CruisingOz Posted February 3, 2021 Report Share Posted February 3, 2021 Hello Community, We have booked a B2B on the Radiance of the Seas for February 2022, 5 night Key West and Labadee and 9 night Southern Caribbean. I know it is just over a year away but we have booked a cruise just prior on the Symphony which has all the shore excursions listed. The image used in the cruise planner is the same on a sailing which is technically still going ahead in April on the Quantum, 10 night Japan which we are waiting for Royal to cancel, and again no shore excursions listed with only 71 days to go. I know it is a year out but we are trying get some sort of certainty as we are flying in from Australia. We are worried and are now thinking of changing to Barbados or another sailing out of a Florida port. We have reached out to Royal via our TA and Royal say they are still working on local contractors to be finalised. We find this answer worrisome as the ports will be visited by Royal ships prior to our sailing, in fact one port is on the Symphony sailing prior. The ports are the standard fare for Royal. Is it unusual for no shore excursions to be available on the cruise planner for a cruise +365 days? We are worried our favourite ship may be moving on to ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted February 3, 2021 Report Share Posted February 3, 2021 I think the lack of shore excursions listed to book is more a product of the world we are in now where any cruise is in limbo if it will sail or not. I don't think there's a major shore-side effort to get shore excursion options up there ASAP. Moreover, there's the notion that likely (although not confirmed yet by Royal Caribbean) tours may have to be altered/limited due to covid. cruisellama and CruisingOz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantix2000 Posted February 3, 2021 Report Share Posted February 3, 2021 I don't know whether my answer will help or hurt your anxiety. I don't think it's unusual for shore excursions to be unavailable a year out in normal times. As Matt said, with the pandemic, it will be even harder to negotiate with vendors. Some of the local tour companies have probably already gone out of business, others may do so in the coming months, and new ones will be created once there is demand again. It is also not unusual for excursion offerings to change. Even under normal conditions, if you book something a year out, it might get canceled a few months later, and you'll have to pick again. I've even seen entirely different excursions pop up and canceled my original plan because the new one sounded better. As for the ship itself, yes there's always a possibility Royal could reassign the ship to another region. The ship could also get chartered by a private group. That risk goes down as a sailing gets closer and as the percentage of cabins sold goes up but it happens and it is messy. I generally don't book vacations more than a few months in advance to avoid a lot of the risks but that doesn't work for everyone. It also has it's downsides. Suites and cabins with better locations are generally sold earlier and at better rates but right now that's a compromise I'm willing to make. cruisellama and CruisingOz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted February 4, 2021 Report Share Posted February 4, 2021 Royal's intent and desire is to operate the cruise as you have booked it. It's very disruptive to their business as well as your vacation to have to move a ship to another region and cancel cruises. Having said that in the case of Radiance her transit through the Panama Canal so that she can be in the Atlantic has been placed into question by the CDC here in the US who has banned cruises longer than 7 days through Nov. 1, 2021. Radiance was scheduled to transit in October after the Alaska season. In addition, Canada may keep it's ports closed to cruise ships for the Alaska 2021 season. Between the two circumstances it does cast some uncertainty on where Radiance will be in 2021 and that could impact an early 2022 sail date on her. Key West has also voted to ban most cruise ships that could also impact your cruise but there is talk of that being overturned by the state of Florida. That just leaves another question and degree of uncertainty. She is hanging around Asia at the moment so with the Alaska season in question and no easy way to move to the Atlantic with passengers it's really not clear what Radiance will do for 2021 and into 2022. CruisingOz and cruisellama 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingOz Posted February 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Thanks guys. Factoring what twangstar has written and with the latest news about Canada closing its borders, and Alaska 21 season effectively ended unless the cruise lines are given Jones and Passenger Service Acs exemptions, I think I need to change ships from Radiance to something else that is currently based in Florida. It mif=ght a case or putting deposits on a few options and as time gets closer, make the call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPS Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 Hey, @CruisingOz, just an FYI. I've had previous bookings that have added more excursion options closer to the sail date. For example, last January, we were looking to do something in San Juan at the end of the cruise and were finding very limited offerings (We had a late afternoon flight) At around 3-4 months out, more options became available that included airport drop off (Perfect!). Of course, take this info with a grain of salt right with the situation we face right now. CruisingOz and TheBurnsTravelers 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanna Posted November 9, 2022 Report Share Posted November 9, 2022 On my shore excursions it skips day 5 of my cruise which is nausea, Bahamas. There are no excursions for me to book and the day is missing. I called royal twice and they cannot help me. They said I should have 96 excursions to pick from but I only see 12 for all my stops. They don't have an IT office to talk too. Can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFishII Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 (edited) 20 hours ago, Shanna said: On my shore excursions it skips day 5 of my cruise which is nausea, Bahamas. There are no excursions for me to book and the day is missing. I called royal twice and they cannot help me. They said I should have 96 excursions to pick from but I only see 12 for all my stops. They don't have an IT office to talk too. Can anyone help? When is your cruise? On my cruise, Nassau did not show up until 3 weeks out. I gave up on waiting and planned my own excursion: Rented bikes (which I would not recommend), visit Ardastra Gardens & Wildlife (that was just OK), Visit John Watling's distillery (tour & tastings), Graycliff Chocolatier (missed the tour), and lunch/wine cellar tour at Graycliff Hotel (THE BEST TIME). Edited November 10, 2022 by FireFishII Correct the spelling of Nassau Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 1 hour ago, FireFishII said: Nausea did not show up until 3 weeks out. Is this really a typo or is it some kind of Freudian slip ? KJones, AshleyDillo, teddy and 2 others 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFishII Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Is this really a typo or is it some kind of Freudian slip ? Typo. LOL!!! I hate spell checker sometimes. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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