RC... Tortola itinerary changes...list yours here

[skiiergirl]

If you booked a RC cruise that was/is scheduled to visit Tortola....tell us:

1. Your ship and sail date

2. Are you still scheduled to visit Tortola (or did you visit Tortola within the last 6 months)?

3. If your itinerary was changed to eliminate Tortola:

a. What island are you visiting (did you visit) instead

b. When did RC make you aware of the change???????

 

I am aware that there is pier construction happening in Tortola...which is supposedly the reason for the changes. I am aware that the cruise line has the "right" to change itineraries at any time.

 

It just seems that there is no rhyme or reason as to "when" they notified folks of the change. Some sailings were notified months in advance while some sailings have only been given a few weeks notice...and some given the notice 2 days after final payment even though cruisers were told 2 days before final payment that Tortola would remain on the itinerary. I am trying to figure out if it truly is a matter that the port just now informed them they won't be ready for these sailings....or what I suspect....some of the sailings that should have been notified months ago were "overlooked" and did not receive the "change" when it should have occurred.

[3kids1dog]

When I booked our cruise last May for this March, Tortola was on the list, they changed it in May or June to St. Croix, (which I found out about on our roll call). It wasn't officially changed on their website for a long time, maybe it was September or October. Honestly, I don't think I was ever "officially" notified. The pier is behind schedule I hear, but they haven't planned on going there, at least not in March for some time.

[cruisingonQ]

Our cruise leaves March 20th and we got an e mail this past weekend (Feb. 14) that we would be going to St. Thomas instead of Tortola. They are still posting shore excursions for Tortola. I called RCI and they had a few and I was told they were working with vendors for more excursions. I feel they have known for quite a while that we were not going to Tortola and should have had these excursions lined up before. Tortola was one of the reasons we picked this cruise.

[KKMurphy2]

Jewel of the Seas, April 25th. I found out 2 days after final payment. Just before this, there were still excursions listed. I did email RCCL earlier this week to given them a quick, tasteful note regarding their timing. This itinerary was chosen to hit Tortola; we have been everywhere else. I could have switched my cruise to one leaving from the US, where airfares and hotels were a bit cheaper. They left me with no option. I will still enjoy the cruise! But the timing was not honest and forthcoming.

Edited February 18, 2015 by KKMurphy2

[Spike2000]

We were burned as well. (I was NOT happy about it either)

 

My sail date was 1/31/15 on the Jewel out of PR. I made my last payment on 12/24 and also ironically enough booked an excursion to Jost with the RC REP on the phone that day.

 

My docs were emailed to me that afternoon (again 12/24) and St Thomas replaced Tortola. I was never notified of the change. (Believe me, I scoured through all my emails)

 

Sorry for the Tortola loss. :(

[Badger-Badger]

Jewel out of San Juan on March 28. We were switched to St. Thomas sometime before Christmas. We were never notified, it showed up on the itinerary when I checked one day. We had a re-shuffle of the order of our ports too.

 

I chose the itinerary for Dominica and Barbados, and while I would have preferred Tortola over St. Thomas I wasn't really bothered. I'll hit Tortola another time when the construction is completed. Excuse to book again :)

[dcward89]

Jewel, left San Juan 01/03/15. Saw on-line 1 week before cruise left that Tortola had been switched to St. Thomas. Never received any official notification. Was scheduled for a Sunday so when we arrived in St. Thomas there was LITERALLY nothing open, NOTHING. I love St. Thomas but since we were on a B2B and were going to St. Thomas the 2nd week as well, we decided to just get off the ship and walking around in the shops and take the Skyride to Paradise Point. Not a single store was open, Skyride wasn't open. We walked back to the ship and enjoyed the day by the pool. We did notice after lunch that the Skyride was operating so I guess they opened everything up later in the day.

[Rob&Bonnie]

Sailing on 2/28, itinerary was changed last week. I read about it on our roll call board, never received an email.

 

I'm disappointed as we had not been to Tortola before, but expected that this would be the case as the sailings both before and after ours had been changed for quite a while.

 

As this puts us in St Thomas on a Sunday, I'll likely save a lot of money as most of the shops will be closed :rolleyes:

[copi2boys]

Legend of the Seas, 2/6. We picked this cruise specifically for Tortola! We were never notified of a change to St. Thomas, found out through the roll call. The change was made after final payment, November, change made 12/24. An email easily could have been sent out. Otherwise the cruise was WONDERFUL.

[Susie51]

RCI should make e-mail notices of changes before final payment, so that people can choose to sail another time without financial penalties.

[Spike2000]

BTW...Coki Beach was awesome on Sunday because there was only 1 ship in St Thomas that day. Very quiet and enjoyable day.

 

I assume that St Thomas has an 'Off Day' on Sunday's typically. I just wanted to mention this because I have heard that Coki becomes way too crowed on days when many ships are in port.

[Bailey & Sophie]

We were NEVER officially notified of the change (Legend, 2/6).

I had hints through the roll call that there was a change pending and kept watching the website. The day BEFORE final payment was due, Tortola was still listed. I had a ship excursion planned for Tortola. AFTER final payment was due and paid, the website change Tortola for St. Thomas. Two weeks later, my excursion for Tortola was STILL listed on my daily planner! I thought about keeping it there until I boarded, but thought it would be too difficult to get my money back so I cancelled before we sailed.

I booked the cruise specifically for Tortola and was not happy with the way they handled the change. The cruise was still great, but not pleased with the unprofessional way they casually ignored the elephant in the room.

