Royal Caribbean is facing challenges with the cruise pier in San Juan, Puerto Rico, resulting in unexpected itinerary changes for one of its largest ships.
San Juan is one of the most popular cruise ports in the Caribbean with its rich history and vibrant culture; in addition, the capital of Puerto Rico is also used as a homeport for Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean offers many sailings that visit San Juan as a port of call. However, itineraries onboard Symphony of the Seas have been particularly affected by this port issue because of the ship's massive size.
In an email sent to guests booked on the December 1, 2024 sailing onboard Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean explained the situation regarding "technical issues" with San Juan’s cruise pier. Royal Caribbean made it clear the issue is out of their control. Until the damaged pier is repaired and subsequently cleared by the United States Coast Guard, Oasis class ships will be unable to dock.
The cruise line said, “We’ve recently been advised by the port authority in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that due to technical issues with the pier and the work that must be done and cleared by the USCG for accepting a ship our size, we’ll have to adjust our itinerary for our sailing.”
At this time, it’s unclear when the pier - which is located in the heart of San Juan’s old town - will be cleared by authorities to accept larger vessels. Neither Royal Caribbean nor the Port of San Juan have stated when the issue is expected to be fixed.
Symphony of the Seas is one of the largest ships in the world, measuring 228,081 gross registered tons. Originally, the ship was scheduled to sail on a 7-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary from Miami on December 1, 2024. Because of the unforeseen port issues in San Juan, the itinerary was adjusted at the last minute.
Symphony of the Seas was scheduled to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico and Philipsburg, St. Maarten, along one day at Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day at CocoCay. Guests were notified that Symphony of the Seas will instead visit Falmouth, Jamaica and Labadee, Haiti with an adjusted itinerary. However, the ship will also keep its scheduled visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay as planned.
Royal Caribbean stated that guests will receive an automatic refund to their original form of payment for any prepaid excursions booked for San Juan and Philipsburg. Additionally, excursions will also be available to book for the new ports of call in Jamaica and Haiti.
Only Symphony of the Seas has been impacted.
This isn’t the first Royal Caribbean itinerary to be impacted by San Juan’s pier issues. The cruise line was forced to drop San Juan from Symphony of the Seas’ itinerary earlier this month as well. The ship's November 17, 2024 itinerary was originally scheduled to dock in San Juan, St. Maarten and Perfect Day at CocoCay before the adjustment was made.
In communication sent to passengers, Royal Caribbean stated, “After exploring all options, and to provide you with the best experience, we'll now enjoy visits to our private destination, Labadee, Haiti, and to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, instead. To help make up for these changes, we've added a visit to Nassau, Bahamas!”
It’s also important to note that San Juan, Puerto Rico has two different ports utilized by cruise ships. The current issue is only impacting Royal Caribbean’s largest ships when docking for the day at the Port of San Juan near the old town. The second port in San Juan is found across the harbor, known as Pan American Pier, and is unaffected. This terminal is used as a homeport for ships that are departing from San Juan.
Currently, Rhapsody of the Seas is sailing round-trip itineraries from San Juan and has not experienced any itinerary adjustments. No other Royal Caribbean ships are departing from San Juan in the coming months, although multiple ships are scheduled to visit the city as a port of call.
Looking forward, Symphony of the Seas is scheduled to visit San Juan again on December 22, 2024. The ship also has more sailings featuring the port into January 2025. The cruise line has not announced any further changes at this time for future itineraries. If the pier remains damaged, Royal Caribbean's Oasis class ships could continue to be impacted for months to come.
How was the pier in San Juan damaged?
Guests on Royal Caribbean sailings from earlier this year started to report issues with San Juan’s pier in the spring. In April 2024, people started posting online about docking issues in Puerto Rico, supposedly due to damage caused by an MSC cruise ship.
According to guests onboard at the time, Wonder of the Seas was forced to change course due to the damage caused in San Juan in April 2024. Oasis class ships can only dock at the damaged pier due to their size. Therefore, Royal Caribbean is at the mercy of the port to repair the damaged pier in order to resume normal operations.
In April 2024, user @Brooke posted on our site’s forum, “On the Wonder of the Seas and just got diverted from going to San Juan, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. [Now we are] going to St. Maarten and St. Thomas. They said a ship crashed into the port in San Juan. Does anyone have information on that?”
User @Austin commented, “Just to clarify for anyone on a Puerto Rico itinerary on an Oasis class ship, Captain said the [pier] that Oasis ships use is unstable from the MSC ship striking it in Puerto Rico.”
Continuing, the cruiser shared, “They tried to work with the port authority to dock on the east side of the pier instead of the usual west side, but the port authority rejected this option and told them that we cannot dock until the dolphin is repaired (unknown downtime)."
In addition, a headline from elnuevodia, a local news source, confirmed the incident back in April. The headline reads, “MSC Meraviglia cruise ship hits Pier 3 in San Juan”. The article continued to explain how the San Juan Cruise Port was forced to close the west side of the facility until further notice, due to the damage caused by the accident. Neither Royal Caribbean nor the Port of San Juan have confirmed the pier damage by MSC Meraviglia.
Most guests are unhappy with the last-minute itinerary changes.
Impacted guests are understandably upset by the itinerary changes. Last-minute changes to an itinerary are always disappointing, especially when guests book sailings to visit specific destinations. While cruise lines attempt to replace cancelled ports of call, the itinerary updates are not always considered sufficient.
Royal Caribbean expressed to its guests, “We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by these changes. Nevertheless, we’re excited to visit our private destination and a new port with you!” Even still, impacted passengers are frustrated by the changes.
“I’m pretty upset about it. I was really excited to take my kids to San Juan as they’ve never been and St. Martin looked nice as well. I feel like the ports they switched us too are not on the same level as the ones we had before. Both cruise pricing wise and activity wise,” commented one impacted guest on a Reddit thread.
Royal Caribbean only recently started sailing again to its private island in Haiti, which is being used as a substitute port for San Juan. Although Labadee is a secure, remote and private area operated entirely by Royal Caribbean, the country of Haiti has been in turmoil recently.
Due to civil unrest in the spring and over the summer, Royal Caribbean suspended operations for months "out of an abundance of caution". Citing safety concerns, the cruise line removed Labadee from Caribbean itineraries throughout the spring and summer. Royal Caribbean only returned to Labadee in October 2024, although unrest continues in the country.
Even after three commercial planes were struck by gunfire in the country’s capital this month, Royal Caribbean confirmed there were no planned changes for itineraries visiting the private destination. Therefore, it's not surprising to see Labadee being used as a replacement port for altered itineraries.
One guest stated online how they would not be comfortable with Symphony's itinerary changes considering the violent situation in Haiti. The commenter stated, “Man, I’d personally be so upset at the changes; Skip San Juan but keep St. Maarten. I personally wouldn’t feel safe in Haiti right now."
“I'm on this cruise right now. It was a major bummer, but we adapted. We booked our St. Martin excursion through a 3rd party, and they refunded us after notifying them of the last-minute itinerary change,” stated one cruiser that was onboard the impacted November 17 sailing.
Continuing, the poster stated, “As far as the change goes, a lot of people were very upset about the change, but the terms and conditions you agree to when booking a cruise with Royal state that they can change the itinerary for any reason at any time, and without prior warning. Of course they will let you know as soon as possible, as a matter of good business practice.”
“So based on the other comments in this thread, it sounds like this has been a known issue since April, and basically there’s no hope in sight of getting it repaired? We picked this specific itinerary for Puerto Rico and St. Maarten,” exclaimed another cruiser online.
