Stops at San Juan cancelled for 2020/2021 season!

[Anita Latte]

4 hours ago, pstone1 said:

We are currently scheduled to stop there as a Port of Call in February.  I am planning to pick up my annual quart of jalapeño/cilantro sauce from our favorite restaurant

 

We're scheduled to go to San Juan in February 2020 as well. I have every confidence that we actually will. That sauce sounds awesome...please share which restaurant you get it from!

 

If you do a bit of research online...it's tedious and hard because a lot of the information is in Spanish, and I have to have the articles translated personally...but it FEELS like the timing of everything is working to some politicians advantage as they are making allegations about the motivations behind Royal's actions while other politicians are saying that to reason out that Royal's motivations have anything to do with the P3A plans is unwarranted and hasn't been communicated. The whole privatization of the port doesn't have the support of PR, it would appear...and there are words out there that are making it sound like the local shipping industry is very much against what is going on...and so those that are trying to change what is happening from within the PR House are posturing about Royal and what other cruise lines will do because they themselves are against it...but it all feels coincidental...at least, it does to me as I dig deep into the issue to try to understand it...which is incredibly difficult from afar and not knowing Spanish (I took French LOL).

 

Anyway...I know everyone has dealt with or heard of Royal making itinerary changes, but I don't believe that changes will be made anytime soon, if indeed they are going to be made at all. A PP talked about the future itineraries that haven't even been sold yet and perhaps it is that Royal isn't meeting the expectations of PR and so they are saying that Royal "canceled" the port when it is entirely possible that they didn't so much cancel as not RENEW their current itineraries and so it feels like cancelations. Who knows?

 

What I think is really telling is that if you go looking to the San Juan port schedule, there aren't any changes. I would keep abreast of that...don't look to Royal...look directly at whatever information you can find that is dealing with marine traffic and port schedules to see if any changes are made. Before Royal would make any announcement to passengers that changes had been made, changes would literally have been made, not just intended to be made...Royal CANNOT announce intentions...it can only announce what has been done. So look to other sources of information to see what has been done and stop looking to the corporation RCCL for information. Any changes will be a top down affair and the lower bracket within the corporation, i.e. the call center, will be among the LAST to know after they have been well versed in the changes that have been made, and given a script to deal with incoming calls. It is relatively easy to find cruise itinerary info online when you go looking to the schedules of the different ports...and that is where everyone should be focusing their monitoring efforts. IMO.

 

Seriously though...where can I get the cilantro jalapeño sauce?

[ONECRUISER]

11 hours ago, island lady said:

 

You as well...my house will be smelling like roasting turkey tomorrow morning.  🙂 

 

And no...not these guys in my back yard...though they have fattened up with me giving them birdseed hand outs...I have "pardoned" them.  😉 

 

 

It's so weird, had half dozen outside in my yard this am. 2 were standing on my Airconditioner fighting, if my wall wasnt there could have touched them from my bed. Woke me up early... They were lucky, already had one in the Fridge

Edited November 28, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[mugtech]

On 11/27/2019 at 1:01 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

 

 

We know that Royal is pulling Freedom from San Juan in 2021 which is 25 sailings.

What the paper refers to as cancelled can easily be a reduction from the prior year and not that Royal is cancelling already released sailings. 

 

Now available for booking is the 5 day Bayonne to San Juan cruise by Freedom in October, 2021.

 

[Ourusualbeach]

4 hours ago, mugtech said:

Now available for booking is the 5 day Bayonne to San Juan cruise by Freedom in October, 2021.

 

Looks like it has been pulled already.  Can’t see it on the consumer website and can only see that it exists but no pricing or Port stops  other than starting from $784 CDN on the travel agent site. 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[mayleeman]

10 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Actually, a blank stare followed by a "whatevs" and  the all important eye-roll would be more typical.

 

I thought "Whatever..." was the RC reps response to all questions, and that they mean it literally?

[island lady]

15 hours ago, pstone1 said:

We have sailed from SJU every year for the last 5+ years and have never had a bad experience.  We are currently scheduled to stop there as a Port of Call in February.  I am planning to pick up my annual quart of jalapeño/cilantro sauce from our favorite restaurant and Jim is planning to buy at least one case of Medalla Light to bring home.  

 

Although it sounds like we shouldn’t have to worry, we will be very disappointed if RCL cancels our stop.

 

I wouldn't mind so much if they simply canceled a stop there, and would not be put out that much (since I have enough time to change plans) if they cancelled my B2B on Freedom embarkation in 2021. 

