Princess just cancelled a few 2018 sailings due to redeployment

[jadephoenixx]

Our April 9, 2018 Eastern Caribbean Voyager cruise on the Royal has been cancelled. I got an email from my travel agent yesterday mid-day and early this morning, a confirmation email directly from Princess.

 

This far out, we're flexible with our vacation time so we've asked to be rebooked on the Mar 20th sailing, assuming that the pricing and all promos/OBCs under the 3 for Free sale is transferred. I would be surprised if that's a problem since the sale is still on.

[plunker]

We were booked on March 24 crown princess cruise and just got off phone with our Travel agent. Princess told him crown was going into drydock for those 8 days for minor repairs. I guess we will try to find other dates that work.

[Sumar76]

Now is the time for those who would be interested in a cruise from Anchorage Alaska ending in NY, (of cruising thru fjords, glaciers, Seeing polar bears) to write to Princesses planning board or customer service to show interest in an adventure cruise that few have gone on before.

I was one of the lucky ones to do the Antarctica Cruise in 2007 on the Golden and will never forget it. I'm sure this would be equally exciting.

Iv'e been to the bottom of the world and now would love to go to the top of the world. It's offered by another cruise line now, but way too pricey for me and I love cruising with Princess.

If enough show interest they may make it a future destination.

How exciting would that be!

[Pzazzz]

Notified by e mail that our April 15, 2018 7 day on Regal Princess cancelled due to redeployment. It was a sip and sail promo so I guess we'll loose that perk. Oh, well.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

So it seems so far that it is possibly the Island, Crown, Royal and Regal being affected by these redeployments. As schedules for summer/winter 2018/19 have not yet been published this sounds like they are prepping for a change of deployment strategy in Europe and Alaska for summer 2018.

 

I would not be surprised to see them keep 1 ship (possibly the Caribbean Princess) in the Caribbean for summer 2018, Put the Royal in Southampton to do the British Isles runs, etc from there, have the Regal do the Baltic Runs and send the Crown and Island to the Mediterranean. They could also do a three ship deployment to Northern Europe and only have 1 Med ship and then position a ship (again possibly the Caribbean) in NYC for the summer doing Bermuda (if there is docking space which I'm not sure there is) and Canada/NE runs rather than staying in the Caribbean. I seem to remember reports that it looked like the Golden was headed to Alaska for 2018 - if they put it on the North/South Glacier runs replacing the Island that would be a nice way to bump capacity there too.

 

At this point this is probably all conjecture. I would be very surprised to see Princess announce much in the way of date replacements for the cancelled cruises until they are ready to announce the 2018 Alaska and Europe deployments which typically is in the Spring.

 

I do think we will see ALL the US based cruise lines cautiously reduce their European exposure in 2018 (following the 2017 trend) and keep more ships in the Caribbean, US Northeast and Alaska.

[DrivesLikeMario]

...I do think we will see ALL the US based cruise lines cautiously reduce their European exposure in 2018 (following the 2017 trend) and keep more ships in the Caribbean, US Northeast and Alaska.

 

I totally agree with that. I think there will be a significant reduction from all the cruise lines overall for the Med. in summer, 2018.

[recia]

I too had my cruise of April 18, 2018 Royal Princess cancelled. My TA said Princess will not honor the sip and sail promotion on any rebooked cruise. I understand they make changes but to not honor a previous promotion is not good customer service, more like bait and switch.

[CruiseQueenB]

 

I would not be surprised to see them keep 1 ship (possibly the Caribbean Princess) in the Caribbean for summer 2018

 

I do think we will see ALL the US based cruise lines cautiously reduce their European exposure in 2018 (following the 2017 trend) and keep more ships in the Caribbean, US Northeast and Alaska.

 

Wouldn't be surprised at all if Princess does at least one ship in the Caribbean for 2018. A few reasons:

 

Celebrity decided to pull Equinox out of Europe and put it in the Caribbean for the summer, and Princess won't be far behind. They have always believed Celebrity is their direct competitor, plus with the recent push to be more "family friendly" (Discovery at Sea, etc) I see them pushing summer Caribbean to try and test out the market yet again.

 

I also agree that because of the terrorist attacks and all the news coverage that many Americans are a little spooked to travel to Europe, so it's an easy choice for Princess to give it a go.

 

They also have new and bigger ships coming and have an opportunity to spread out their markets more.

[cheznandy]

We have a Diamond Princess cruise booked March 2018, Syd/ Tokyo, no changes so far.

 

Another bit of info.....Princess has the Diamond, Emerald, Golden and Sapphire with port bookings in Australia for the season 2018/2019 (October - April)

The Sapphire is one which hasnt done a season here recently and would come from Asia if it happens. I doubt they will all be here but be interesting to see which ones and where they come from......Pacific crossings via Hawaii or from Asia.

We lose the Dawn Princess early next year to P&O so only leaves the Sea and Sun, one of which does World cruise and Circle Pacific for a good part of the year. Hopefully Australia will get a larger ship based here full time:)

Edited October 6, 2016 by cheznandy

[Aussie Gal]

We have a Diamond Princess cruise booked March 2018, Syd/ Tokyo, no changes so far.

 

Another bit of info.....Princess has the Diamond, Emerald, Golden and Sapphire with port bookings in Australia for the season 2018/2019 (October - April)

The Sapphire is one which hasnt done a season here recently and would come from Asia if it happens. I doubt they will all be here but be interesting to see which ones and where they come from......Pacific crossings via Hawaii or from Asia.

We lose the Dawn Princess early next year to P&O so only leaves the Sea and Sun, one of which does World cruise and Circle Pacific for a good part of the year. Hopefully Australia will get a larger ship based here full time:)

 

Where have you seen the itineraries for those ships from May onwards in 2018?. I have been waiting for them to appear as we want to return to the Diamond in Japan in August/September of 2018 and as of yesterday, they weren't on their website.

 

Jennie

[Pam in CA]

Hmm ... I'm wondering whether the Royal or Regal is being repositioned to the West coast. [emoji925][emoji925] Hopeful!

[cheznandy]

Where have you seen the itineraries for those ships from May onwards in 2018?. I have been waiting for them to appear as we want to return to the Diamond in Japan in August/September of 2018 and as of yesterday, they weren't on their website.

 

Jennie

Not itineraries Jennie, bookings into OPT in Sydney.

Golden has a booking for the 10th Oct 2018 and then will probably go to Melbourne as it has done. Arrivals of others are:

Sapphire 22 oct 2018, Diamond 20th Nov 2018, Emerald 17th Nov 2018.........who know what we will get:)

Edited October 6, 2016 by cheznandy

[shukapaw]

Wouldn't be surprised at all if Princess does at least one ship in the Caribbean for 2018.

 

Hope you are right about this. We love Princess and the Caribbean but my wife is a teacher and we can only sail in the summer. Unfortunately, in order to sail the Caribbean, this has kept us on other lines the last few years

 

~Brian

[XBGuy]

Hmm ... I'm wondering whether the Royal or Regal is being repositioned to the West coast. [emoji925][emoji925] Hopeful!

 

R/Ts to Alaska out of Los Angeles. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm booked for April. Now, I need someting in September. :D

[Crystabel]

Hmm ... I'm wondering whether the Royal or Regal is being repositioned to the West coast. [emoji925][emoji925] Hopeful!

 

Wouldn't that be wonderful. Id love to see additional itineraries sailing from the West Coast. Princess just might fill their ships if we had more options. One can go to Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, or Coastal California just so many times.

[pablo222]

I do think we will see ALL the US based cruise lines cautiously reduce their European exposure in 2018 (following the 2017 trend) and keep more ships in the Caribbean, US Northeast and Alaska.

 

Princess had so many ships in alaska this year, can they

possibly fit even more?

[Retiring cajun]

I'd like this too!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Coral]

Princess had so many ships in alaska this year, can they

possibly fit even more?

 

They have actually reduced the amount of ships. They used to have 4 doing one ways and now they just have 3. They also used to have an R ship several years doing 14 day itineraries out of Vancouver or Seattle.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Wouldn't that be wonderful. Id love to see additional itineraries sailing from the West Coast. Princess just might fill their ships if we had more options. One can go to Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, or Coastal California just so many times.

 

Where else would you suggest they sail from the West Coast? Other than repositioning to East Asia, Oceania, South America what else can they do? Panama Canal is well covered by Princess, and they offer a few longer South Pacific voyages each year. I don't really see where there are any other itinerary options of less th 21-28 days. Maybe a few more 10-14 day Mexico and Central American option perhaps, but that's about it unless I'm missing something.

 

As far as Alaska goes the ships were very full this year with to nothing in the way of discounts. I see Princess either up gauging capacity slightly but I get the impression they are fairly happy with # of ships deployed in the region. This is why I see Island going back to Europe, Golden coming to Alaska to replace her and them keeping a ship somewhere on the East Coast for summer 2018.

 

A lot will also depend on if they retain the Pacific Princess in the fleet for the 2018 /19 Summer/winter season.

[caribill]

R/Ts to Alaska out of Los Angeles. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm booked for April. Now, I need someting in September. :D

 

Just what we need, a bigger ship with more passengers to dock into already overcrowded Alaska ports with limited additional excursion options available.

[Pam in CA]

The reality is that Princess will sell the older, smaller ships. Just a guess but I'm betting that 1-2 of the current larger ships currently sailing itineraries from LA and SF would be repositioned to Australia in place of the Sun, Dawn and/or Sea. Another bet is that there'll be more longer cruises out of LA like the 19-day round-trip to the Panama Canal and the 12-day to Alaska. Both of these itineraries have sold well. Always follow the money. Princess has three big ships joining the fleet in the next 2-4 years.

[jennybenny]

Hmm ... I'm wondering whether the Royal or Regal is being repositioned to the West coast. [emoji925][emoji925] Hopeful!

 

 

 

Pam, that would be awesome!!! I'm booking immediately if that happens! [emoji4]

 

 

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[FlorenceItaly]

I too had my cruise of April 18, 2018 Royal Princess cancelled. My TA said Princess will not honor the sip and sail promotion on any rebooked cruise. I understand they make changes but to not honor a previous promotion is not good customer service, more like bait and switch.

 

Did your TA ask, or is your TA assuming?

[Cruise Junky]

We were booked on March 24 crown princess cruise and just got off phone with our Travel agent. Princess told him crown was going into drydock for those 8 days for minor repairs. I guess we will try to find other dates that work.

 

Your TA needs to escalate it. Read two days ago that they'd honored it for someone else. Think the post was on Facebook

[sherbear850]

We spoke to Princess yesterday and they did offer to transfer the sip and sail to the same cruise April 3rd. We were tempted to re-book but the April 3rd cruise rate was $502.00 more for the same cat room. So we declined their offer and will ask for a refund of our deposit and try another line. Still lots of time. Can't tell you how disappointed we are.