Trying to Decide? Cancel or Not Cancel??

[Hydrokitty]

Thanks to all for your insight and you all make valid points.

Right now I am am 50/50. Yes I booked for the itinerary but that being said as most of you all know that when you have 15 cruises under your belt you have learned to go with the flow, accept change in itineraries and YES enjoy and make the best of it because not to forget we are on a cruise! I always do my little happy dance the second I cross over the threshold into the ship. WE have found that mostly in the Caribbean we do beach days some shopping and maybe one tour. AT this point we have discovered that the Caribbean to us is not tour intensive as say Alaska or even the Med. You all have made valid points. Yes it is true its pretty hard to find a warm spot for a week in January with food,drinks an entertainment for the price we paid. WE live in the midwest and I "need' to get the heck out of town for a week to escape the cold and for my mental health! Right now i will sit tight since I have until end of Oct and browse the other cruises maybe even for next winter as was suggested and figure out someplace else to hang for a warm week this winter. THanks to all of you that made a comment and gave me your opinions very much appreciated . I will keep you posted on how this plays out. Anyone who is just now seeing this feel free to post your comments as well. Thanks :)

 

I'm going with the folks who advise you to cancel or book something else...even though I'm booked on X Eclipse in March. If you have your heart set on certain ports, it won't matter much which cruise line you're on if you don't go to them you'll be disappointed. We've been to all the islands before and I really don't care where it goes....I go to escape winter..That being said, I have family in KC, MO and I've been there in winter....it's as bad as NY!! :cool:

[riclop]

Go for it.

[hcat]

The mayor of Key West said that the town will be ready for the Fantasy Fest. It is held the week prior to Halloween and is a big money maker (price gouger).

 

I am surprised that any cruises after that would not stop there. I am on the Equinox that was suppose to stop there Nov 5 and it is still listed being replaced with “the breathtaking port of Falmouth Jamaica”. Celebrity replaced beautiful with breathtaking so I guess it can be taken any way you want. It does take my breath away because it is a filthy abyss. Key West even before any clean up is cleaner and safer. Hopefully we will be able to return to the original itinerary.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

 

We were in KW for fantasy fest... it was very congested in certain areas..our fav lunch spot had a big event so could not go there..we walked a bit in non involved neighborhoods and went back to the ship....painted naked bodies not our thing!

[Iamcruzin]

WE are booked on Summit to Depart San Jan 13, 2018. It was a great deal less than $1000 each for a Balcony with Drink package and $300 cabin credit. The Itinerary is what sold us. Going out of San Juan (nice warm port in January) St Croix, St Martin, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados only 1 sea day on the last day. Well as everyone knows San Juan is a mess as is St Croix and St Martin. Dominica is heavily damaged too. My final payment is not until Oct 31 so I have a month to see how the clean up and repairs progress. Of course the Travel agent has informed me they work fast getting these ports back in shape as it is their main income and all should be fine by January. Well maybe but maybe it would be better to cancel and book something else? I know all will be working hard to get things going. We all know that even with no warning you can miss a port because of weather or choppy seas but going in KNOWING everything is a mess makes me ponder..I don't want added sea days or islands I have been to numerous times. I know that you all out there don't have crystal balls to gaze into to tell me what is best but I would like to hear your educated opinions. WE have been on tons of cruises and god willing will go on tons more but I am feeling skeptical about the conditions and may just get the money refunded to spend later on. Also this was to be our first Celebrity cruise so feeling disappointed about all that has come to be with the Hurricanes but realize very small worry to re-book a vacation compared to the people who have had their lives turned upside down. Comments/thoughts welcomed!

 

Thanks to all for your insight and you all make valid points.

