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Mildly perturbed about itinerary change.


FloatMe

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So, in our relatively short cruising life (4 sailed & 2 booked) we are pretty particular about the itineraries we pick and try to go to islands we have never been to. Hence we were really excited about our October western caribbean trip on Allure which was to visit Labadee, Falmouth Jamaica, and Cozumel. We had only been to Cozumel before. While checking for price drops I noticed the itinerary has now changed to Cozumel (been there), Nassau (been there) and Costa Maya (going there in April 2017). I understand having to make changes on the fly due to weather or political strife in a particular region, but they really changed the trip.

 

Initially I was pretty angry, and then I remembered that I will be on a cruise, and all is good on a cruise. That said, I have yet to be notified by RCCLor my TA about the change? Wil they offer us any compensation ($100 OBC or anything) for changing the vacation we wanted to go on.

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This is a pretty unusual itinerary for Allure (under current itinerary schemes).  I'm surprised that they have made that change.  I wonder why ? I wonder if it has anything to do with the Labadee problems.  Of course, I LOVE Costa Maya so I would be THRILLED with that change but Nassau blows. 

 

But, as you noted...being on a cruise is being on a cruise.  Relax and enjoy !

 

I would NOT expect any kind of monetary compensation for this itinerary change...but I do think it's extremely POOR customer service not to notify you, individually, of the itinerary change.  You shouldn't have to stumble up on it to find out about the change.

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"Back in the day" we booked Empress when it was doing Southern Caribbean sailings from San Juan.  One extensive cruise had St. Barts and Grenada as stops - those two stops were why we booked the cruise since we had been to the other ports the ship was sailing to.  A couple months before sailing those were removed and replaced with some of the same-old, same-old ports.  It was disappointing, but the cruise was nice none-the-less.  

 

It took 9 years to finally get to Grenada, and we still haven't made it to St. Barts.

No compensation offered (see the contract when booking), just the return of port fees for those two stops.

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Seems odd they would change an itinerary so far out and not notify you.  I mean you did pay for one thing and you are getting something totally different.  I would definitely call them.  Maybe they moved your original itinerary to another ship?  One could hope.  Good Luck.

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We are booked to cruise on Allure departing March 6th.  I have been following the blog postings about Labadee.  Has anyone heard of an itinerary change for that date?

The situation in Labadee has returned to "normal" and Allure was able to dock there last week. Since then, I have not heard of any other issues.

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We had one changed on us a couple of years back .... it was never mentioned either ahead of time or on the ship ... we just ended up at a different port :)

 

I had noticed it ahead of time when printing or reviewing something in the paperwork and didn't really care but thought it was interesting that it was never "mentioned".

 

From memory I think it was St Kitts instead of St Thomas or something like that and we hadn't been to either one so no big deal, just strange.

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With all that's been happening with Labadee and stories like this, I found it interesting to read about how DCL handled something similar. The fantasy had to skip castaway cay due to a mechanical failure in one of the engines. In order to make it back to PC on time, they had to skip CC. DCL is offering $200 OBC and 20% off a future cruise. Pretty substantial.

 

I realize that mechanical failure is different than local protests, but it's not like they're stranded in the ocean or something. They will still make it home on time and in the end, it's just a missed port day. I'm impressed with the consolation prize

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With all that's been happening with Labadee and stories like this, I found it interesting to read about how DCL handled something similar. The fantasy had to skip castaway cay due to a mechanical failure in one of the engines. In order to make it back to PC on time, they had to skip CC. DCL is offering $200 OBC and 20% off a future cruise. Pretty substantial.

 

I realize that mechanical failure is different than local protests, but it's not like they're stranded in the ocean or something. They will still make it home on time and in the end, it's just a missed port day. I'm impressed with the consolation prize

A better 1:1 was when Freedom of the Seas experienced propulsion problems and RC gave guests onboard OBC.  FWIW, in the comments, one guest said they got $600 OBC.

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2014/12/13/royal-caribbeans-freedom-of-the-seas-propulsion-problems-will-slow-ship

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