What would make you decide to cancel a cruise?

[Sky Sweet]

Which of the following would make you think about cancelling a cruise? You can check more than one item.

 

The title of this thread should have been "What would make you decide to cancel a cruise"......sorry for the typos.

[Sky Sweet]

Negative reviews of a ship's condition will influence me if there are tangible reasons for them, such as mold, chipped bathroom fixtures, etc. However, negative reviews of service will have no affect on me if that same person has made similar complaints about their other cruises, especialy if those other complaints pertained to different ships, as well as different cruise lines.

 

If I discover a large group of people are booked on a specific cruise, I will avoid it like the plague, because I feel that has a negative impact on the ambiance of a cruise.

[chessbriar]

The only reason I have canceled a cruise in the past were for personal matter and not reviews on these boards. Reviews are subjective and I have never found a ship to be as bad as you read on these boards. People can be far too critical. I've had itinerary changes, no problem. I've taken cruise 4 days after a hurricane has pummelled the embarkation point. Ships can avoid hurricanes, they move faster. As to finding a better deal. I find the deal I like when I book the cruise.

 

I have moved cruises up because I couldn't wait. And cancelled the Connie 2x due to pregnancy and birth.

[Karynanne]

I have canceled a cruise on occasion, but it was for work scheduling related issues.

 

Reviews regarding the condition of a ship, do not have an impact on my decision at all. I'd rather judge for myself. And cruising with large groups of people would definately have no impact...We are going to cruise with a large group of people....friends!

 

Karyn

[Sheik]

Itinerary is most important for us, so if a couple of ports will be cancelled, we cancel the cruise.

[ocngypz]

Death of a family member or severe illness.

[cat616]

I can only think of 2 reasons that I would cancel.

 

1) A major change in itinerary. I would evaluate the changes then make a decision.

 

2) Medical reasons. ie Death or serious illness of myself or a family member.

 

Other than that I will be on the Pier ready for embarkation.

 

Happy Travels

 

Cindy

[bangzoom6877]

Adverse weather conditions might make me cancel a cruise, depending on the circumstances. If I had a cruise booked in the dead of winter and there was a huge blizzard coming here (NYC), I would have to cancel. I would also cancel for medical conditions, like if my son came down with something communicable, for example. If one of us had a tiny cold or something I wouldn't cancel. I always get the cruise insurance. I feel it's a small investment and worth the peace of mind.

 

I would not cancel a cruise due to negative reviews. I just got off the NCL Spirit July 22nd sailing, which I had booked about a year ago. In the beginning, I read some positive reviews but so many negative ones. I did not let that deter me from going. Reviews started getting more and more positive around Christmas time, and of course there were still some negative ones thrown in there. I went, and I am glad I went, and enjoyed myself greatly. I enjoyed the food, the ship, and the whole cruise. I found many of the negative comments to either be false, or something unique to the cruise of that particular individual, because things were polar opposite on my cruise. I have been on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Celebrity, The Regal Empress and NCL, and this was my 13th cruise, so I had plenty of background in cruising different lines.

 

If there was a problem with the ship, as in unsafe conditions that were not able to be fixed, that would make me cancel a cruise. If I was scheduled for the Crown Princess after its accident in July, I would still go. We left a few days after that happened and we sailed by the Crown Princess on our way out of NYC.

 

-Bonnie

[bangzoom6877]

Of course, to add to my previous post, there is the obvious, like death of a family member or serious illness of a loved one. I didn't think I needed to mention that but I figured I would.

[Sky Sweet]

Itinerary is most important for us, so if a couple of ports will be cancelled, we cancel the cruise.

 

Hi Sheik :)

 

I normally would not cancel for port changes, but can think of one exception. If our Baltic Cruise earlier this summer was altered by the temporary port closing of St Petersburg, Russia, I would have cancelled it. Fortunately, our cruise predated the week that port was closed and we enjoyed two fabulous days in St Petersburg. :)

[C 2 C]

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

If there were enough negative reviews about a ship, I would reconsider. But I would always check the background of the poster. Some posters are booked on certain cruiselines and just post on other threads to spread discord. Some ships have crew members who have treated me well in the past. If I were to read that certain entertainers were onboard, I would think of switching. (Brooks where are you?) Destinations are no longer as important to me as is the onboard experience. Unfortunately it is very difficult to track the movements of captains and cruise directors.

Perhaps we should have a thread on Who's Where? for important positions.

[slotaddict]

If I cancelled my cruise because of negative reviews that I read on this board and others, I may have missed some of the best cruises of my life.

I don;t think anything would make me change my plans other than something happening in my family. I would however considering changing ships if I saw a better deal.

[usha]

I might consider rebooking a cruise for any time BUT when a large group of any kind is going to be onboard.

A couple of years ago, we booked a b2b on Century, not knowing until we boarded that there was a group of 500 gays on our first cruise. They had many private parties, often resulting in public lounges being closed to the rest of the passengers :(. It really felt like they had taken over the ship, and by the time that first week was over, I was soooooooo tired of so many men checking out my husband. :eek:

Obviously, death of a family member or serious illness would also put the cruise plans asunder.

[Taters]

Death... My own.

 

Taters

[Mildred]

Needed a new roof.

[Sky Sweet]

So far, over 36 percent of people who voted in this poll would consider cancelling a cruise if they discovered that a large group was booked on it. I found that interesting because I feel the same way :)

[Host Walt]

The cruise lines have cancelled a bunch of cruises on which we've been booked for various reasons, but the only reason we've canceled a cruise is for business interruptions (twice).

 

However in the list of choices, we've not had any of them occur. If the itinerary change is significant (dropping ports to which we wanted to go) rather than changing the sequence of ports, we may well cancel.

 

If there was also a major contingency such as propulsion issues or the like, we'd think about it (but likely would keep the booking).

 

Finally, regarding a group, if it's a very large group that takes over the ship (like maybe 50% of the total load) I would seriously consider changing dates. We've been on two such cruises, one where we were part of the group and another where we were part of the small group that were not part of the group.

 

In the former, the group had no group activities at all, but those outside the group were bored silly (annoyed) with how all conversations involved the affinity grup.

 

In the latter we were made "honorary members" of the group and were invited to join some of their activities, which we did, but we always felt we were intruding.

 

Did not like either situation at all.

[soooo excited!]

How would one know in advance if a very large group will be on the cruise you've booked or not ? It seems our cruise has just become heavily booked (Alaska, next summer) , which might be due to the recent cancellation of the Sept. Alaska cruise - but could be something else.

One of the large on-line travel agencies that allowed me to see what was still available - no longer lists that cruise as available - but on the X site there are still cabins listed - but the suites are almost completely sold out.

[Host Walt]

How would one know in advance if a very large group will be on the cruise you've booked or not ? It seems our cruise has just become heavily booked (Alaska, next summer) , which might be due to the recent cancellation of the Sept. Alaska cruise - but could be something else.

One of the large on-line travel agencies that allowed me to see what was still available - no longer lists that cruise as available - but on the X site there are still cabins listed - but the suites are almost completely sold out.

I have no idea how one would know except if our TA could get that info from the cruise line.

 

In my second case we found out about the group when we boarded.

[broberts]

I was thinking Armageddon. But if its scheduled during the cruise I'd still go.

 

Bad reviews might alter my choice of cruise, but once booked only God gets in the way.

[STUR]

:) Rember The Cruise Is What You Make It (think Posative)

The Only Reason To Cancel After You Have Booked And Paid For Is For Personal Reasons

 

If You Nitpick You Can Always Find Some

 

We Are Spoiled Our First Cruise Was On The Pasific Princess The Love Boat And Did We Get Spoiled Today The Ships Are Larger And The Service Is Less But Still The Best Vacation For The Money

 

This Will Be Our First Time On Celebrity (have Read Good And Bad Reviews About The Mercury )

 

Maid Maney Friends On Cruis Critic Roll Call (we Are Sure To Have A Ball)

 

Always Think Positave (even If Things Dont Go Your Way) Injoy What You Have

 

Stur Dayton,ohio

 

Next Cruise Mercury Mexican Riviera January 29th,2007

[Happy ks]

We've cruised with a large group onboard before and, while they were nice enough people, I'd want to cancel a cruise if I knew in advance if there was another large group. They took up quite a bit of the public space and the movie theatre for the entire week. We felt as if a lot of the ship was off limits to us.