Right now I am am 50/50. Yes I booked for the itinerary but that being said as most of you all know that when you have 15 cruises under your belt you have learned to go with the flow, accept change in itineraries and YES enjoy and make the best of it because not to forget we are on a cruise! I always do my little happy dance the second I cross over the threshold into the ship. WE have found that mostly in the Caribbean we do beach days some shopping and maybe one tour. AT this point we have discovered that the Caribbean to us is not tour intensive as say Alaska or even the Med. You all have made valid points. Yes it is true its pretty hard to find a warm spot for a week in January with food,drinks an entertainment for the price we paid. WE live in the midwest and I "need' to get the heck out of town for a week to escape the cold and for my mental health! Right now i will sit tight since I have until end of Oct and browse the other cruises maybe even for next winter as was suggested and figure out someplace else to hang for a warm week this winter. THanks to all of you that made a comment and gave me your opinions very much appreciated. I will keep you posted on how this plays out. Anyone who is just now seeing this feel free to post your comments as well. Thanks :)

 

When Final payment rolls around and if you feel as you stated in your original post that started the thread then follow my advice in post #20. If you still feel as you stated in your second post which contradicted the original post then go on the cruise and enjoy yourself.

[ggo85]

[Recognizing some may disagree] . . . Gotta say this about the Caribbean having been to most of it . . . the islands are very different, IF you spend a few days there. But, IMHO, when you spend 8 hours in a Caribbean port, they're pretty much the same -- beautiful beaches, jewelry/duty free stores, straw markets and restaurants.

 

If your heart is set on seeing something special in one of the ports that was impacted by the hurricane, then you should do something else and go there later when you're certain to be able to get there and see what you want to see. If you just want to go to different places to say you've done it . . . okay. But if you really think Barbados for 7 hours is totally different than St. Maarten for 7 hours . . . not so much.

 

As others have said, if you're not willing to "go with the flow," you're better off canceling. If you're looking for fun in the sun and can be flexible, then go for it!

[ChucktownSteve]

Right now I am am 50/50.

 

I say flip a coin. Heads you go, tails you move your reservation. Problem solved. :D

[OCruisers]

Sounds like the itinerary is very important to you. If so, you would be better off to cancel. ;)

[crusinthrough]

Going out of San Juan (nice warm port in January) St Croix, St Martin, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados only 1 sea day on the last day. Well as everyone knows San Juan is a mess as is St Croix and St Martin. Dominica is heavily damaged too.

 

 

 

Just for accuracy... St. Croix is not a mess. It is actually a port that is being substituted for St. Maarten on some itineraries.

[Baron Barracuda]

Don't cancel, postpone.

 

Since you liked the original itinerary move your sailing to the following winter. X is currently offering two percs and by then restoration efforts will hopefully be complete. In the meantime find a replacement for 1/18. There are quite a few interesting ships / itineraries out there.

[kcgirl]

For all of you who gave your opinion I thought I would give you the final decision. I have gone ahead and cancelled my Jan 13 sailing on the Summit. Sad to do so but What I did do was re-book it for the winter of 2019 (Feb 16) same itinerary so now I have that to look forward to although a long while out. I actually paid the same and got a tiny bit more on board credit and the drink package so all is good. Now I will focus on a warm weather trip for winter of 2018. I appreciate all the input. I feel especially good about this move because today I see many folks posting about the headaches with hotel rooms in San Juan and we were going to come in the day before the cruise. Some folks were pro-active and checked on their hotel rooms themselves to find out they had been cancelled as the hotel had not reached out to them. Evidently a big percentage of rooms are going to first responders so they cannot accomodate tourists. Thanks for all your insight and if you are travelling to San Juan in the next 2-3 months please keep tabs on your hotel reservations. Thanks Everyone

[Baron Barracuda]

Smart move. Now go find a replacement cruise to fill that hole in your 2018 calendar. Suggest taking a look at the 14 night Eclipse sailings. We have done that itinerary twice and really enjoyed them.

[gerelmx]

I will wait until first cruisers return and read the reviews, around mid November will be the first cruise to St Maarten

[bigbenboys]

If the airport, hotel and the cruise ship in San Juan is up and running then go. The cruise might go to places that you have not been too. We have 3 cruises booked for the Caribbean. Our next cruise in Nov is 14 night cruise on Reflection. The ship is still stopping in Key West on Nov 4th. The rest of the stops were not hit with storms. Our March cruise is a b2b Easter/Western cruise. As we live in the Seattle area. I really dont want to fly to Florida for a 7 night cruise. I got a email from the b&b that we stay at in Key West. The b&b has water, power and cable. So I might cancel one of the cruises and spend that money staying in Key West.

 

Update!!!

We looked at many options from a week in Key West or a week in Washington DC and just doing the Western Caribbean cruise. I made a decision yesterday. We booked a Sky Suite Hong Kong to Shanghai 14 nights cruising on Millie. We already have our 10 year Visa for China that we got for our last January cruise in Asia. We still have our March 2019 cruised booked for cruising on the Edge. So Monday we will call our TA and cancel our b2b Caribbean cruise and transfer the deposit to our new cruise.

Edited October 21, 2017 by bigbenboys
more info

[LovestheSea50]

WE are booked on Summit to Depart San Jan 13, 2018. It was a great deal less than $1000 each for a Balcony with Drink package and $300 cabin credit. The Itinerary is what sold us. Going out of San Juan (nice warm port in January) St Croix, St Martin, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados only 1 sea day on the last day. Well as everyone knows San Juan is a mess as is St Croix and St Martin. Dominica is heavily damaged too. My final payment is not until Oct 31 so I have a month to see how the clean up and repairs progress. Of course the Travel agent has informed me they work fast getting these ports back in shape as it is their main income and all should be fine by January. Well maybe but maybe it would be better to cancel and book something else? I know all will be working hard to get things going. We all know that even with no warning you can miss a port because of weather or choppy seas but going in KNOWING everything is a mess makes me ponder..I don't want added sea days or islands I have been to numerous times. I know that you all out there don't have crystal balls to gaze into to tell me what is best but I would like to hear your educated opinions. WE have been on tons of cruises and god willing will go on tons more but I am feeling skeptical about the conditions and may just get the money refunded to spend later on. Also this was to be our first Celebrity cruise so feeling disappointed about all that has come to be with the Hurricanes but realize very small worry to re-book a vacation compared to the people who have had their lives turned upside down. Comments/thoughts welcomed!

 

Recommend to re-book; way too many variables and moving parts to invest in last minute changes.

[DWhit]

Update!!!

We looked at many options from a week in Key West or a week in Washington DC and just doing the Western Caribbean cruise. I made a decision yesterday. We booked a Sky Suite Hong Kong to Shanghai 14 nights cruising on Millie. We already have our 10 year Visa for China that we got for our last January cruise in Asia. We still have our March 2019 cruised booked for cruising on the Edge. So Monday we will call our TA and cancel our b2b Caribbean cruise and transfer the deposit to our new cruise.

 

 

 

Awesome! Hope you have a great trip !

 

 

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[Redtravel]

I know how you felt. We were booked on the Sihouette in January. At first we thought we would go and not get off the ship. It would still be warm. The cruise would still have entertainment and great food. So what if it went to devastated islands. I kept hoping that the ports would change. They never did. That cruise still has 2 days in San Juan, day in St. maarten, and a day in Dominica. We talked about whether or not we would take that cruise. We did cancel it. It seemed wrong to stop at islands that were heavily damaged by the storms. Sailing to islands that still needed basic necessities was wrong. Instead, we rebooked for 2019 and sent donations to hurricane relief.

[hcat]

We cancelled our Silhouette cruise for Jan 2018...great AQ cabin and price but it had 4 sea days, 3 still good ports and St Maarten..Won't be much to do there so that could be another sea day..

 

That factor plus our recent "so so" experience on Infinity led us to our decision to take a break from X. Silhouette is newer and nicer than Infinity but the Celebrity formula is still the same, and for us not worth the price anymore.. .Looking forward to EDGE and maybe filling in with a shorter cruise to Bermuda/ Bahamas on another cruise line.