RCCL change itineary(again!)

I meant to post this here, but accidently posted in on the RCCL board instead and couldn't figure out how to move it:

:mad: RCCL just changed our itineary for our upcoming cruise. They didn't change it as bad as they did for the Vision or drop Ketchikan like they did for some of the other Serenade cruises, but now we don't get into Skagway until 11:00A.M. instead of 7:30 like we were supposed to. We were supposed to be cruising Hubbard Glacier from 1-5 one day and now it's moved to 5-8 P.M. :mad:

They need to really get their act together and quit switching all these Alaska cruises around. I'm sure a bunch of people are really messed up know on their excursions for Skagway. We are just renting a car from Avis, but now do I need to let them know that we won't be picking our car up until after 11 instead of arond 8 A.M? I'm so worried that they will decide to change something else. I hope this doesn't sound too whiney or selfish with all the terrorist and other travel issues going on, but this is just dumb.

I would check to see how many other ships will be in Skagway on the day you are there, and then I would call Avis to make sure they hold the car for you until your late arrival. I think sometimes people don't let them know these things and they might give the car away when you don't show up unless you are very clear about your pick-up time.

I. We are just renting a car from Avis, but now do I need to let them know that we won't be picking our car up until after 11 instead of arond 8 A.M? I'm so worried that they will decide to change something else. I hope this doesn't sound too whiney or selfish with all the terrorist and other travel issues going on, but this is just dumb.

YES you most certainly do. If there is a wait list, and your pick up time was 9am, they probably are not going to hold it for you. Call them DIRECT in Skagway and make the change. If you made the reservations on line you do NOT want to take the chance of loosing it by changing the time.

Will cruising Hubbard at 5-8 P.M. make any difference as compared to 1-5 P.M. like we were originally scheduled? Also how long does it take to get from Hubbard to Skagway?

Why all the changes?

I don't have any answers for you, but hope your time in Skagway hasn't been shortened??? Yukon's guide is worth following if that's what you intended with your car rental!

On the bright side, Lynn Canal is beautiful sailing, and you'll now have great mid-morning hours for being out on deck/balcony viewing!

We were notified of very significant itinerary changes (dropped this, dropped that, extended this, shortened that!) on our sailing last year only after we boarded and were out to sea. I am truly sorry plans have changed for you... very disappointing!!!... but it gives you a reason to go back!:)

cruisechick,

Thanks for the itinerary change info - We will be on that cruise also and didn't know about it!

Why all the changes?

 

I don't have any answers for you, but hope your time in Skagway hasn't been shortened??? Yukon's guide is worth following if that's what you intended with your car rental!

 

On the bright side, Lynn Canal is beautiful sailing, and you'll now have great mid-morning hours for being out on deck/balcony viewing!

 

We were notified of very significant itinerary changes (dropped this, dropped that, extended this, shortened that!) on our sailing last year only after we boarded and were out to sea. I am truly sorry plans have changed for you... very disappointing!!!... but it gives you a reason to go back!:)

Our time is Skagway had been shortened by 3.5 hours. So still time for the drive, but we also wanted to hike, visit the gold rush musuem, take the NPS tour of the town, shop, etc.:(

Cruisechick,

Thanks for the update on the Serenade of the Seas. We also sail on August 27/06, and hadn't heard about the change. I'm a little disappointed, as we have an 8 hour shore excursion booked. Luckily it's with the cruise line and we are hopeful that it will still be available. This is our first cruise and we have been planning it for a year now. It's our 25th anniversry so we will just make the best of it. Hope everything works out for your shore excursion, and again thanks for the information.

Hi everybody,

Got the news today (from our Roll Call on this site) that our time at the Hubbard Glacier is changed from 1:00pm to 5:00pm to 5:00 pm to 8:00pm. We're there on Sept 12. Does any one know what time sunset is that day? I hope it won't be a problem. Talked to RCCL Customer service today to find out why and was told that the schedule was changed on 8/10 because of "high speed constraints". I (kiddingly!) said was it a mechanical problem with the Serenade--no longer able to travel at a "high speed"? Customer Service didn't like my response and told me that if I wasn't happy with the changes (and there's more) that I could cancel but of course there would be a 50% penalty!

We booked this cruise August of 2005. TA was notified in 1/06 of schedule change that Misty Fjords was dropped. Can we expect any more changes???

high speed constraints??? That doesn't make any sense especially since the the August 20th sailing has no changes at all. I don't see a Sept. 3rd sailing even listed on the RCCL site, is there one?

5-8 pm will be perfect time for Glacier viewing...it is foggy in the morning (meaning anything befor about noon) the sun stays up very late, much later than 8pm...You are gonna be in Alaska...there will be approx 16 hours or more of sunlight...dont grumble...you will love Alaska and you will love the Serenade and you will absoulty LOVE Captian George!!!:D :)

Hi everybody,

 

Got the news today (from our Roll Call on this site) that our time at the Hubbard Glacier is changed from 1:00pm to 5:00pm to 5:00 pm to 8:00pm. We're there on Sept 12. Does any one know what time sunset is that day? I hope it won't be a problem. Talked to RCCL Customer service today to find out why and was told that the schedule was changed on 8/10 because of "high speed constraints". I (kiddingly!) said was it a mechanical problem with the Serenade--no longer able to travel at a "high speed"? Customer Service didn't like my response and told me that if I wasn't happy with the changes (and there's more) that I could cancel but of course there would be a 50% penalty!

