Freedom of the Seas - Lobby for ports.

[kken67]

Due to the swine flu Cozumel is presently dropped from the western caribbean itinery. I know that RC are adding extra time in Grand Cayman and an extra day at sea. I also know the small print says they can change the itinery but, I think everyone should lobby them for an alternative port. They have plenty of time to organise this plus they have organised Cococay for Liberty of the seas as an alternative. I really cant see why they cant do the same for those sailing on Freedom. Please if you are sailing on Freedom in the next few months, email them to try to get them to do the same for us. Not that bothered which alternative port just somewhere. Others have suggested Key West, Cococay, Cuba etc.

[allfive]

We are sailing FOS early June. I am not really bothered and Im actually looking foward to another sea day , myself. I was wondering, however, if they would resume Cozumel since swine doesnt seem to be as bad as expected. I wonder , too, how far out they have listed the westerns as having an extra sea day???

[PattyG12]

hahaha ... Cuba? I'd love to go there but I doubt that would be a decision that RCI could make on their own. We're on the FOS in September. Sure hope it's back to normal by then.

[phoenix1181]

They're doing what they can to ensure the safety of passengers and crew. The coordination and costs associated with another port may not be quite as simple as taking your car to Miami instead of Tampa.

Why don't you cut them some slack here? They're doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances and all the whining and complaining around here is getting out of hand!

[uksimonusa]

Due to the swine flu Cozumel is presently dropped from the western caribbean itinery. I know that RC are adding extra time in Grand Cayman and an extra day at sea. I also know the small print says they can change the itinery but, I think everyone should lobby them for an alternative port. They have plenty of time to organise this plus they have organised Cococay for Liberty of the seas as an alternative. I really cant see why they cant do the same for those sailing on Freedom. Please if you are sailing on Freedom in the next few months, email them to try to get them to do the same for us. Not that bothered which alternative port just somewhere. Others have suggested Key West, Cococay, Cuba etc.

 

Coco Cay is out, you need a full day to get there when leaving from Grand Caymen, that would put Freedom in Coco Cay on Saturday, can't do the Monarch is already there, Cuba is out, due to US trade and travel restrictions, a ship that visits Cuba cannot visit the US for a period of time, I think 30 days, and I don't think Key West is big enough for a Freedom Class Ship.

 

If there were ports available, I'm sure they would go there, but time constraints preclude that.

[kken67]

They're doing what they can to ensure the safety of passengers and crew. The coordination and costs associated with another port may not be quite as simple as taking your car to Miami instead of Tampa.

 

Why don't you cut them some slack here? They're doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances and all the whining and complaining around here is getting out of hand!

I fuly appreciate that they are doing what they can atm but, i do think they have enough time to organise an alternative port for sailings with a few weeks to go. You cannot blame people wanting an alternative port if possible, I would not be complaining if it isnt possible, i appreciate i have the option of going on a cruise in the first place but if possible i and many others would prefer an alternative port to another sea day. There are some who are looking forward to extra sea time and we would certainly make the best of it if that ends up the situation. Not cutting them some slack would have been insisting on an alternative in the immediate aftermath.

[benbell]

I fuly appreciate that they are doing what they can atm but, i do think they have enough time to organise an alternative port for sailings with a few weeks to go. You cannot blame people wanting an alternative port if possible, I would not be complaining if it isnt possible, i appreciate i have the option of going on a cruise in the first place but if possible i and many others would prefer an alternative port to another sea day. There are some who are looking forward to extra sea time and we would certainly make the best of it if that ends up the situation. Not cutting them some slack would have been insisting on an alternative in the immediate aftermath.

 

the problem is that there are a limited number of ports a ship this size can go to, in addition the ships schedule needs to be able to make it to the new port and all of the other ones. Last, the port chosen needs to be able to accommodate another ship that day. The poster above has shown why the ports listed already wont work.

[temple1]

I don't think we realize how shallow some of the Caribbean ports are. We were just in Belize which is a tender port and you have a pretty long tender ride to the dock. Even with that we noticed how high Enchantment was in the water. When you get off on deck one onto the 2nd level of the tender - you are riding high!

 

So Belize would seem like a good alternative - except I doubt anything much larger would not be able to get into the area.

[CRUISINGCPA]

We are sailing FOS early June. I am not really bothered and Im actually looking foward to another sea day , myself. I was wondering, however, if they would resume Cozumel since swine doesnt seem to be as bad as expected. I wonder , too, how far out they have listed the westerns as having an extra sea day???

