Symphony Sept 28 sailing cruise to almost nowhere?

[Pattycruise]

Our sailing was supposed to leave NJ to the Bahamas on Sept 28.  Royal notified everyone on Saturday that our Sunday sailing would be going to Canada.  Specifically Sydney and Halifax. 
prior to that notification on Saturday someone had posted a pic on Friday from Port of Sydney facebook page welcoming us to Sydney.   So did Royal chose to sit on notifying us?

 Lots of people in the FB group were/are angry. Barely any notice to the change - (I know it could have been done when e boarded!  )  some people  are without appropriate clothing because they flew in early.  Many decided to have their booking moved, others didn’t know they could do that-no mention of this option in the email. Everyone sailing offered some sort of OBC per cabin (balcony was $100) and 1 day FCC. (I’m on a casino comp so no FCC)

 we board the ship and everyone received $200 more in FCC than we were told in the email,  People are happier.  Many went to guest services and confirmed the amount was correct Then day 2 they took it back as it was given in  error. People had already “spent the OBC”.. excursions, dinner, drinks…and now those are charged on their accounts.  Me personally-I shared some of myOBC  to my travel mate by waiting on the ridiculously long guest services line with her-she had  to straighten out her card on file -so when they took back the $200 OBC  from me  I was left short!  So if have to wait in yet another guest service line to move that back! Guest services has had non stop 20/30 people on line.  

 tonight, just before 9 pm the Captain made an announcement we would not be going to our overnight at Sydney in the morning because the new pier assignment they offered us was deemed unsafe by Royal.   Instead they’ll extend Halifax from 5:30pm to 11pm.  The funny part is 2 hours prior to the announcement someone had posted a pic of a post from the Port of Sydney saying we were cancelled. 
so it seems to most everyone Royal is not being upfront as people got on the long guest services line to confirm this -before the captains announcement-and guest services said they couldn’t discuss it and others said they knew nothing while some said-wait for the captains announcement. 
quite a lot of tucked off passengers. 

I went to guest services just before midnight tonight. There were 5  agents working! All with a passenger but thankfully only 3 people on line.  The agents are taking abuse  I feel so bad for them and let them know.  They were extremely grateful for the passengers who are expressing their sympathy as the numbers who are abusing them verbally are high.(my rep said people were throwing glasses!)   They were able to fix my OBC, they couldn’t fix my app issue/asked me to come back with the other partyI can’t chat to-NOPE-not doing the 1 hour line again! And they said they are issuing 2 days FCC to all passengers in lieu of port fees (I don’t think that’s allowed?)  I’m on a casino comp so double zero for me.  When I said  as such she said to reach out to Royal Caribbean.  
i did write an email to the CEO about their PR nightmare onboard and asking about port fee reimbursement. Hopefully will here an answer soon.

 Tonight someone is saying we will not be going to Halifax and instead will float around and go back to Nadine.  I thought the PSVA (correct?) states must go to a foreign port  but others are saying if you go to no port it’s ok. @twangster I believe you are the expert in this area  can that be true?

 Aside from the complainers and lack of ports it’s a nice enough sailing  

 

[MdFormula350]

geez thats a heck of a change! cant image how frustrating that would be especially last minute and such a drastic difference in sailing. best of luck!

heck I was disappointed I missed cococay due to weather on a 4 day cruise, since they had moved day at sea with nassau and assuming either coco was already full to allow to get that instead, so we got another day at sea since the waves were pretty bad at coco to dock. 

[shof515]

cruise lines can get a weather related waiver for psva to not stop at a foreign port.  It happen to me a few years ago, my 4 day cruise became a 4 day cruise to no where when weather made the ship unsafe to dock at the only port stop

[Traveling Mike]

This is the problem with Facebook.  It creates mob mentality and the worst of the complainers get the other riled up and excited.  The Symphony is a very large ship and it is hard to reschedule ports.  You have been around long enough to understand that Royal does not want unhappy customers.  They are not out to cheat you.  They are just trying to make the best of a bad situation.  That does not mean they don't make mistakes or bad decisions like taking back money they had already given you.  I feel sorry for you and hope you found things to do that made you happy.  I have always said, most of the time just take me out in the ship and cruise circles and let me enjoy the ship.  Sounds like that is the cruise you got even if that is not the one you wanted.

[twangster]

Typically CBP will look use the concept of intent when they review a sailing to determine enforcement action, assuming a PVSA violation occurs. 

In this case there was a last minute itinerary change due to a significant weather event and what appears to be an attempt by the cruise line to avoid violating the PVSA but as it turns out the pier assignment wasn't suitable due to the ship's size.    

The same can be said for medical evacuations and other travel emergencies at a US port along a US based closed loop sailing.  Typically CBP will not enforce the PVSA penalty for such PVSA violations, but they could.

Clearly the cruise line did not set out with the intent to violate the PVSA so its unlikely CBP would apply PVSA penalties, but the PVSA is not the only regulation in play that impact cruises to nowhere.

It's actually immigration policy and laws that make cruises to nowhere impossible.  Foreign crew obtain C-1/D VISAs that allow them to work on a ship that visits US ports or to transit to and from the ship to reach the ship to work.  Crew can fly into the US from their home country and board the ship to work but they can't stay in the US for longer than is required to transit to or from the ship.  For example, they can't fly in early, go to Disney World for a few days and then board the ship to work.  

The problem for cruises to nowhere is that the ship never enters another country, no one is processed by another country, so in that sense, the passenger and crew manifest never left the US even if the ship floats into international water.  For foreign crew, cruises to nowhere violate their C-1/D work VISAs since the crew never leave the US for an extended period of time.

