Itinerary change - Toulon removed

[Ryan5645363]

Hey all,

 

Our cruise is set to depart in 60 days and this will be our first cruise, so we were looking forward to it. I received an email today saying they are removing the Toulon, France port visit from the cruise and only refunding us $11 for the port tax. The original itinerary was Barcelona • Toulon • Marina di Carrara • Ajaccio, Corsica • Ibiza • Barcelona, and their excuse is due to feedback, sailors would like to spend an additional day at sea. Well, surely if you want to enjoy the ship facilities you can just stay on it during the port day?

 

I don't feel like this is acceptable if you book for a certain route and they change it after you have paid. Is this normal? Should I kick up a fuss? We are very disappointed....

Edited March 28 by Ryan5645363

[corona_gorda]

5 years ago we had a stop in Ajaccio Corsica replaced by Toulon because of storm damage on the dock at Ajaccio. Any weather/technical issues can have ports of call changed and it says so in the contract. In this case, I have another discussion topic requesting insight into why sailor feedback changes from a stop to a cruising day. Our Ideal cruise would be two ports of call per day, if this was "doable" !

[Ryan5645363]

It's reasonable if there's a storm or bad weather during the cruise, but ours isn't sailing for another 60 days!

[VVhater]

Yeah, this is a ripoff. I never would have booked this changed itinerary. 

[CineGraphic]

28 minutes ago, Ryan5645363 said:

Is this normal? Should I kick up a fuss? We are very disappointed

 

The terms of your booking state that they can change itineraries for any reason.

Every cruise line has this in their terms.

Don't let this keep you from enjoying your cruise!

[VVhater]

It’s one thing to change the planned itinerary due to circumstances beyond the carrier’s control. But this is just a cost-saving measure that they delayed announcing until it was too late to cancel bookings. It is not an honorable way to do business. 

[cantgetin]

Technically, they have the right to remove or change ports for any reason....obviously we all understand things like political unrest or bad weather, but one does wonder about some other changes.  Are they even refunding your $11?  On our cruise they changed a port and said we would each get $5 port charge put on our account as loot.  We already have a ton of loot, so  that might not be useful at all....and yes, I paid in real US dollars; it should be refunded the same way.

[VVhater]

It’s France in two months; it has nothing to do with weather or unrest or anything else beyond Virgin’s control.  I don’t understand why so many commenters are defending this. 
 

Yes, they just transferred the $11 to our loot. Though it’s likely we’ll spend more than that on the day we’re captive on the ship instead of in France. 

[_KJ_Cruiser]

Our French Daze and Ibiza nights just had the Marseille stop removed and replaced with am "At Sea Day". July 21st sailing.

 

Edited March 28 by _KJ_Cruiser

[hotsauce126]

2 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The terms of your booking state that they can change itineraries for any reason.

Every cruise line has this in their terms.

Don't let this keep you from enjoying your cruise!

I mean mine is in 4 months but this is gonna take enjoyment from it. I’m on this cruise to see European ports not spend time on a ship that has an identical one sailing 4 hours from me

[DCGuy64]

4 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The terms of your booking state that they can change itineraries for any reason.

Every cruise line has this in their terms.

Don't let this keep you from enjoying your cruise!

I like your posts a lot, BTW. I am just sitting here chuckling because it seems like people on Cruise Critic are always offering advice about what cruise lines should and shouldn't do, how they should skip certain ports because "everybody's been there," etc., and now here's a case of the cruise line actually listening to customers and changing the itinerary accordingly, and people are mad. 🤣

[Travel_Lover28]

I booked this cruise because it was only one sea day. My decision was if I have to fly to another continent for more than 10 hours, I would  like to experience all the different ports on my cruise. Virgin is refunding $11, yahoo!🤬That doesn’t even buy both my husband and I a cocktail. This is making me so mad. I was looking forward to all the ports. Hopefully people (sailors as Virgin says) make a lot of stink about this. This is not good business or at least not how to make people want to cruise on Virgin. I should have booked a different brand.

[rebeccac]

3 hours ago, VVhater said:

It’s France in two months; it has nothing to do with weather or unrest or anything else beyond Virgin’s control.  I don’t understand why so many commenters are defending this. 
 

Yes, they just transferred the $11 to our loot. Though it’s likely we’ll spend more than that on the day we’re captive on the ship instead of in France. 

