worst cutback - RCI is cutting one port day off of most Caribbean itineraries

[02143]

Interesting... our Western Caribbean cruise this November was originally supposed to stop at Grand Cayman along with three ports on the mainland, and that disappeared before we booked. Now we know why. It certainly makes sense for revenue purposes, but it doesn't bother me at all. 5 islands, 1 sea day on Serenade was too much for me.

 

(Although I wish it hadn't been Grand Cayman that had been cut. I'd been talking up the sting rays!)

[hunter2004]

Wow! I take a cruise for the whole experience. Both the ports and the ship. If it is only the ports I was interested in than I guess I would Fly and island hop. Still feel a cruise is the best value for the money... My glass is not half full but running over....<J

It's depend, but destination that what made more interesting like Alaska. Visit a few ports in a week comebine with the love of the ocean and ship made a good combination than a land vacation which we had taken both.

 

So we just take it all in, gave us all ports or sea, we turn nothing down....still a great vacation:D

[TEXASMUNK]

You may be 100% accurate on all other sailings. But did you know....te PORT OF PROGRESSO changed times then ships can enter port and times when ships be be cleared of Progresso?

 

No? Well, they did! Seems that in the winter/spring months ships must be clear of the port by 5pm. This means that Voyager woud not have sufficient port time for tours to Merida, to the ruins, etc, etc.

 

RCI is NOT evil in all situations.

[dogsambam]

Give me a 7 night cruise with all sea days and I would be happy. Just booked Liberty Christmas sailing and my hope is that one of the ports gets cancelled.

[Bobal]

Bobal,

Interesting...we are going on the Explorer 13 night out of Bayonne at the end of April. They cut out San Juan (our 1st port) but have kept Tortola so far (our last port). I see you still have San Juan but not Tortola. It seems like they wanted or needed to cut out a port from each itinerary and cut either the first in my case or last in your case. We have 3 sea days down and 2 coming back. I hope Tortola is "ready" for us, otherwise we will have had 2 ports dropped.

 

I called my travel agent and had my government fees lowered because of the removal of the port. I saved $20 total for 2 people by doing this.

 

Now that really is interesting.I suspected dropping Tortola was a cost-cutting exercise but they seemed to have an excuse (i.e. not ready). However, I can't see any reason why they would cut San Juan so it seems likely that it is just to have another sea day. It will be interesting to hear what the Royal "Champions" make of that one.

 

Since we've been to San Juan I think you got the better deal, although you may prefer your itinerary ;)- either way I feel we've been shortchanged here and would prefer RCCL to be honest about what they're doing.

 

The government fees issue is an interesting one - I'll get onto my TA about that one - thanks - and have a wonderful cruise, it's still a great itinerary :)

[negc]

As long as the cancellation is made while you can still cancel the cruise without penalty, your damages, aside from disappointment, are minimal. If any port is so important that you can't bear the possibility of missing it, you should probably not cruise as there are all sorts of things that can cause you to miss any particular port. We have almost all experienced port cancellations, well in advance, and on the day we were supposed to arrive at the port. It is just an unfortunate fact of life that we have to deal with.:)

Ascribing a particular reason for the cancellation without substantial evidence that it was actually the deciding factor, is difficult to prove and probably makes little difference.

[prc]

I'm not saying that it hasn't/won't happen, but all of the examples listed (except 1) were of a single ship (Legend) that sails from a single port (Santo Domingo, DR). My first guess would be that had something to do with it.

 

The one other example listed was Voyager. I do know that there a a couple of factors influencing that decision:

 

Rhapsody did alternating iteneraries year round, 1 4-port and 1 3-port. Voyager basically took them over, but only sails from Galveston in the winter. While CostaMaya was out of commission, a sea day was substituted. Progresso had 2 issues.

 

First, the pier is miles long (literally), as the waters are basically a very shallow shelf. The channel cut for cargo traffic is miles and miles long, and the markers/lights are not the best. It was the port authority that decreed that passenger vessels must depart before dusk. This puts timing pressure on ships in the winter months (Voyager) making it a short stop.

