Pride of Panama/Cuban Fusion - Itinerary Change

[Red Scorpion]

Although I have not received official notification yet I notice from the Thomson website that there have been itinerary changes to both Pride of Panama sailing on March 10th and Cuban Fusion sailing on March 17th.

 

For Pride of Panama the San Blas islands have been removed from the itinerary, Cartegena has been moved from the first to the second port of call and Santa Marta in Columbia inserted as the first part of call.

 

For Cuban Fusion Havana is the first port of call with the full day being the first day and the half day being the second day. The second port of call is Mexico but instead of being Playa del Carmen it is now Cozumel.

 

Recent returners from these itineraries have complained about there being extra sea days because of difficulty sending tenders ashore. San Blas stands out in particular because the Thomson Dream has failed to stop there every time it has visited. With two sea days per week on both these itineraries already passengers were becoming a little disgruntled. Of course passenger safety comes first and the Captain must err on the side of caution but I also understand the frustration of passengers when it becomes not possible to go ashore. This happened to me in Stockholm on the Spirit once.

 

It seems to me as though Thomson have made the right decision here. They have seen how people's cruises are being both disrupted and diminished by these failures to get ashore and they have acted promptly. Excursions are already arranged and available to book on their website. There are going to be those who specifically wanted to visit the San Blas islands and the excursions to Chichen Itza at eleven hours are now three hours longer than they were previously which will be annoying for some. But hopefully the re-arraged itinerary will make it more likely that people will get there at all.

 

We are eager on these pages to criticise Thomson when they get it wrong and so we should be. I take the view that we are Thomson's critical friends. On this occasion I think Thomson have got it right and I applaud them for that.

[kruzseeka]

 

We are eager on these pages to criticise Thomson when they get it wrong and so we should be. I take the view that we are Thomson's critical friends. On this occasion I think Thomson have got it right and I applaud them for that.

 

Well said Red Scorpion. Credit where credit is due.

 

Yes we should be considered by Thomson to be critical friends especially when we are still very positive about many aspects of what they deliver. That's a really good description of how I feel about making less positive comments (note I swerved 'negative' - though not now I've pointed it out! :D ). But it's in Thomson's interests to know about issues which are causing passenger dissatisfaction and if they can or are prepared to make appropriate changes then surely that's in their interests as well as ours.

 

For a long time I have had a vested interest (emotional as well as financial) in Thomson and I don't think anyone could want them to get it right more than I do! So let's hope they take note and see our comments as a basis for them to address issues and ensure their future success. But in the meantime - well done for trying to iron out the difficulties these itineraries have thrown up.

[gillhalfpint]

Well said. We got an extra "bonus" sea day as they called it on the paper they put out for missing San Blas. They have tried the itinerary and corrected where it failed. We still had a great cruise on 20 & 27 Jan as are our friends who are doing the revised Pride of Panama this week.

[Dooglas55]

Can see the reason for the revised schedule, so we'll done Thomson, on the other hand really disappointed in missing Playa Del Carmen, and Fifth Avenue, I know there's a ferry across from Cozemel, but is it practical to take it , see PDC, and return comfortably ,within the hours allocated in Cozemel, advice, welcome, Dougie.

[gillhalfpint]

Some are saying it is 45 mins each way on the ferry and as Thomson trips over are 11 hours I would imagine you are in Cozumel long enough to get over on the ferry and have a decent day doing what you want there.

[Dooglas55]

Thanks Gill, will do a bit of researching, really wan to see PDC, Cheers, Dougie.

[Dooglas55]

Thanks Gill, will do a bit of researching, really want to see PDC, Cheers, Dougie.

[Pansy178]

Hi Dougie

We are now docking in Cozumel from 9am until 11pm so yes there's lots of time to do the shore excursions or diy. The shore excursion prices are all more expensive maybe to cover the cost of the ferry? Chichen Itza has been added on along with a few dolphin excursions. Hope you enjoy your holiday Annie

[Jakanne1]

This link may be useful for getting the ferry over to PdC.

http://www.cozumel-tours.com/cozumel-ferry-schedule.htm

 

One tip we were given is to only get single tickets as there were 2 ferry companies running and they did not accept the other companies return ticket.

[geomagot]

well... i am not enamoured with santa marta, its a poor substitute for san blas imo

 

but

 

its definitely better than a 3rd sea day and, i dont see where else the ship could go other than santa marta

 

it certainly does look like thoms are listening and have acted

 

hopefully santa marta may have changed a bit over the years since i was last there? they have been trying to attract cruise ships and providing better tourist infrastructure

 

the beach there is large and beautiful..... hopefully they have limited the number of (aggressive) beach vendors? and the local cuisine was v nice ( i dont know what it was? but it was lovely)

[evylone]

I got an email confirmation from Thomson about the itinerary change for Pride of Panama which I will be on March 31st. Here is the email:

 

Thank you for contacting Thomson Cruise. Unfortunately, it’s been quite windy around San Blas, causing some swell and undercurrents. As a result, we’ve missed the two calls we’ve had scheduled so far this season. We have to put your health and safety first. Which means we can’t call at scheduled destinations when the weather makes docking or tendering dangerous.

 

With that in mind, we’ve had to make a change to your itinerary. Rather than take the risk of not being able to call in San Blas and having to do another day at sea, we’ve decided to maximise your time ashore. So we’ve taken San Blas out of the schedule and rejigged the ports of call. Cartagena has moved down a day to replace San Blas, and we’ll now be visiting the Colombian port of Santa Marta too.

 

Your new itinerary looks like this…

 

Day Port Arrive Depart

1 Montego Bay 20:00

2 At Sea

3 Santa Marta 09:00 18:00

4 Cartagena 06:00 15:00

5 Colon 08:00 18:00

6 Puerto Limon 08:00 17:00

7 At Sea

8 Montego Bay 08:00

[Little Nell]

Yes, Red Scorpion, credit where credit is due.

 

Well done to Thomson for reacting to their customers :)

[Iain1873]

Its better late than never and at least it gets rid (in my opinion) of those "bonus" sea days i wouldn't wish the cruise we ensured in early January on anyone , dreadfully disorganised with only two ports achieved in a week.