Again, in a situation such as this, if there was no intent to violate their work VISAs it's unlikely enforcement action would occur.  

[AshleyDillo]

I was surprised that Sydney was ever considered for an Oasis class ship. I know they can dock several smaller ships, but sometimes even those get canceled because of tides.

[Atlantix2000]

It's hardly surprising to me that the port of Sydney knew of the changes before the passengers.  They would have been in discussions with Royal where the decisions were made.  The only thing surprising is how fast they updated their website.  It would be better PR if they gave Royal a little time to figure out Plan B or Plan C and make the announcements.

[Pattycruise]

@twangster thank you for the explanation!!

@Traveling Mike thank you.  I know where to hide to stay away from people.  I’m so glad this was a comp and that I sail so frequently that this is just another blip for me. No biggie.  The fitness center onboard is beautiful and the casino is a nice size. Not many people on the walking track-it’s a tad cold-do that’s a bonus too.  
 

northern lights last night. the good picture is someone else’s, the one with the waves is mine. taken about 1:30an.  This is a win for me!

[HeWhoWaits]

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

I was surprised that Sydney was ever considered for an Oasis class ship. I know they can dock several smaller ships, but sometimes even those get canceled because of tides.

We were in Sydney on Brilliance last Friday. There was a Princess ship similar in size to Freedom Class and the two ships took up all the available space. The third ship in port that day  (Holland America) was tendering.

[smokeybandit]

"Even nowhere is somewhere."

-Said Mark Twain. Or Yogi Berra. Or someone in between.

[HeWhoWaits]

53 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

It's hardly surprising to me that the port of Sydney knew of the changes before the passengers.  They would have been in discussions with Royal where the decisions were made.  The only thing surprising is how fast they updated their website.  It would be better PR if they gave Royal a little time to figure out Plan B or Plan C and make the announcements.

Posting to the port website gave the local folks sufficient notice to adjust their plans.

[JohnK6404]

Hi @Pattycruise! As you know, we have family on that sailing with you. Thankfully, they're content with the 5 sea days and just happy to be on the cruise. I can only imagine the frustration for those that first had their heart set on the original FL/PDCC/Nassau itinerary, reluctantly accepted the changes, but now only have the one port day.

I hope you can still enjoy the sailing and there are no more surprises! 

[Ryan79]

I would totally be bummed at the situation too, but sailing in the middle of hurricane season is always going to present a significantly higher chance of cruise plans going astray so you just have to roll with the punches. Nothing was planned to screw anyone and no one on board other than the captain has the full and complete picture of what was going on. It would be impossible to communicate each and every detail to the passengers. Again, I 100% don’t blame you for feeling the way you do @Pattycruise. I’d be right there with you, but just look at the hand RC was dealt with on the fly with the situation out of their hands and probably changing every few hours with 6000 passengers to appease. 

[InmyElement]

Oh my.. just catching up…you’ve got the right attitude, wishing you the best cruise possible under the circumstances Hopefully by the time we board in 11 days, the pissed-off passengers and "glass throwers" will have been thrown overboard 

[Pattycruise]

Update

 cruise stopped at Halifax.

Corporate got back to me and offered a specialty dinner on my next cruise… for my troubles?  I reiterated I was not complaining about the ports or the take back of OBC but that it was a PR nightmare for RCL.

 Port fees were refunded-range was from $18-$22 according to people who shared that info on the FB group.

FCC are being issued. I’ve gotten nothing as of yet. Mine was a comp with a small price paid (under $200) to upgrade my cabin. Oddly my roommate received almost $200 in FCC?! 

 

[shof515]

From Port of Sydney facebook page. Makes you wonder who actually dropped the ball on the port of call. If these key partners forced the ship to canceled, they should of never allowed the ship to book that port. hmm

 

[JohnK6404]

Piggybacking on @Pattycruise's update! My wife's uncle received both FCC e-mails (one for each passenger) this morning from this sailing.

They only paid $1,182 for their GTY neighborhood balcony (before taxes), so the FCC (2 night's value) came out to $338 ($221 - 1st psg, $117 - 2nd psg).

Once again, in their scenario, they received $100 OBC while onboard for the inconvenience of the itinerary swap, plus all cancelled excursions were credited back to their onboard account (they used all of it so none of the excursion reimbursement $$$ made it's way back to the original form of payment! )... oh those drinks add up when you don't have a package or vouchers! Port fees also reimbursed on their card (did not ask for amount).

 

[FOB]

@Pattycruise - as soon as you can I would recommend you remove yourself from the cruise Facebook group now the sailing is complete.

We had a similar issue last October on the final Ovation sailing to Alaska where we managed to do Juneau but missed 2 other ports plus a replacement - although we didnt find out about the missing ports until day 2 of the cruise

next best thing to a riot at guest services ands people were still moaning on the Facebook group 6 months later

[Eddie305]

I can certainly understand your frustration and anxiety but trust me when I tell you that, I’ll take a cruise to “Nowhere” anytime rather than working at the office!

[TXcruiser33]

18 hours ago, FOB said:

@Pattycruise - as soon as you can I would recommend you remove yourself from the cruise Facebook group now the sailing is complete.

We had a similar issue last October on the final Ovation sailing to Alaska where we managed to do Juneau but missed 2 other ports plus a replacement - although we didnt find out about the missing ports until day 2 of the cruise

next best thing to a riot at guest services ands people were still moaning on the Facebook group 6 months later

totally agree with this advise!! I always leave the FB groups once I get home. Rarely any good discussions happen upon return - only complaints and health reports!!!