 

Also, the manuvering room in the docks is extremely small. When cargo vessels are in port (almost allways), it is an even tighter squeeze. Add the constant, sometimes high winds caused by being a few miles out at sea to start with, and a ship the size of Voyager is forced to operate in close quarters, with wind pushing against it's very large profile, and with the daylight restriction limiting you on how long you can delay because of wind, well...

 

Again, maybe they are/will alter iteneraries, but I think Voyager had specific reasons.

[Phamer55]

These are great examples showing that RCI has a trend of removing ports from some itineraries. I myself enjoy port days over sea days. I would think that for people who prefer staying on the ship and like sea days would actually want a cruise with more ports days because those who stay onboard get the benefits of a much emptier ship! Suddenly, those chairs around the pool are available, less people in the buffet, the spa has port-day specials, etc. So even if you are a "sea day" person, you benefit from a cruise that has many port days!

 

Bottom line for me: RCI is my first choice to cruise, but I do try other lines which can offer me a better itinerary - and better itinerary to me means more port days and more varied ports.

[Salt air hair]

Bobal,

Interesting...we are going on the Explorer 13 night out of Bayonne at the end of April. They cut out San Juan (our 1st port) but have kept Tortola so far (our last port). I see you still have San Juan but not Tortola. It seems like they wanted or needed to cut out a port from each itinerary and cut either the first in my case or last in your case. We have 3 sea days down and 2 coming back. I hope Tortola is "ready" for us, otherwise we will have had 2 ports dropped.

 

I called my travel agent and had my government fees lowered because of the removal of the port. I saved $20 total for 2 people by doing this.

 

We also will be on the Explorer (in March). When booked, Tortola was on the sched, got our papers and it was gone. We've been there three time in the past three years, on different lines, and was tendered all three times, so as far a the docks aren't finished or whatever that case may be........I agree with the poster "more time on ship, spend more money". Yes, I probably would have cancelled, but friends are going for their first cruise trip with us. Three days back....I suspect we'll be "treading water" on the way back.

[madforcruising]

I would think that for people who prefer staying on the ship and like sea days would actually want a cruise with more ports days because those who stay onboard get the benefits of a much emptier ship! Suddenly, those chairs around the pool are available, less people in the buffet, the spa has port-day specials, etc. So even if you are a "sea day" person, you benefit from a cruise that has many port days!

 

 

This doesn´t hold true for me. I love sea days, but don´t enjoy the ship while it´s sitting in a port. A Sea day means cruising, being out at sea, not sitting in a port. I can have that staying in a Hotel.JMO.

[TXMary]

I was thrilled to see Progresso dropped from the itinerary. I did not care for that port. Were I to go again, I would stay on the ship. We even left there an hour or so early since absolutely everyone was back on the ship.

 

I completely agree. We sailed the same itinerary last January on the Voyager and did not care for Progresso at all. When we booked again for March 2009, we had already decided it would be a "stay on the ship" day for us. I understand the disappointment of losing a port, but we couldn't have cared less that Progresso was gone.

[negc]

I completely agree. We sailed the same itinerary last January on the Voyager and did not care for Progresso at all. When we booked again for March 2009, we had already decided it would be a "stay on the ship" day for us. I understand the disappointment of losing a port, but we couldn't have cared less that Progresso was gone.

 

And, in fact, that could be the reason for it being dropped if there were a large number of negative comments about the port. I believe that similar negative feelings about Martinique several years back caused some lines to remove it from their list of ports of call. In recent years Martinique has been restored to some itineraries but ports of call can be dropped for many reasons including passenger negativity.

[FireIce0010]

You know, probably the worst cutback is the one that I failed to mention in the other thread. I've noticed a significant trend that RCI is cutting one port day off of most Caribbean itineraries, so that the old 4 port day and 2 sea day itineraries are now 3 port days and 3 sea days, and the old 5 port day and 1 sea day itineraries are now 4 port days and 2 sea days.

