, and we were out of luck. We called our TA, who called NCL, who finally told us it was cancelled. Since we already had plane tickets, we were offered a deal to trade our 10-day owners suite for a 17-day panama canal trip on the Sky, owners suite. We naturally took advantage of it. We also got $250.00 in room credit. I'll take that deal any time.....

[dolphincruiser404]

The only changes I've ever had are skipping Coco Cay and doing Nassau instead of Labadee. I know that changes are common during hurricane season. Just something you have to be ready for.

[negc]

In the case of an impending hurricane, the cruiseline will not change the itinerary unless it becomes obvious that it is necessary, so often the decision is not made until the last possible moment. The complexities involved in sailing a different itinerary are not things that they want to do unless they have to. Hurricane tracks can be very difficult to predict, so if you are sailing in hurricane season, you need to be flexible and recognize that itineraries may change, or sailings might be delayed or advanced. Better that they change the itinerary than put ship, passengers and crew at risk.