They are showing the extra sea day & 2 hours in Grand Cayman thru the June 7 sailing. Our sailing on the 21st still shows Cozumel which is fine with us since we were planning on using that day as a free day on an empty ship. I think that even if they resume Cozumel a lot of people may not go into port.

[FinsFan4Ever]

I sent an e-mail immediately to RCI about adding another port and got a standard answer saying that certain ports only allow so many ships. They gave us extra time in Haiti...Yippee!! We are not even planning on exiting the ship at this Port Of Call. Look forward to meeting you all. Please be kind to me.....I hope I posted this in the right place!!!

[FinsFan4Ever]

They are showing the extra sea day & 2 hours in Grand Cayman thru the June 7 sailing. Our sailing on the 21st still shows Cozumel which is fine with us since we were planning on using that day as a free day on an empty ship. I think that even if they resume Cozumel a lot of people may not go into port.

 

Here...here for Cozumel.....we would be happy to go into port.....

[Jacquelyn11]

On LOS June 13 and I would much rather go to Key West than Coco Cay. We already have Labadee and one beach stop is enough. I'm hoping they will lift the travel restriction by then and we can still go to Coz, one of the reasons I booked the Western Route to begin with!

 

Jacquelyn :D

[Aquahound]

Others have suggested Key West, Cococay, Cuba etc.

 

OMG, where do I begin with this one?

 

Please, before you go writing letters, e-mails, etc. make sure you do thorough research to even see if these plans are possible.

 

First of all, the FOS can not go to Key West. It is too big. Presently, Radiance Class is RCI's largest class of ship that can port in Key West.

 

Coco Cay is already being used 4 times a week by the Monarch and Majesty.

 

Cuba? Seriously?

 

The fact is, with Cozumel not being visited by anyone, FOS is not the only cruise ship jockeying for ports. If you keep your booking, you'll have to just accept whatever RCI does with the alternate route.

[tthomp06]

Key West is open on Friday June 12th. No other ships. We are on the Freedom that week. I'm sure Key West can handle Freedom. However, I calculated the time to travel to Key West from Grand Caymen and then on to Port Canaveral and if we had reasonable length of stay in Grand Caymen we would not arrive into Key West until late Friday night. Then we would have to leave Key West at 10am Saturday to get to Port Canaveral at 7AM Sunday (based on an average speed of 20 knots).

 

So, due to timing Key West is just not an option.

 

I'm thinking Cozumel will be open by June 12th so I'm dusting off my dive gear.

 

Tom

[Aquahound]

Key West is open on Friday June 12th. No other ships. We are on the Freedom that week. I'm sure Key West can handle Freedom.

 

As I just posted, no, Freedom can not go to Key West. I live here and work at the port, so I know these things. Even Voyager Class is too big.

[Luv4dacruise]

Due to the swine flu Cozumel is presently dropped from the western caribbean itinery. I know that RC are adding extra time in Grand Cayman and an extra day at sea. I also know the small print says they can change the itinery but, I think everyone should lobby them for an alternative port. They have plenty of time to organise this plus they have organised Cococay for Liberty of the seas as an alternative. I really cant see why they cant do the same for those sailing on Freedom. Please if you are sailing on Freedom in the next few months, email them to try to get them to do the same for us. Not that bothered which alternative port just somewhere. Others have suggested Key West, Cococay, Cuba etc.

 

I would just be happy with what you got, there are many displaced cruisers that don't even have a ship to go on cause there cruise is cancelled and others whose cruise is going to totally separate place and others whose cruises have turned into cruises to nowhere.

 

Just because there are other ports does not mean there is room for another ship to be docked/tendered at it. It's not just RCI, altogether there are probably like 30 or so displaced ships because of this whole swine flu thing. And compared to what many other people have gotten instead i think you made out pretty well.

 

JMHO of course.

[SherriZ366]

They are showing the extra sea day & 2 hours in Grand Cayman thru the June 7 sailing. Our sailing on the 21st still shows Cozumel which is fine with us since we were planning on using that day as a free day on an empty ship. I think that even if they resume Cozumel a lot of people may not go into port.

I think RCI is trying to cope with a situation where their pasengers could be in an area where they might pick up swine flu and it would spread quickly. So I am glad of their caution. If they don't feel it is prudent to resume calling on Cozumel by our Aug. 30 cruise, I am ok with it and would like the extra time in Grand Cayman. Last 2 times, that port was on our itinerary, we could not get into port because it was not safe. And as we are sailing duirng hurricane season, we could end up doing a totally different itinerary (ie eastern Caribbean) than we booked. You have to be a bit flexible on a cruise.

