No cruises from Barbados in Feb' 2023?

[cruiseguy1016]

I have been looking at a 14-night cruise out of Barbados on Rhapsody in February of 2023. My wife and I had been considering it for next year. I've tried to check pricing and availability the last couple of days and the cruise does not show up on RCI's web site. In fact, there are NO cruises available in Feb. 2023 from Barbados. From what I can see, there is a cruise that ends on Feb. 5th and then cruises start up again on March 5th. Is Rhapsody maybe scheduled for a drydock next February? Any other ideas?

[twangster]

Ships at this age must dry dock every 2.5 years so two possibilities come to mind.

 

1. It's a one month required dry dock to satisfy requirements.

 

2. They are sold out.  These Barbados cruises are turning out to be massively popular with UK residents since Barbados is a direct flight for them and these can be more attractive compared to Florida cruises for the UK market.

 

[cruiseguy1016]

27 minutes ago, twangster said:

Ships at this age must dry dock every 2.5 years so two possibilities come to mind.

 

1. It's a one month required dry dock to satisfy requirements.

 

2. They are sold out.  These Barbados cruises are turning out to be massively popular with UK residents since Barbados is a direct flight for them and these can be more attractive compared to Florida cruises for the UK market.

 

 

I don't think the cruise is sold out. In the past week when I've been looking, there have been multiple cabins available in every category. And... the other itineraries for February are also missing. I'm beginning to suspect drydock is the reason.

[twangster]

12 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

I don't think the cruise is sold out. In the past week when I've been looking, there have been multiple cabins available in every category. And... the other itineraries for February are also missing. I'm beginning to suspect drydock is the reason.

 

In that case a dry dock starts to look like a better answer.  If they start cancelling booked guests we'll see reports soon I am sure.

[Ken at the beach]

16 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

I don't think the cruise is sold out. In the past week when I've been looking, there have been multiple cabins available in every category. And... the other itineraries for February are also missing. I'm beginning to suspect drydock is the reason.

As there are 3 sailings totaling 28 days that are closed for bookings and along with plenty of inventory for sailings in January and March I would say it is a drydock which are usually around that length of time

[jacobtsf]

Just updating this thread. Those of us booked on the February cruises received an e-mail saying the cruise was chartered and giving us a good number of dates we could switch to with no penalty and price protected (my list had both the exact itinerary I was booked on, as well as a different (but great looking) itinerary. If we did not want to switch to another Barbados cruise we could apply the money paid to a totally different sailing, or get a full refund.