Itinerary Change for Royal's Trans-Atlantic

I posted this info in my "live" thread, but I thought some who aren't following might be interested in the news that we'll be changing course. Big announcement from the captain this evening: We’re skipping the scheduled three stops in Bergen, Belfast, and St. John’s and heading south instead due to weather systems in the Atlantic. We’ll be stopping in Vigo and Punta Delgado do instead. We’re also leaving a little late for two reasons: a train with passengers on excursion that went to Berlin has been delayed due to an accident on the tracks and there’s also a container ship coming into Hamburg that’s too large for us to fit through at the same time. The captain said we’ll receive the updated itinerary later along with some type of compensation. Those with shore excursions booked through Princess will automatically receive credit back for them. The Princess folks will be working with locals in the two new ports to offer excursions in them.

Thank you for posting this. My mom is on this cruise and sent a short text about the change. I'll follow your live postings.

We just received the revised itinerary. We’ll have two days at sea between Hamburg and Vigo. We’ll arrive at 10 a.m. Sunday and depart at 8 p.m. We’ll then have two more days at sea between Vigo and Ponta Delgada. Our time there on Wednesday will be 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. We’ll then get six days at sea between there and New York City. The letter from the captain says that they “will be providing a goodwill gesture and will communicate details as soon as we are certain there is no further impact to our scheduled itinerary.”

Best to avoid storms whenever possible

That happened to me on an Emerald TA cruise where we missed Belfast and all Iceland and Greenland ports. THE MAIN POINT OF THIS CRUISE! The captain brought us into unscheduled Cobh, Ireland (a "safe haven") and parked us for 2 days. The weather there was great. Then instead of continuing north we headed south and began the crossing around Spain. We had 9 sea days with a ship full of unhappy passengers. We finally made landfall at St John's NB Canada (unscheduled) and continued to our destination, Brooklyn Red Hook. We actually arrived on schedule there. This was all due to storms and was in mid-late September. We did receive fair compensation, but nothing can make up for the disappointment. Princess has never replicated this itinerary since :(

If you go at a possibly busy time with hurricanes and lesser storms, you have to accept the re-routing.

We were on the Pacific Princess for an 18 day TA in May & June. We made 4 or the original ports. We picked up one substitute. Some people seemed to think the cabin changed the schedule to get them.

I think you'll really enjoy Vigo and Ponta Delgada. Nice itinerary change! From Vigo you can easily go to the university town (and pilgrimage site) of Santiago de Compostela. It's lovely! I much prefer the "southern" route. Instead of grey skies, chilly weather, and potentially rough seas, you have a greater chance of sunshine and warm weather close to, and while in, the Azores.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the update!

That happened to me on an Emerald TA cruise where we missed Belfast and all Iceland and Greenland ports. THE MAIN POINT OF THIS CRUISE! The captain brought us into unscheduled Cobh, Ireland (a "safe haven") and parked us for 2 days. The weather there was great. Then instead of continuing north we headed south and began the crossing around Spain. We had 9 sea days with a ship full of unhappy passengers. We finally made landfall at St John's NB Canada (unscheduled) and continued to our destination, Brooklyn Red Hook. We actually arrived on schedule there. This was all due to storms and was in mid-late September. We did receive fair compensation, but nothing can make up for the disappointment. Princess has never replicated this itinerary since :(

As long as the ship tells you what is going on why be unhappy about itinerary change?

As long as the ship tells you what is going on why be unhappy about itinerary change?

It wasn't a simple itinerary change. it was pretty much the whole cruise. It was day 3 after only the first port and the itinerary change was 2 days docked in an unplanned port and additional sea days missing basically the reason that most passengers booked the cruise. (Iceland and Greenland 4 ports, IIRC 8 or 9 were scheduled) We had a total of 4 ports (including 2 unscheduled and 2 original ports) Communication was minimal. I got over it quickly, but there were many who were quite unhappy. I know these things happen and all you can do is make the best of it.

The weather should be a little warmer. On one cruise many years ago we were stuck on a Carnival ship in the port for Caracas, Venezuela for three days because a container ship just ahead of us had all the containers slip off the ship in to the narrow opening of the harbor. The captain was afraid that a container would block the ship since there was so little clearance. The customs officials refused to come back and there we settled on the ship docked for the three days. We had to miss the island of Aruba after divers ascertained That all was well. We then headed directly back to the US. When you travel you must be prepared for anything. Better safe than sorry. Mike

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

It wasn't a simple itinerary change. it was pretty much the whole cruise. It was day 3 after only the first port and the itinerary change was 2 days docked in an unplanned port and additional sea days missing basically the reason that most passengers booked the cruise. (Iceland and Greenland 4 ports, IIRC 8 or 9 were scheduled) We had a total of 4 ports (including 2 unscheduled and 2 original ports) Communication was minimal. I got over it quickly, but there were many who were quite unhappy. I know these things happen and all you can do is make the best of it.

Probably shouldn’t cruise during the height of hurricane season then.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Would you prefer to spend the time sailing thru a hurricane?

Would you prefer to spend the time sailing thru a hurricane?

Not me.....:D:D:D

Bob

I’m glad the captain made the change for the sake of safety and comfort. I understand they don’t do this lightly. And so far, I’m impressed by how much communication we’ve received. We got the printed notice about the new itinerary less than an hour after the captain’s announcement. (By the way, we'll have five days at sea between the Azores and NYC, not six. I miscounted earlier.) Cruise director Matt O talked about the changes after last night’s performance as well.

I am most disappointed to be missing Bergen. I guess we’ll have to book a cruise specifically to Norway next year. So far, I have not heard many complaints from our fellow passengers. That may change as we go out and about the ship today. Our tablemates said they’d been to Vigo several times. One woman remembered the wonderful oysters they have there. She’s already looking forward to having them again.

One couple we spoke to said that they've been on several trans-Atlantics. They've made it to Ponta Delgada just once out of three planned times. They speculated that the reason we haven't heard about compensation yet could be that the captain thinks we may have to miss it as well.

It wasn't a simple itinerary change. it was pretty much the whole cruise. It was day 3 after only the first port and the itinerary change was 2 days docked in an unplanned port and additional sea days missing basically the reason that most passengers booked the cruise.

I thought it was very common for these westbound TAs to have itinerary changes.

And, I thought the reason most people book them is because they are very cheap-per-day,

especially at the last minute.

Excursion options came out yesterday morning. There are just three options for Vigo. The half-day ones have morning and afternoon departures. The morning ones both sold out. There are seven ones available for Ponta Delgada. Some of them have morning and afternoon departures. Three tours are already sold out. There's a port lecture on Vigo this morning to find out more about the things there.

 

 

 

 

 

One couple we spoke to said that they've been on several trans-Atlantics. They've made it to Ponta Delgada just once out of three planned times. They speculated that the reason we haven't heard about compensation yet could be that the captain thinks we may have to miss it as well.

Tuesday weather forecast for Ponta Delgada. Well I think it is but the link doesn’t seem to have a time stamp so you might have to click on a tab to get to the right day.

Yup, checked and the link is to today and you need to click on the tab for the day of your visit.

Whatever currently showing very light winds from SSW, POSSIBLE patchy rain but very little volume so probably little or no rain. 25degrees.

https://www.worldweatheronline.com/ponta-delgada-weather/azores/pt.aspx

If you go at a possibly busy time with hurricanes and lesser storms, you have to accept the re-routing.

 

We were on the Pacific Princess for an 18 day TA in May & June. We made 4 or the original ports. We picked up one substitute. Some people seemed to think the cabin changed the schedule to get them.

Wonder what the same people would have said if they kept the original routing and sailed thru a hurricane?

If Santiago de Compostela is still available as a excursion from Vigo I highly recommend it. It was one of the top three pilgrimage routes for Christians for 1;000 years. After Jerusalem, Rome, then there was Santiago de Compostell. It is very hard to reach but Vigo is the jumping off Port for the town and the Cathedral.There are still thousands that make the pilgrimage on foot every week. it means Saint James in the field of the stars. Mike

Sent from my iPad using Forums

. . . Big announcement from the captain this evening: We’re skipping the scheduled three stops in Bergen, Belfast, and St. John’s and heading south instead due to weather systems in the Atlantic. We’ll be stopping in Vigo and Punta Delgado do instead. . . .

Something similar happened to us on the Emerald P in 2013--we had to divert to Cobh (which is on a large protected harbor) Ireland to avoid bad weather in the Atlantic and stay there overnight. We've been to Vigo a few times and Punta Delgado about 5 times (all scheduled). Vigo was interesting; it's in Spain but has some Scottish/Celtic influences (bagpipers serenaded us from the dock). We just enjoyed walking around the town (I assume they still observe siesta time, which is several hours in the early afternoon; everything (eateries, shops, etc.) closes). Punta Delgado is also an interesting town to wander around in, but most people opt for excursions to either the east end or the west end of the island (we've done both ends). Lots of "hot" spots (springs, dormant volcanoes, etc.) and beautiful mountain scenery. Certainly a "cultural" change from your original ports, but still great places to visit. Enjoy!

That happened to me on an Emerald TA cruise where we missed Belfast and all Iceland and Greenland ports. THE MAIN POINT OF THIS CRUISE! The captain brought us into unscheduled Cobh, Ireland (a "safe haven") and parked us for 2 days. The weather there was great. Then instead of continuing north we headed south and began the crossing around Spain. We had 9 sea days with a ship full of unhappy passengers. We finally made landfall at St John's NB Canada (unscheduled) and continued to our destination, Brooklyn Red Hook. We actually arrived on schedule there. This was all due to storms and was in mid-late September. We did receive fair compensation, but nothing can make up for the disappointment. Princess has never replicated this itinerary since :(

Sounds like we were on the same Emerald cruise (2013)--see my post above. Hope you were able, as we were, to visit Iceland and Greenland on a subsequent cruise. I'm not sure we ever had a "perfect" (i.e. itinerary as originally scheduled) WB TA.

Thanks for the info.

Seems they've decided on the Goodwill to be $200. Is it the same for every guest? Really missing Belfast stop

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Forums mobile app

We received a letter from the captain tonight right before dinner. Passengers are getting a $200 refundable onboard credit. I think it’s great. It would have been great to have known earlier. We probably would have taken an excursion today in Ponta Delgada if I had known sooner.

I'm assuming it's the same for all passengers. It's a preprinted form letter--not personalized in any way. I noticed the credit showing up in our onboard account online before we got the letter.