[Texas Teen]

Due to the swine flu Cozumel is presently dropped from the western caribbean itinery. I know that RC are adding extra time in Grand Cayman and an extra day at sea. I also know the small print says they can change the itinery but, I think everyone should lobby them for an alternative port. They have plenty of time to organise this plus they have organised Cococay for Liberty of the seas as an alternative. I really cant see why they cant do the same for those sailing on Freedom. Please if you are sailing on Freedom in the next few months, email them to try to get them to do the same for us. Not that bothered which alternative port just somewhere. Others have suggested Key West, Cococay, Cuba etc.

 

I think 3 port days is plenty for a ship as large as Freedom of the Seas! There are A LOT of things to do onboard a Fredcom class ship!

I know this from looking at virtual tours of Freedom of the Seas!

[cot427]

When I first started cruising, I used to love the ports, more than the ship. That slowly developed into me loving the sea days way more, well once you've gone to the standard ports once or twice, or even more. As for cozumel, I wouldn't mind having a sea day for that instead, it would actually give you more relaxing time at the end of the cruise.

 

This is the main reason we are probably going to try Carnival in January, because they have an exotic itinerary from Fort Lauderdale to Costa Rica and Panama, which royal caribbean doesnt. They constantly do the same old ports that we are sick of.

 

P.S. Freedom class is too big for Key West to handle, in case you didn't believe the dozens of others would said this above.

[danajjj]

OMG, where do I begin with this one?

 

Please, before you go writing letters, e-mails, etc. make sure you do thorough research to even see if these plans are possible.

 

First of all, the FOS can not go to Key West. It is too big. Presently, Radiance Class is RCI's largest class of ship that can port in Key West.

 

Coco Cay is already being used 4 times a week by the Monarch and Majesty.

 

Cuba? Seriously?

 

The fact is, with Cozumel not being visited by anyone, FOS is not the only cruise ship jockeying for ports. If you keep your booking, you'll have to just accept whatever RCI does with the alternate route.

 

That's too bad. I'd love to spend a day in Key West. My cruise isn't until Sept., so I'm sure that all will have returned to normal by then.

[SherriZ366]

When I first started cruising, I used to love the ports, more than the ship. That slowly developed into me loving the sea days way more, well once you've gone to the standard ports once or twice, or even more. As for cozumel, I wouldn't mind having a sea day for that instead, it would actually give you more relaxing time at the end of the cruise.

 

This is the main reason we are probably going to try Carnival in January, because they have an exotic itinerary from Fort Lauderdale to Costa Rica and Panama, which royal caribbean doesnt. They constantly do the same old ports that we are sick of.

 

P.S. Freedom class is too big for Key West to handle, in case you didn't believe the dozens of others would said this above.

love the ship better than the ports and love the ship even more in port when we stay on and others go ashore!!!!!!

[wraithe]

If I was going to email them, I would simply say thank you for the extra sea day instead of compromising passenger health and safety. This whole "they owe me another port" thing is becoming very tiresome.

[Jacquelyn11]

First of all, the FOS can not go to Key West. It is too big. Presently, Radiance Class is RCI's largest class of ship that can port in Key West.

 

Coco Cay is already being used 4 times a week by the Monarch and Majesty.

 

The fact is, with Cozumel not being visited by anyone, FOS is not the only cruise ship jockeying for ports. If you keep your booking, you'll have to just accept whatever RCI does with the alternate route.

 

OMG Aquahound! I guess TENDERING is out of the question???

 

We are already having to tender into GC, Labadee & Coco Cay. I AM FULLY AWARE that Acts of God happen and will accept whereever the LOS takes us. The OP was just getting CC'er input on suggestions. If YOURS was the sailing effected, you might be looking for options too.

 

Jacquelyn :D

[Lejardin]

We are sailing FOS early June. I am not really bothered and Im actually looking foward to another sea day , myself. I was wondering, however, if they would resume Cozumel since swine doesnt seem to be as bad as expected. I wonder , too, how far out they have listed the westerns as having an extra sea day???

 

We too are cruising early June on FOS - and am delighted about the extra sea day. I know not everyone is -- but we are cruising after all and that's what is important. :D

[tthomp06]

What are the specific reasons why the Freedom is too big for Key West?

 

 

Tom