 

I suspect that RCI is doing this because of the extra revenue generated on sea days. The casino and shops are only open on sea days. They make much more money on sea days on drinks, spa, bingo, etc., because everyone is onboard. The worst part of this cutback is that they've cut the port day off many itineraries after people booked. Because of the language about the right to change itineraries, they do not refund that day's port fees. This is a huge windfall to RCI when you multiply it by the number of passengers.

 

This actually happened to us on our January 11th cruise on the Voyager of the Seas, when the port of Progresso (Yucatan), Mexico was cancelled from our itinerary several months before our cruise. We probably would not have booked that cruise otherwise. We've been to Cozumel so many times and we've also been to Costa Maya before. We were basically cruising just to go to Roatan and Progresso/Yucatan.

 

We cruise primarily for the ports and secondarily for the ship. When the first ship in a new class comes out like Freedom of the Seas or Oasis of the Seas, we cruise one time for the ship. Then we don't mind a less desirable itinerary to ports that we've visited many times. In fact, we wouldn't care if we had only 3 port days, because we're cruising for the ship so we'd be happy with 3 sea days. However, except for when a new class of ship comes out, we always cruise for the ports. We look for excellent itineraries with as many previously unvisited ports as possible. We don't care what ship it's on, even if it's a ship we don't like.

 

For example, last year we did a back-to-back on the Legend of the Seas out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. We'd been on the Legend OTS before and hated it. But, both itineraries had 5 port days and only 1 sea day. Of the 10 islands visited, 6 we'd never been to before, 2 we'd only been to once and loved the first time, 1 we'd only been to once and were neutral about the first time, and 1 we'd been to several times and love.

 

Sounds like you need to find a new cruise line. Amazing.

[Ocean Boy]

As long as the cancellation is made while you can still cancel the cruise without penalty, your damages, aside from disappointment, are minimal. If any port is so important that you can't bear the possibility of missing it, you should probably not cruise as there are all sorts of things that can cause you to miss any particular port. We have almost all experienced port cancellations, well in advance, and on the day we were supposed to arrive at the port. It is just an unfortunate fact of life that we have to deal with.:)

Ascribing a particular reason for the cancellation without substantial evidence that it was actually the deciding factor, is difficult to prove and probably makes little difference.

 

Very true. I just don't remember anyone here saying that they couldn't bear the possibility of missing a particular port. I guess disappointment does fall on the list of minimal damages... in some peoples minds but perhaps not in others. Either way no one was claiming damages in any legal sense or as in law suit.

[OHCruisin]

I booked Liberty for 11/09 in April, 08. The itinerary was Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman, with two sea days. They have since dropped Grand Cayman from the itinerary. I'm not sure when it happened, but they are dropping ports. I don't particularly care, because I've been to GC at least a half dozen times (and have never had to skp it because of weather). I've been to most of the islands RCI goes to and most of the time I'm content to stay on the ship.

 

But, they are removing ports on some routes. Southern routes seem to be hanging in there though.

[allisons]

Your examples are far from a fleet wide cutback as you claim.

 

I guess I assumed that if it happened on 3 itineraries I've been on, that it is also happening on more itineraries as well. However, if these really are the only 3 itineraries across all of RCI, then maybe it's not a problem.

[allisons]

You may be 100% accurate on all other sailings. But did you know....te PORT OF PROGRESSO changed times then ships can enter port and times when ships be be cleared of Progresso?

 

No? Well, they did! Seems that in the winter/spring months ships must be clear of the port by 5pm. This means that Voyager woud not have sufficient port time for tours to Merida, to the ruins, etc, etc.

 

RCI is NOT evil in all situations.

 

No, I did not know that. Thank you so much for letting me know!

[allisons]

I'm not saying that it hasn't/won't happen, but all of the examples listed (except 1) were of a single ship (Legend) that sails from a single port (Santo Domingo, DR). My first guess would be that had something to do with it.

 

The one other example listed was Voyager. I do know that there a a couple of factors influencing that decision:

 

Rhapsody did alternating iteneraries year round, 1 4-port and 1 3-port. Voyager basically took them over, but only sails from Galveston in the winter. While CostaMaya was out of commission, a sea day was substituted. Progresso had 2 issues.

