Royal May 2021 Pacific Coastal Rescheduled

[joepeka]

We booked the 5/8/2021 Pacific Coastal repo cruise on Royal from LA to Vancouver. This past week we were informed by Princess that for "operational reasons" our cruise was being moved forward one week to 5/1/2021. The reschedule doesn't represent any issue for us since it's still 18 months out but I had to wonder: what happened to the original Mexico cruise on 5/1/2021? Did anyone on this board have a booking on that sailing and if so, what happened to your booking? Just curious.

[MCC retired]

Looks like some reshuffling of the spring 2021 West Coast sailings. 
Emerald 5/2/21 moved to 5/1/21 🤔

[caribill]

When new schedules are released, the sailings at the end of the schedule often change when they decide what they will do when extending the schedule. Often a ship is repositioned earlier than originally scheduled, so cruises in that period get cancelled.

 

It is always disappointing when a cruise you had been planning for is cancelled. But with 18 months notice, no airfares have been booked and most likely no hotel reservations have been made. So it is a disappointment, but not a monetary loss.

 

Usually this is accompanied by an offer of $15 OBC for your disappointment. Many feel the amount should be higher.

[joepeka]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

When new schedules are released, the sailings at the end of the schedule often change when they decide what they will do when extending the schedule. Often a ship is repositioned earlier than originally scheduled, so cruises in that period get cancelled.

 

It is always disappointing when a cruise you had been planning for is cancelled. But with 18 months notice, no airfares have been booked and most likely no hotel reservations have been made. So it is a disappointment, but not a monetary loss.

 

Usually this is accompanied by an offer of $15 OBC for your disappointment. Many feel the amount should be higher.

Interesting you mention the $15 OBC - we did receive that amount per person for the reschedule even though, as you mention, it's so far out that the impact to us personally is non-existent. 

[ceilidh1]

My coastal on Sun for 2021 got cancelled - disappointing as this is a ship I've never sailed and I wanted to try it out on a short cruise. Not a huge deal, though - far enough out to not be financially problematic. I also got the $15 per person that has already attached to the replacement cruise we booked!

[Cruise Raider]

Since many of the different cruiselines are in the process of working out their contracts with the ports of call, there may be some shuffling when it is this far out.  

I was recently looking for a HAL cruise so I could do a B2B but the second half hadn't been released yet ... they were still working on the logistics of that sailing.  The ones subsequent were all available ... just not that one in the middle.  I thought maybe they were looking at it for a charter but instead, they were just holding off until all the scheduling was in place.  In reality, it is probably the better way to run the operations to hold off in releasing it than to make it available and to then have to change it.  Each cruiseline has their own way of doing it, though ... who am I to say what is proper and what isn't?  I have been booked on three different sailings on another cruiseline, one of which completely changed their itinerary, even adding 4 extra nights and the other two that were canceled for a charter where they offered us great deals to rebook a different sailing.  I took advantage of these offers and came out ahead, although, the notifications were a bit closer to the sail dates, with weeks and months instead of over a year in those notifications.  There was yet another time on another sailing that I was booked for Alaska and they rescheduled the sailing to the Caribbean ... I passed on that one.  In all my bookings with Princess, which far exceed those with any other cruiseline, I've never had them change one even once.  I usually make my bookings about a year out, though ...by then, I would guess everything is pretty much settled unless there is a mechanical failure on one of their ships.  I'm sure it happens, I've just not experienced it so I just didn't notice.