Unfair to change ports three weeks out.

[cello56]

I just got an email from my travel agent informing us that RCI has changed the itinerary for our 8 night Southern Caribbean cruise next month on Jewel.

Instead of four sea days, and Labadee, Aruba, Bonnaire, Curacao  - an itinerary that we were really looking forward to .....

We now have FIVE sea days and go to Aruba, Curacao and Nassau.

So they changed 50% of our ports, and increased our sea days to more then half our cruise. Plus the added joy of Nassau that we could happily never step foot in again.

Hardly the cruise that we paid for. This was a pricey cruise to begin with, I guess since we were doing a southern route.

Nothing we can do about it. I know the fine print says that they have the right to change the itinerary at any time. It still sucks though.

[Getting out there]

Did they say why they changed Bonnaire to Nassau?

[ajp_99]

Yea that would definitely be frustrating. To have one port changed and to lose another one entirely and add a 5th Sea day is alot of changes this close out. Did they say why they were changing this cruise so much?

Edited December 28, 2018 by ajp_99

[cello56]

Now there seems to be more then one letter with the port updates. My letter did not  mention Bonaire as still on the schedule, but some guy on Facebook got a different letter and his still has it on there.

The Facebook reply from RCI is that there was 'port congestion' in Aruba so they moved everything around to give us a better experience. Yeah right. The RCI spokesperson tried to say that Labadee and Nassau were 'equal port experiences'!

[cb at sea]

When you bought your cruise, you agreed to their terms.  They clearly state they may change, rearrange, replace or cancel any port, at any time, for any reason.  Just so you know.

[payitforward]

I've been reading that the pier construction in Bonaire is still not finished. Does anyone know if this is the reason for the change?

[BirdTravels]

Substantive changes this close to cruise date are frustrating. What compensation did they offer? When we had something similar, RCCL gave us 50% of our cruise fare as an OBC. 

 

Nassau: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/royal-caribbean-issues-crime-warning-in-nassau-bahamas/ar-BBRtgRc

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by BirdTravels

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, cello56 said:

I just got an email from my travel agent informing us that RCI has changed the itinerary for our 8 night Southern Caribbean cruise next month on Jewel.

Instead of four sea days, and Labadee, Aruba, Bonnaire, Curacao  - an itinerary that we were really looking forward to .....

We now have FIVE sea days and go to Aruba, Curacao and Nassau.

So they changed 50% of our ports, and increased our sea days to more then half our cruise. Plus the added joy of Nassau that we could happily never step foot in again.

Hardly the cruise that we paid for. This was a pricey cruise to begin with, I guess since we were doing a southern route.

Nothing we can do about it. I know the fine print says that they have the right to change the itinerary at any time. It still sucks though.

 

Missing Bonaire would really disappoint us.   I realize the cruise contract basically says they can do anything they want, but I think it would be fair to let people cancel for a full refund with a change like this.

[khm1]

Something must be going on. I got an email today stating that our port dates have changed. Same ports, different order and dates. We are a little more than 3 weeks out too. 

Edited December 28, 2018 by khm1

[cello56]

I am really hoping that Bonaire is still included, and that the letter my travel agent sent out just didn't list the one unchanged port. They could have substitued pretty ANY other port and people would have been disappointed to miss Labadee, but not angry. I don't know of anyone who wants to stop in Nassau.

 

On another FB post the RCI guy says that instead of Labadee we can experience the excitement of Atlantis! Sure we can! For a mere $200 excursion fee!

Edited December 28, 2018 by cello56

[George C]

I would be highly annoyed, I like sea days but 5 in a 8 day cruise is a lot , also dropping a couple of nice ports and adding Nassau is even worse. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

Interesting 

[lazydayz]

Did Royal offer any compensation? In my opinion, adding Nassau in place of Labadee is not a good trade. And it would be terrible to miss Bonaire.  This is certainly not what you paid for. 

[vacationlover_mn]

Ugh- that would be frustrating!!

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Missing Bonaire would really disappoint us.   I realize the cruise contract basically says they can do anything they want, but I think it would be fair to let people cancel for a full refund with a change like this.

This would be fair and offering those that choose to remain a decent OBC (might entice some to stay with the cruise).

[asalligo]

I hope they offered some kind of OBC or the ability to cancel with this big of a change. I would be extremely upset and I do not care what the contract says. 

Edited December 28, 2018 by asalligo

[blisswife]

13 hours ago, cello56 said:

I just got an email from my travel agent informing us that RCI has changed the itinerary for our 8 night Southern Caribbean cruise next month on Jewel.

Instead of four sea days, and Labadee, Aruba, Bonnaire, Curacao  - an itinerary that we were really looking forward to .....

We now have FIVE sea days and go to Aruba, Curacao and Nassau.

So they changed 50% of our ports, and increased our sea days to more then half our cruise. Plus the added joy of Nassau that we could happily never step foot in again.

Hardly the cruise that we paid for. This was a pricey cruise to begin with, I guess since we were doing a southern route.

Nothing we can do about it. I know the fine print says that they have the right to change the itinerary at any time. It still sucks though.

My letter (below), for the Jewel sailing on 01/18/19 includes Bonaire...no change in port days vs sea days:

 

Dear Guest,

We are counting down the days to your January 18^th, 2019 Jewel of the Seas sailing. As you're saying "goodbye" to 2018 and say "hello" to travelling in 2019, we have a quick update to share with you.

We want to give you the best experience while you are exploring the Southern Caribbean. With that said, we've moved up our visit to Oranjestad, Aruba to Monday, January 21^st, and moved Willemstad, Curacao to Tuesday, January 22^nd. Also, we've switched out our visit to Labadee with a day at Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday, January 26^th and added an extra hour making our visit 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Our visit to Kralendijk, Bonaire will remain unchanged.

While in Nassau, marvel at the various marine life exhibits as you make your way down into the underworld of Atlantis. Are you excited yet? We are!

For your convenience, the updated itinerary is below.

Day	Port of Call	Arrive	Depart
Fri	Miami, Florida		5:00 PM
Sat	Cruising
Sun	Cruising
Mon	Oranjestad, Aruba	8:00 AM	11:00 PM
Tue	Willemstad, Curacao	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Wed	Kralendijk, Bonaire	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Thu	Cruising
Fri	Cruising
Sat	Nassau, Bahamas	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Sun	Miami, Florida	7:00 AM

Any pre-paid shore excursions scheduled for Labadee will be refunded to the original form of payment. And, any pre-booked tours for Oranjestad and Willemstad will be rescheduled for you. Within the next 2 business days, you'll receive an email from our Shore Excursions Department advising of your updated excursion details. Then, be sure to book any additional excursions for Nassau via our Cruise Planner here.

[welshrich]

We've had this happen to us multiple times as well as the entire cruise being pulled too and poor replacement options being offered.  We are sailing on a far east cruise in October next year, booked it a year in advance as it was ports we wanted, then a week after booking they changed it, dropping a port in Vietnam and saying it now gave us an overnight in Hong Kong, but it actually departs Hong Kong at 2am which is far from an overnight stop.  We did contact RC to say we were disappointed but their simple response was that they can make any changes they like, in the UK though we cannot cancel or make changes without a heavy fee.   

 

Maybe it's time they started doing mystery cruises where you pay a set price and can end up going anywhere.

[karl_nj]

 

13 hours ago, cb at sea said:

When you bought your cruise, you agreed to their terms.  They clearly state they may change, rearrange, replace or cancel any port, at any time, for any reason.  Just so you know.

 

It's pretty clear that cello56 is aware of this, as his last sentence was:

 

14 hours ago, cello56 said:

Nothing we can do about it. I know the fine print says that they have the right to change the itinerary at any time. It still sucks though.

 

But that doesn't make it any less disappointing.

 

According to the cruise contract, they can change the ship too:

 

a. Carrier may for any reason at any time and without prior notice, cancel, advance, postpone or deviate from any scheduled sailing, port of call, destination, lodging or any activity on or off the Vessel, or substitute another vessel or port of call, destination, lodging or activity. Except as provided in Section 6(e) below, Carrier shall not be liable for any claim whatsoever by Passenger, including but not limited to loss, compensation or refund, by reason of such cancellation, advancement, postponement, substitution or deviation.

 

Imagine you paid a premium to sail on Symphony and then Royal decided to instead lease Grand Celebration from Bahamas Paradise Cruise line and park it off the coast of Florida for a week.  You agreed to that possibility when you bought the cruise too.

 

 

 

[FLACRUISER99]

13 minutes ago, blisswife said:

My letter (below), for the Jewel sailing on 01/18/19 includes Bonaire...no change in port days vs sea days:

 

Dear Guest,

We are counting down the days to your January 18^th, 2019 Jewel of the Seas sailing. As you're saying "goodbye" to 2018 and say "hello" to travelling in 2019, we have a quick update to share with you.

We want to give you the best experience while you are exploring the Southern Caribbean. With that said, we've moved up our visit to Oranjestad, Aruba to Monday, January 21^st, and moved Willemstad, Curacao to Tuesday, January 22^nd. Also, we've switched out our visit to Labadee with a day at Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday, January 26^th and added an extra hour making our visit 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Our visit to Kralendijk, Bonaire will remain unchanged.

While in Nassau, marvel at the various marine life exhibits as you make your way down into the underworld of Atlantis. Are you excited yet? We are!

For your convenience, the updated itinerary is below.

Day	Port of Call	Arrive	Depart
Fri	Miami, Florida		5:00 PM
Sat	Cruising
Sun	Cruising
Mon	Oranjestad, Aruba	8:00 AM	11:00 PM
Tue	Willemstad, Curacao	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Wed	Kralendijk, Bonaire	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Thu	Cruising
Fri	Cruising
Sat	Nassau, Bahamas	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Sun	Miami, Florida	7:00 AM

Any pre-paid shore excursions scheduled for Labadee will be refunded to the original form of payment. And, any pre-booked tours for Oranjestad and Willemstad will be rescheduled for you. Within the next 2 business days, you'll receive an email from our Shore Excursions Department advising of your updated excursion details. Then, be sure to book any additional excursions for Nassau via our Cruise Planner here.

I'm also on the 9 Night Jewel sailing on 01/18/19 and received the same letter.

[Iamcruzin]

14 hours ago, cello56 said:

Now there seems to be more then one letter with the port updates. My letter did not  mention Bonaire as still on the schedule, but some guy on Facebook got a different letter and his still has it on there.

The Facebook reply from RCI is that there was 'port congestion' in Aruba so they moved everything around to give us a better experience. Yeah right. The RCI spokesperson tried to say that Labadee and Nassau were 'equal port experiences'!

Well I hope they are giving you some OBC to spend on that extra sea day and if you purchased the drink package it will now cost you money to drink in Nassau. So in my opinion it is also an economical inconvenience. 

[Iamcruzin]

42 minutes ago, welshrich said:

Maybe it's time they started doing mystery cruises where you pay a set price and can end up going anywhere.

Imagine the savings booking a guarantee room on a guarantee itinerary using a non refundable deposit.

Edited December 28, 2018 by Iamcruzin

[CruisingMarch2016]

Travel Insurance? Would not some policies pay some pretty large amounts due to port changes?

 

If you had a private excursion booked for say St Maarten and your port day was changed, would the travel insurance cover that if they were already booked for the other day?

 

April 14 sailing here so makes me want to buy Insurance soon. But sailing on Harmony so they probably don't change big ships very much I assume.

[bobmacliberty]

Don't know about travel insurance but we usually book excursions that don't require payment until we arrive (or even after the excursion is over). Doesn't cost us anything if a port change is made.  That's common.  Excursion operators also suffer when port changes are made.

[LadyBerard]

2 hours ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

I'm also on the 9 Night Jewel sailing on 01/18/19 and received the same letter.

 

I am also on this cruise, and have yet to receive any notification from RCI.  I learned this change to the itinerary yesterday on this website.