 

First, the pier is miles long (literally), as the waters are basically a very shallow shelf. The channel cut for cargo traffic is miles and miles long, and the markers/lights are not the best. It was the port authority that decreed that passenger vessels must depart before dusk. This puts timing pressure on ships in the winter months (Voyager) making it a short stop.

 

Also, the manuvering room in the docks is extremely small. When cargo vessels are in port (almost allways), it is an even tighter squeeze. Add the constant, sometimes high winds caused by being a few miles out at sea to start with, and a ship the size of Voyager is forced to operate in close quarters, with wind pushing against it's very large profile, and with the daylight restriction limiting you on how long you can delay because of wind, well...

 

Again, maybe they are/will alter iteneraries, but I think Voyager had specific reasons.

 

 

I did not know this. Thank you so much for letting me know!

[kyriecat]

These are great examples showing that RCI has a trend of removing ports from some itineraries. I myself enjoy port days over sea days. I would think that for people who prefer staying on the ship and like sea days would actually want a cruise with more ports days because those who stay onboard get the benefits of a much emptier ship! Suddenly, those chairs around the pool are available, less people in the buffet, the spa has port-day specials, etc. So even if you are a "sea day" person, you benefit from a cruise that has many port days!

 

Bottom line for me: RCI is my first choice to cruise, but I do try other lines which can offer me a better itinerary - and better itinerary to me means more port days and more varied ports.

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking! I HATE sea days - you have to fight everyone else for pool/hot tub space. The WJ is crowded. If I want to relax for a day, I'll book a cruise with a port that I've been to already and either not get off the ship or take a short tour and be back onboard by noon. I can have the pool to myself plus catch a spa special.

[buckanear]

I completely agree. We sailed the same itinerary last January on the Voyager and did not care for Progresso at all. When we booked again for March 2009, we had already decided it would be a "stay on the ship" day for us. I understand the disappointment of losing a port, but we couldn't have cared less that Progresso was gone.

 

Progreso isn't on any of it's itineraries this season any more. Now you'll have to fight the crowds an extra day :)

[Cindy]

Progreso isn't on any of it's itineraries this season any more. Now you'll have to fight the crowds an extra day :)

 

Hi Erica! I thought Progresso was only added last year because Costa Maya was closed because of the hurricane. I always assumed they would drop Progresso once Costa Maya was back up and running again.

[cruisingram1]

 

I suspect that RCI is doing this because of the extra revenue generated on sea days. The casino and shops are only open on sea days. They make much more money on sea days on drinks, spa, bingo, etc., because everyone is onboard. The worst part of this cutback is that they've cut the port day off many itineraries after people booked. Because of the language about the right to change itineraries, they do not refund that day's port fees. This is a huge windfall to RCI when you multiply it by the number of passengers.

 

I noted a refund of $26+ on my April Voyager cruise after Progresso was dropped. It did not say specifically.. but I assumed this was a refund for port charges. My daughter's invoice showed the same.

[MDSue]

I book for the itinerary and port days. While I enjoy being on the ship, the time and ports are equally important to me. I was very disappointed when they dropped a port from the Voyager's schedule. We were looking forward to sailing on it this year. Although I prefer RCI, we booked another line this year so we could get a 4 port/7day cruise again this year.

So for me, I'll take the extra port days.

[Cruising89143]

Not sure why the surprise here. RCI announced quite a while ago that they were going to tweak the itineraries. Mainly for the purpose of conserving fuel. Also, as the ships get larger they become the destination themselves and it's no surprise that RCI has decided to push the ships over the islands.

[allisons]

Hi Erica! I thought Progresso was only added last year because Costa Maya was closed because of the hurricane. I always assumed they would drop Progresso once Costa Maya was back up and running again.

 

Actually, we had both Progresso/Yucatan and Costa Maya on our original itinerary. Our original itinerary was Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya, and Progresso/Yucatan.