 

I have cancelled cruises because I found a better price/itinerary before, but it was well in advance.

 

I don't know how weather could cause me to cancel, unless it was a major hurricane and the cruiseline was offering full refunds. How could you know before final payment what the weather will be? I know there are forecasts and typical weather for a season, but I'd investigate that before booking.

 

I'd not cancel because someone gave a bad review of the ship, unless every review was negative. A few chips or a bit of mold in a shower would not stop us. I may notice, but I have the understanding that wear and tear is normal for any structure, whether it is a ship, hotel or my own home. If the shower were to bother me, I'd point it out to the cabin steward.

 

A few service problems would not worry me, because you're dealing with human beings. Not only does the bad service (if experienced) come from one individual, the perception of bad service can vary from one individual to the next. ie, some people think they have a bad room steward because they never saw them, that would not bother me, if they were doing their job. While I'm friendly to them and enjoy hearing about their life and where they are from, if they are invisible, that's fine with me, too. At dinner, I do enjoy the good natured service and a jovial wait staff, I'm not too keen on them becoming overly familiar with me.

 

We don't give much consideration to the food, our expectation is pretty moderate, we realize that we are not going to be served gourmet meals and we know somewhere on the ship there will be something edible.

 

All in all, we tend to do our homework before booking the cruise. Reading reviews of the ship and the itinerary we are interested in. A huge itinerary change may influence us, but it would have to be significant.

[mcnyc]

I just cancelled a cruise to Turkey/Greece because we decided to go to Hawaii this year, and Turkey/Greece another time (hoping for a longer cruise, 10 days is just not enough!!!). I'd not cancel a cruise other than for the usual illness/death. Not even a job, or lack thereof, will get in my way. And since I just served on a jury, jury duty isn't even a consideration for another 6 years...

 

Edited to add: now that I've read the comments about large groups taking over a cruise, I'd consider cancelling if I found out. Itineraries...it depends on the itinerary and the port.

[Kay240]

When Pride of ALOHA (a reincarnation of the NCL SKY, if I remember correctly) was substituted for the brand new Pride of AMERICA, we were very disappointed. We were still given a balcony room, which I understood was in short supply, because the newer ship was going to be predominately balconies and the older ship was not. Still, THIS WAS HAWAI'I...

 

 

However, about a week before the final payment was due, I went "to the BOARDS" and found about 80% negative reviews! (I spent OVER FOUR HOURS each TWO nights in a row reading reviews.:eek: )The only good things people had to say were about Hawai'i and the itinerary. Those who were traveling with other people seemed to be the happiest; also, those who were willing to buy most of their meals on shore, which I knew we would NEVER do! I checked with my TA and he suggested we cancel.

 

 

This was the first few months for the American crews, and I could understand a "learning curve", as far as service was concerned. What I couldn't understand was how frequently people said the ship had run out of food...

 

 

We were traveling with another couple (actually, as I think about it, SHE cancelled for us...we had discussed it, but NEVER told her to do it). We were flexible, as we are retired. They both still work and had to get the time off, which they felt they could not change. In order to use our "BONUS POINTS" for our flight, we had to have three or four days in Honolulu coming and going; they only had time for the cruise. We tried to do a "land only" trip with them, but it didn't work out, in part because DH does not do well with the flexibility of looking for restaurants every day and unknown costs.

 

 

They flew to Honolulu, and I believe, spent the week there, while we found a MEXICAN cruise on the DIAMOND PRINCESS (a new ship) out of LA about a month later. We "lost" $75 each to turn our FREE tickets back into "points". Lastly, we are going on the Pride of HAWAI'I (flying on the same points) with other friends next month! All works out in the end.:)

[tuggers]

I usually only cancel a cruise if it conflicts for some reason with something I have to do or I am having health issues.

I never cancel because of something I read on here as everyone has their own opinions and I'd rather see for myself.

If the cruise is canceled because of weather, that's the cruiseline. I let them make those decisions.