 

We booked this cruise August of 2005. TA was notified in 1/06 of schedule change that Misty Fjords was dropped. Can we expect any more changes???

You will have dusk by time you are out.

dupl.

5-8 pm will be perfect time for Glacier viewing...it is foggy in the morning (meaning anything befor about noon) the sun stays up very late, much later than 8pm...You are gonna be in Alaska...there will be approx 16 hours or more of sunlight...dont grumble...you will love Alaska and you will love the Serenade and you will absoulty LOVE Captian George!!!:D :)

NOT in Sept. It will be dusk before 8pm.

We were cruising Sept 1-11 last year and it gets dark much earlier bythen. Sunset can be beautiful so it might work out for some interesting viewing of Hubbard.

We will be at Hubbard Aug. 29th. Will the glacier viewing be bad that late???

RCI dropped the ONLY glacier day on Vision's itinerary for 2006, and now changes to Serenade. Celebrity cancelled a cruise on the Summit 2 years in a row for the same reason, plus problems with Mercury early in the season. Makes me glad I switched from RCI to Princess for next summer.

I asked on the RCCL board if anyone knew what "high speed constraints" meant because that is the excuse someone at RCCL gave to someone else on this board that asked about the changed itineary. Another poster replied with this theory, could this happen in Alaska???:

I'm going to make a wild guess here....I don't think the "high speed constraints" refers to the ability of the ship to reach full cruising speed. I think it might be something to do with the wake created, and restrictions on ships up the inside passage.

A few years back, BC Ferries invested large sums of money in high-speed ferries. When they got these lovely ships into the water and working, they discovered that there were times when the wake created by the ferries travelling at speed was dangerous to other ship traffic, and to some of the smaller ports. (Think I got that right.) (and it makes sense to me too. On the recent TA-Med cruise, we went through Gibraltar before dawn, travelling at speed to get from Lisbon to Malaga; regular shipping traffic was at a minimum. Someone wondered why they always go through Gibraltar at night - and the answer probably is because the ship is travelling at speed in order to reach the port in time).

I'm guessing that the high speed restrictions on the cruise ships have been put there shipping authorities. Obviously if they aren't able to cover the distance from Port A to Port B because of speed restrictions, it makes sense to look at a different port which may be more easily accessible.

Like I said, this is just a guess.

RCI dropped the ONLY glacier day on Vision's itinerary for 2006, and now changes to Serenade. Celebrity cancelled a cruise on the Summit 2 years in a row for the same reason, plus problems with Mercury early in the season. Makes me glad I switched from RCI to Princess for next summer.

We almost booked on the NCL Star, but wanted to sail r/t out of Vancouver instead of Seattle. Now I'm regretting our decision....:(

We sailed on the serenade last aug7,2005 and we were thrilled with all aspects of our cruise. We left the ship in skagway by 10am or so and had a full day to emerald lake in our rented car, shopped, moseyed around, did 2 loads of wash in skagway and was back on the ship by 6p. Hubbard glacier is magnificent and anytime there is appreciated. Relax and enjoy your alaskan cruise!!!! wish we were going again!!!!

The August 5 Radiance cruise cut short our visit to Hubbard Glacier by ninety minutes. We were scheduled from 7-11am but fog problems had us leaving around 9:30am. Despite understanding the situation, many were disappointed that the glacier trip was cut short.

Ship sped across the Gulf of Alaska to Seward and had us docking around 3am with passenger unloading starting around 6am.

The August 5 Radiance cruise cut short our visit to Hubbard Glacier by ninety minutes. We were scheduled from 7-11am but fog problems had us leaving around 9:30am. Despite understanding the situation, many were disappointed that the glacier trip was cut short.

 

Ship sped across the Gulf of Alaska to Seward and had us docking around 3am with passenger unloading starting around 6am.

Hey Ron....

How was your walk off from Radiance? We waited til nearly 1000 to leave as my family took longer to get there <something aboiut sleeping in...lol> and most of the pax had left, so we just took the elevator down from 10 with no problems.

Hubbard was a total bust. All my pics came out like they were overexposed and washed out. Real bummer.

We took our friends to Sea Life Center, Exit Glacier and Whittier before heading home to Anchorage. They were totally gassed out with the tunnel.

Tried looking you up in the phone book but did not find you.

Going to Palmer today to do some flying.

Shelll

The August 5 Radiance cruise cut short our visit to Hubbard Glacier by ninety minutes. We were scheduled from 7-11am but fog problems had us leaving around 9:30am. Despite understanding the situation, many were disappointed that the glacier trip was cut short.

 

Ship sped across the Gulf of Alaska to Seward and had us docking around 3am with passenger unloading starting around 6am.

That's disappointing that you had fog at Hubbard. I was trying to explain that just because we are at the glacier for 3 hours still (5-8) we are still losing an hour and sunset is in there too at the end. Plus, we have to skip early dinner. My husband thought an hour (5-6) would be plenty of time at the glacier. No, honey, I don't think so..........

That's disappointing that you had fog at Hubbard. I was trying to explain that just because we are at the glacier for 3 hours still (5-8) we are still losing an hour and sunset is in there too at the end. Plus, we have to skip early dinner. My husband thought an hour (5-6) would be plenty of time at the glacier. No, honey, I don't think so..........

Not only the fog, but misty rain that was bone chilling to some. I had to take off my glasses as they were so rained up...should have brought my RainX..LOL

I had sent RCCL an e-mail on Friday and their reason for the change was "berthing conflcts" That makes soooo much sense at Hubbard Glacier.:rolleyes: