RCI no longer going to Lifou?

Lots of posts on facebook cruise pages about RCI not going to Lifou, some cruises have replaced it with Mare or Noumea others are just having an extra sea day.

One group of 28 includes a family with a baby under 12 months and have been told that family will be refunded because of the rule of not allowing babies under 12 months to be at sea for more than 2 days, and they leave in 9 weeks, they are not happy.

We are due to sail on 5 December from Brisbane on Legend and our cruise control is still showing Lifou. Will ring tomorrow to find out if we are affected.

A TA posted that he received an email telling him to notifiy all his clients they would no longer be going to Lifou, he wasn't given any explanation.

I have just checked our itinerary (29th November) and sure enough Lifou has been removed and replaced with another sea day. I haven't heard anything from Royal Caribbean yet but I certainly hope that they have some alternative in mind. :(

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Perhaps this is why?

http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2016/08/12/strong-and-shallow-m7-2-earthquake-hit-southeast-of-the-loyalty-islands-new-caledonia/

I'm on Voyger leaving Sydney on 13/12/16 and we have had Lifou replaced by Mare, not a sea day. :D So I guess we were lucky, but maybe is because it is only a 7 night?

I remember reading something about this a while ago...however nothing comes up in a search. I think it has something to do with the state/quality of the landing platform on the Island not being safe for the tenders..?????

Radiance Dec 3-16 still shows Lifou, I just checked my booking. Any news?

Hi Folks

Our 10th November Explorer sailing now shows an extra sea day.

Fine for me but some wont like it

regards

John

I remember reading something about this a while ago...however nothing comes up in a search. I think it has something to do with the state/quality of the landing platform on the Island not being safe for the tenders..?????

If that were the case surely the other lines would have cancelled as well, you would think, not just Royal.

Mine has changed from Lifou to Mare :(

I am not impressed at all. I was really looking forward to Lifou, it was one of the highlights for me.

I agree, it cannot be due to the landing platform or due to the earthquake/tsunami. There must be another reason.

Most people don't mind a change of port or missing a port if it's a genuine, understandable reason. So its strange they are not telling you why???

My Dec 3rd Radiance cruise is still showing Lifou on the Royal website but my Jan 25th Explorer is showing Mare.

To be honest I cant remember whether Lifou was originally on the Explorer itinerary as I just booked because >>>ship>>>cheap>>>going somewhere. I only glanced to see if Noumea was there and unfortunately it was.

Can Royal please dump Noumea next time.

I agree, it cannot be due to the landing platform or due to the earthquake/tsunami. There must be another reason.

I presume the cruise lines have to deal with the local ports to arrange stops at these smaller places. Perhaps RCI isn't offering a good enough deal? Or maybe there was an incident on a past cruise that made the locals unhappy about having RCI there.

Lifou is still listed on my shore excursions and itinerary too. Mare shows up on only one of the pages.

If that were the case surely the other lines would have cancelled as well, you would think, not just Royal.

Carnival has cancelled as well. They are saying it's due to the new jetty being built.

I'm meant to go there early January with Celebrity. There's been no word on change yet. Maybe if it is a new jetty it will be fixed by then?

There's only one Princess cruise scheduled to go there up to the end of this year - Dawn Princess 6th November out of Sydney. It will be interesting to see if that changes.

If they are replacing the wharf I assume they'll pull out all the stops to get it finished as quickly as possible. The locals would miss the extra revenue the cruise ships bring.

Right I just read that some have gotten notice/emails etc and others had nothing. Likewise some have had their bookings revised, others nothing. What's going on?? Is this stop cancelled or replaced or what?

Carnival has cancelled as well. They are saying it's due to the new jetty being built.

Well maybe it is the jetty after all.

I wonder how long that will take, I would have thought it would have been done over the winter season.

I wonder when the last ship was there?

If there haven't been any for a while it may be that the jetty is taking longer than expected which has stuffed up the itineraries over the next few weeks/months.

Well maybe it is the jetty after all.

I wonder how long that will take, I would have thought it would have been done over the winter season.

Well RCI have cancelled Lifou in cruises out of Sydney up to April. I rang TA and they confirmed but don't know what is happening with cruises out of Brisbane. Will let me know, wihich definitely means I will have to make another call, still waiting on the callback about cabin, shouldn't complain as it was a great price and sails out of Brisbane so no airfares.

Same thing happened last year. It was due to the jetty then, though they didn't explain why, and didn't make a wide announcement either.

Our stop on Explorer was replaced with Mystery Island.

My friend is on the Explorer on the 2nd November and they are getting Mare instead of Lifou. We are on the Explorer immediately after (10th November) and apparently we are getting an extra sea day instead of Lifou although havent heard anything official yet.

According to their website, we are still going to Lifou on our 3 December cruise:( and then again on the Legend cruise on 29 January:(. As far as I am concerned, both Lifou and Noumea are shipboard days.

Cheers

Di

I wonder when the last ship was there?

 

If there haven't been any for a while it may be that the jetty is taking longer than expected which has stuffed up the itineraries over the next few weeks/months.

Seems to be the whole season.