 

I would definitely be very upset if they canceled my B2B2B on Vision coming up in 6 weeks.  But I really don't think that is going to happen...not this close to sail date.  

[island lady]

9 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

It's so weird, had half dozen outside in my yard this am. 2 were standing on my Airconditioner fighting, if my wall wasnt there could have touched them from my bed. Woke me up early... They were lucky, already had one in the Fridge

 

Agree..makes one wonder if they are simply coming in to "safe zones" at this time of the year.  😉 

[ONECRUISER]

11 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Agree..makes one wonder if they are simply coming in to "safe zones" at this time of the year.  😉 

Ha!...no fly zones.

[EdandMary]

Royal released an informal message today that those cruises that are booked up through April 2021 are not affected and that when the rest of the 2021-2022 season is released that San Juan is still on the agenda but that there are many ships repositioning that do reduce the number of ships visiting or departing San Juan. This is normal in the cruise business. But saying that, the politics and weather issues of Puerto Rico sometimes can and do require the industry to make changes as necessary.

[SimGuy]

MSN reported on 27 November that Royal Caribbean has canceled dozens of PR port calls for the 2020-2021 season due to a dispute over privatization of docks in San Juan. 

Anyone have info on exactly which cruises this affects?

[mom says]

I looked on the Royal Caribbean forums and didn't see a current thread on this, which was a surprise. You're more likely to get more answers if you post there, though.  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/51-royal-caribbean-international/

 

The Royal Caribbean Blog did issue a statement about this, but apparently I can't link it, so you'll have to Google it

Edited November 29, 2019 by mom says

[LHT28]

an article on  the situation  but does not say much

https://www.theweeklyjournal.com/business/royal-caribbean-cruise-ships-canceling-calls-to-san-juan/article_adf16aa2-1084-11ea-9748-b31d04b39438.html

[Canuker]

Yes, given the state of their economy now and the fact that San Juan is a turn-around port (not merely a port of call) for over 80 RCI & Celebrity cruises in 2020, this is a serious issue for the city and the whole US territory.
Ironically, Puerto Rico means 'Rich Port'.

[ryanbarckley]

Someone in my roll call just pointed out that this comes up under “entertain” in the app for my Jan 5 2020 cruise on Anthem. Day 4 is our San Juan day. I was confident that nothing was changing until I just saw that, it at least makes me question it a bit now. 

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, ryanbarckley said:

Someone in my roll call just pointed out that this comes up under “entertain” in the app for my Jan 5 2020 cruise on Anthem. Day 4 is our San Juan day. I was confident that nothing was changing until I just saw that, it at least makes me question it a bit now. 

If they stop there on day 4 I doubt you will be stopping at your scheduled port of St Maarten on day 5 

[ryanbarckley]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

If they stop there on day 4 I doubt you will be stopping at your scheduled port of St Maarten on day 5 

Yeah I’d be curious what they’d do. I’m hoping no changes but we’ll see. 

[Host Kat]

 

19 hours ago, SimGuy said:

MSN reported on 27 November that Royal Caribbean has canceled dozens of PR port calls for the 2020-2021 season due to a dispute over privatization of docks in San Juan. 

Anyone have info on exactly which cruises this affects?

 

Howdy @SimGuy!

 

Thank you for your new thread on the Ask a Cruise Question forum and welcome to Cruise Critic! 👍 

 

Since your new thread concerns a particular cruise line, I have moved your thread to the Royal Caribbean International forum where it will be on-topic. The majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that have or are going to sail RCI frequent this forum. Also, there is already an existing thread started November 26, 2019 regarding the same topic titled Stops at San Juan cancelled for 2020/2021 season!,  I have merged your thread into the existing thread.

 

To help you find this merged thread in the future, I suggest you bookmark this thread's URL for quick access or use the Follow feature on this thread.

 

I sincerely hope this will be satisfactory and so glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic!

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

[JCBAY4]

Can anyone confirm RCI is canceling SJ port?  What about Freedom of the Seas Southern Caribbean itineraries?  Thanks.

[davekathy]

14 minutes ago, JCBAY4 said:

Can anyone confirm RCI is canceling SJ port?  What about Freedom of the Seas Southern Caribbean itineraries?  Thanks.

Here is post #114 from the thread island lady provided you that should clear up your concerns.

 

"In a statement to travel agents, Royal Caribbean issued the following statement:

Royal Caribbean reviews and adjusts itineraries and deployments every year.