[NemoCrownie]

Jewell on 1/31 and notified on 12/24 - well after final payment. We were only notified because we had a ship's excursion booked. No one on our roll call was ever notified of the change. I concur with Spike2000, Coki was fantastic on Sunday with no other ship in port. After I got over the disappointment we had a wonderful day in St. Thomas.

[maynard123]

We were on the 1/31 Jewel too. Tortola is always a fun spot, so I tried to stay updated on the construction progress - which has been a challenge. Then I saw that ships were being re-routed and watched for notification. Nothing. Checking the actual port schedule for St. Thomas showed no ships in port on 2/1 (Sunday). This was right up until the time we left for San Juan. The itinerary on RC finally changed, but no notification. We went to Saphire beach and had a great time. It was our first time on St. Thomas. I understand it is unusual for there to be no other ships in port - so enjoyed.

[Folsom]

2/28 Jewel sailing has changed from Tortola to St. Thomas. We were notified on 2/13, just over 2 weeks prior to sailing. I'm actually more disappointed in the fact that when I called RCI to see if my excursion to Jost van Dyke was still happening (because it was still listed), I received no help at all. I was told that she was going to cancel my excursion because we were to be in St. Thomas and not Tortola. But she could not tell me if there was another tour from St. Thomas to JVD. Oh well, like someone else said its off to Coki Beach.

 

-F-

[Folsom]

Oh and the website still list all excursions as being from Tortola. So I can't book an alternate trip if i wanted to. My first time with RCI and it is not starting out very well.

 

-F-

[NemoCrownie]

Folsom, It will get better. We had a wonderful cruise on the Jewel so I am sure you will have a fantastic time too. It is a great itinerary, a beautiful ship and a wonderful crew.

[PompeySailor]

Jewel of the Seas

Nov 22 2014 sailing out of San Juan

 

Notified Tortola cancelled on September 17th by email and that we would be credited back our excursion money for Gorda Baths

Alternative for this itinerary St Thomas

Got refunded in 5 days.

 

Created thread on CC to highlight to all Sept 17th. and posted email

Posted pier construction info on 17th which gave details and that all would be finished Early 2015

RC have known since Jan 2014 about the pier construction, another article posted.

 

Went to St Thomas instead, got ferry to St John and had a great time at Trunk Bay.

 

Happy Days!

[gfd_2]

booked in March of 2014, final payment in Nov and got an email today stating Tortola was off - no Soggy Dollar Bar - and St. Thomas is in. Ah well. I do like St. Thomas.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Colorado Babe]

I received my cruise documents from my TA yesterday and it still says Tortolla for the Mar 20th cruise on the Legend. No email as of yet. :confused:

[OTownNick]

I hope we can visit during my 3/18/16 cruise on Serenade. Tortola is one of my favorite ports. ColoradoBabe looks like she's on the same cruise

[w&k]

We have St. Thomas substituted for Tortola, but we were notified a LONG time ago (months).

 

One of the folks on the thread posted first, and I received notification from my wonderful T/A a couple of days later, before I had time to get an e-mail off to her.

 

Personally, we're fine with the change, but have already been to Tortola a few times. Several folks on our thread were very disappointed as they had never been there before.

 

We would have been happy if they swapped Antigua for... anywhere else. ;)

 

Wendy

[skiiergirl]

Thanks to the Mods for removing the negative posts.

[skiiergirl]

Based on the posts shown above (unscientific survey) ...here is what I am seeing...

 

I can understand that they wanted to wait and see if the construction would progress as scheduled (which it hasn't!). However, it appears they cancelled some ships months in advance of the "Tortola date" while others that sail before or about the same time were not "changed" or "notified" until much later. (Example LG 2/27 sailing notified "months ago" while JW 2/28 sailing not notified until week of 2/9....while the 3/14 JW was notified last May or June.)

 

Ship Saildate Final PMT Date Notification/ "change" Date

Ship: JW Saildate: Nov 22, 2014 Final Pmt Date: Around Sept 7 Notified/Changed: September 17, 2014

 

Ship: JW Saildate: January 3, 2015 Final Pmt Date: Around Oct 20 Notification / Change: None - found out week before

 

Ship: JW Saildate: January 31, 2015 Final Pmt : Around Nov 17

Notification / change: December 24, 2015

 

Ship: LG Saildate: February 6, 2015 Final Pmt date: Around Nov 24Notification / change: December 24, 2014

 

Ship: LG Saildate: February 27, 2015 Final PMT: Around Dec 15 Notified/change: Notified months ago

 

Ship: JW Saildate: February 28, 2015 Final PMT: Around Dec 15 Notified/changed: Week of 2/9/15

 

Ship: JW Saildate: March 14, 2015 Final PMT: Around Dec 29 Notified/Changed: May or June 2014

 

Ship: LG Saildate: March 20, 2015 Final Pmt: Around Jan 4 Notified: Weekend of 2/14/15

 

Ship: JW Saildate: March 28, 2015 Final Pmt: Around Jan 12 Notified/Changed: None - found out some time before Christmas

 

Ship: JW Saildate: April 25, 2015 Final PMT: February 9, 2015 Notification / change: February 11, 2015 (even though cruisers and TAs had been told the day before that Tortola was a "yes")

 

I can't get this to post the way I want it to show...so attempting to attach spreadsheet.

Edited February 20, 2015 by skiiergirl
Oops...won't take xls...willl have to try something else

[skiiergirl]

Trying a different way to post "results":

CC_Tortola change date compilation.docx