 

I don't think it is necessarily that commenters are defending this action, they are merely stating the fact that on pretty much any cruise line, the contract that you agree to when you purchase your cruise says that the cruise line can change the itinerary at any time for any reason.  This is just the way it is.  You may not have read the small print in the cruise contract where this policy is written (and who does read all the small print), but you agreed to it by purchasing the cruise.  Whether it is right or wrong is a whole other discussion.

[CineGraphic]

34 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I like your posts a lot,

 

I wonder if the fact that I'm born and raised in DC has anything to do about it. 🤣

[CineGraphic]

34 minutes ago, Travel_Lover28 said:

I booked this cruise because it was only one sea day. My decision was if I have to fly to another continent for more than 10 hours, I would  like to experience all the different ports on my cruise.

 

In this case it seems that the port intensive itinerary may have been too much for most folks.

 

We've been avoiding Mediterranean sailings for this very reason.

I'd much rather relax,and enjoy the casino, shops and services on-board in air-conditioned comfort than get hot & sweaty while navigating crowded cobblestone streets filled with pickpockets and souvenir shops. Sea days are delightful.

[richele]

I have read the contract and have cruised many times for many years on many different cruise lines. If I wanted a cruise with more sea days I would have reserved it. 

 I agree with other posts. I would not have booked 10 hour flights to Barcelona. I would just hop on a ship on a nearby port and lounge by the pool.

[DCGuy64]

8 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

I wonder if the fact that I'm born and raised in DC has anything to do about it. 🤣

That just might be it! 🤣

11 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

 

I don't think it is necessarily that commenters are defending this action, they are merely stating the fact that on pretty much any cruise line, the contract that you agree to when you purchase your cruise says that the cruise line can change the itinerary at any time for any reason.  This is just the way it is.  You may not have read the small print in the cruise contract where this policy is written (and who does read all the small print), but you agreed to it by purchasing the cruise.  Whether it is right or wrong is a whole other discussion.

Agreed. It's just part of cruising. At least in this instance, the change was (apparently) something the sailors wanted. Many times it seems like ports are dropped or substituted while the cruise is underway, with little justification. I guess it's kinda nice that this was due to passenger preference.

[BrianB1964]

This is why I am not an avid Cruiser!!   My wife and I picked this cruise for its Itinerary.  The boat was our easy transportation to those destinations.  I get that a cruise ship can cancel a port due to weather or other mitigating circumstances, but 60 days ahead?  If it is an issue in France, then say it.  Don't use the comment of recent sailor feedback.  Why not just cruise the sea and not stop anywhere then??  False advertising. 

 

Signed, Pissed off Sailor!

[Travel_Lover28]

11 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

We've been avoiding Mediterranean sailings for this very reason.

I'd much rather relax,and enjoy the casino, shops and services on-board in air-conditioned comfort

I agree with you on this. I wouldn’t fly to another continent to enjoy sea days. I would have just cruised in any US ports, spend less money on flights and hotels. Spend my money on shops, drink cocktails, and try my luck in the casino.

Still not happy with the port cancellation but it is what it is. I’m not happy with people not having a little or no empathy to those who were looking forward to this port stop. Yes, I know about the cruise contract. I have cruised other brands. I have also worked in a cruise port for many years. People save hard earned money to be able to travel and cruising is the best way to travel to many places.

[Ria84]

I was also booked for the same cruise and got the unfortunate news of cancellation. I called customer service for more details but I didn’t get much info. This will be my first time sailing with Virgin and that was one of my top ports I was looking forward to visiting. 

[VVhater]

Virgin just caved and reinstated Toulon

[CruisingWalter]

5 hours ago, BrianB1964 said:

This is why I am not an avid Cruiser!!   My wife and I picked this cruise for its Itinerary.  The boat was our easy transportation to those destinations.  I get that a cruise ship can cancel a port due to weather or other mitigating circumstances, but 60 days ahead? 

 

They can cancel for any reason at any time. It's in section 9 of the contract. I believe 9.3.5 in VV's contract.  It's in every single cruise contract on any cruise line. 300 days, 200 days, 100 days, 10 days, and even after the ship leaves port, itineraries can change for whatever reason at all. No itinerary is guaranteed, ever. 

 

If Toulon was that important to you, fly there, don't take a cruise. If any destination is so important it will ruin your cruise if it's cancelled, don't take the cruise. fly there. It's that simple. 

 

Everyone who is 'defending' the cruise line understands the cruise contract. We go into the cruise knowing the itinerary can change.