The rumors regarding cancellations of sailings departing between April 2020 – March 2021 from San Juan are incorrect. We have not cancelled any of our ships visiting or homeporting in San Juan.

Though we have not yet announced our full 2021-2022 deployments, we do expect fewer calls from San Juan for the 2021-2022 season and we will be able to provide more details once we have announced our itineraries. 

No decisions regarding deployment beyond those dates have yet been made.

On Tuesday, some news outlets in Puerto Rico began reporting Royal Caribbean was planning to cancel 90 calls to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the 2020 and 2021 season".

 

[JCBAY4]

10 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Here is post #114 from the thread island lady provided you that should clear up your concerns.

 

"In a statement to travel agents, Royal Caribbean issued the following statement:

Royal Caribbean reviews and adjusts itineraries and deployments every year.

The rumors regarding cancellations of sailings departing between April 2020 – March 2021 from San Juan are incorrect. We have not cancelled any of our ships visiting or homeporting in San Juan.

Though we have not yet announced our full 2021-2022 deployments, we do expect fewer calls from San Juan for the 2021-2022 season and we will be able to provide more details once we have announced our itineraries. 

No decisions regarding deployment beyond those dates have yet been made.

On Tuesday, some news outlets in Puerto Rico began reporting Royal Caribbean was planning to cancel 90 calls to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the 2020 and 2021 season".

 

Thanks!

[LXA350]

The 7 day itinararies out of PR will surely stay, the question is if there will be more than one ship based out of PR. These are great itinaries which a cruise line like RCCL needs to have in it's portfolio, also already for the sake of keeping market share and access to the local cruise market from PR.

It's probably sufficient to have one large ship, such as Freedom there. That RCCL decided to base Empress to PR seems to be more to be the consequence of having the ship still in the fleet and not really needing it from FL given the inceease in capacity there. Henc if for some reason any decision will be made to finnally get rid of Empress or that Cuba will open up again the PR itinaaries on Empress will be cancelled.

 

Not to forget, RCCL wants to fully use it's private islands, especially Coco Cay, hence stops that might have been before in PR will be used for Coco Cay instead.

[Ourusualbeach]

20 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

The 7 day itinararies out of PR will surely stay, the question is if there will be more than one ship based out of PR. These are great itinaries which a cruise line like RCCL needs to have in it's portfolio, also already for the sake of keeping market share and access to the local cruise market from PR.

It's probably sufficient to have one large ship, such as Freedom there. That RCCL decided to base Empress to PR seems to be more to be the consequence of having the ship still in the fleet and not really needing it from FL given the inceease in capacity there. Henc if for some reason any decision will be made to finnally get rid of Empress or that Cuba will open up again the PR itinaaries on Empress will be cancelled.

 

Not to forget, RCCL wants to fully use it's private islands, especially Coco Cay, hence stops that might have been before in PR will be used for Coco Cay instead.

We know that the Freedom is leaving for the summer of 2021 so they may not have a ship there for the summer.  Also there are a couple of extra  ports, Antigua and Puerto Plata that Royal will be visiting with the Oasis class ships.  

[LXA350]

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

We know that the Freedom is leaving for the summer of 2021 so they may not have a ship there for the summer.  Also there are a couple of extra  ports, Antigua and Puerto Plata that Royal will be visiting with the Oasis class ships.  

 

The peak is the winter season, most important is that PR stays in the portfolio of Royal, if it's on seasonal basis / with only one ship that's fine as well.

 

Was anything already published on itinararies that will include Puerto Plata and Antigua on Oasis Class ships?

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, LXA350 said:

 

The peak is the winter season, most important is that PR stays in the portfolio of Royal, if it's on seasonal basis / with only one ship that's fine as well.

 

Was anything already published on itinararies that will include Puerto Plata and Antigua on Oasis Class ships?

Winter is definitely the key season nut pulling out for the summer is a big shift in deployment for Royal.

 

i didn’t see anything published specifically about the itineraries I just found the new ports when looking at some cruises.  Some TA sites allow you to search by port stop.  

[reaton]

On 11/29/2019 at 5:48 PM, ryanbarckley said:

Someone in my roll call just pointed out that this comes up under “entertain” in the app for my Jan 5 2020 cruise on Anthem. Day 4 is our San Juan day. I was confident that nothing was changing until I just saw that, it at least makes me question it a bit now. 

On our last Allure trip it took months for the correct itinerary to be available in the cruise planner-and we hadn’t had a itinerary change. It kept saying Rotan when that wasn’t a possible port. Could just be the cruise planner being unhelpful.