Itinerary change --- passenger rights

[Raycruise2010]

My wife and I are on the Millenium Oct. 22 out of San Juan, 10-day Southern Caribbean. I don't think we'll have a weather problem --- hurricanes/tropical storms are rare that late in season. But: if Celebrity deems it necessary to make an itinerary change, what are my rights? Can I ask to take the cruise at another time. or am I stuck with whatever Celebrity decides? (Note the Carnival Cruise line change as a result of tropical storm --- soon to be hurricane --- Earl. The marvelous southern Caribbean itinerary was changed to a Mexican itinerary that, for my, holds far less interest).

[oldIrish]

You are pretty well on the hook. The cruise contract favors them.

Hope for good weather.

[JeffCoud]

Read the cruise contract very carefully (it's in your edocs online at the Celebrity website if you've done the online checkin stuff)...its all in there. See the always popular provision #6 "Cancellation, Deviation or Substitution by Carrier". Basically, they reserve the right to change the itinerary as needed. There's two choices -- either agree to this contract or not. Sorry but that's the way it is!

 

Jeff

[cruisestitch]

If they take you to an alternate port with lesser port charges, you can ask for the difference to be refunded, same if they have to skip a port altogether. (FWIW I have never heard of the line making a substitution where the new port charges are higher than the previous ones and trying to get pax to pay the difference, so that's a good thing.) I have had port charges refunded when a port was skipped by asking at the Guest Relations desk, and have also had it done automatically without asking. That's about it as far as itinerary changes goes.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

They will likely offer some sort of compensation for the change in itinerary, but at their discretion. I don't know if they do so for changes due to wx during hurricane season, since you should probably be aware that it's a more likely possibility than cancelling a port of call due to, say, a general labor strike. Anything they do offer is done in the interest of maintaining good customer relations, but it's their call how much, if anything, is due, or what the form of compensation would be.

[biker1972]

Numerous times over the years those Caribbean cruises have become New England cruises. No compensation, but people were on a cruise. If ports are important, don't book a cruise especially when weather can be a factor. A year ago there was a near revolt on a Princess cruise to SE Asia when typhoons caused several ports to be missed. They did get some compensation after negotiation. Life is an adventure, be ready for change and be glad the cruise lines error on the side of safety :).

[dmwnc1959]

Dont forget the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico obliterated most itineraries. Those most efected were leaving out of California and got to experience (for better or worrse) Vancouver and Victoria, sometimes Seattle. Those already living on the West Coast were pretty upset. Most everyone else ended up enjoying their newfound Canadian destinations.

[Tucker in Texas]

Basically covered by their contract, a cruise line can take your money, go 50 miles out of port and circle around for a week. Of course, they aren't going to stay in business long if they do that.

 

We've been caught with itinerary changes several times and not minor ones and not connected to weather or mechanical problems. Their all purpose explanation has been "port congestion."

 

Our PC cruise was booked to leave from San Diego. A few months before embarkation (and not far enough out to find another cruise leaving from SD at near the price we early booked this one) it was changed to Ensenada and they wanted $70 pp to bus you down there! Mercifully, they backed off from it but we still had a change from Acapulco to PV, a port added then taken away at embarkation, major change in the port in Costa Rica to one that was so far out in the sticks not even locals were there to sell something. On an Alaskan cruise, RCI decided to substitute Tracy Arms with a free bus ride to Mendenhall Glacier. Tracy Arms being the only opportunity to cruise by glaciers. We were able to "jump ship" on that one as it was prior to final payment. However, it cost us more money for the same accommodations and we lost the cabin credit we earned by booking while on another cruise.

 

So you never know when you book for sure you will get where you want to go. The good news is that 95% of the time, you do get there.

 

Tucker in Texas

[Lsimon]

We missed a port stop at Cabo on a Celebrity Mexico cruise years ago due to a hurricane. No compensation and none was expected.

 

Interesting that while most passengers were understanding there was a good number who were upset we deviated around the hurricane and missed a port and others who were upset we were in rough seas when traveling around the hurricane. I don't know what they expected the cruise line to do.

[texkan]

First cruise to Grand Cayman, we could not tender to shore due to rough seas.

The Captain headed ship to next port at a very slow speed. We were disappointed but

weather has a mind of its own. Next cruise to Grand Cayman, weather was beautiful and we got to tender to shore to swim with the stingrays.

[Lois R]

We missed a port stop at Cabo on a Celebrity Mexico cruise years ago due to a hurricane. No compensation and none was expected.

 

Interesting that while most passengers were understanding there was a good number who were upset we deviated around the hurricane and missed a port and others who were upset we were in rough seas when traveling around the hurricane. I don't know what they expected the cruise line to do.

 

Hi Larry, your posts are always kind and logical:) but for those folks

who find fault with everything? I guess the expect the Capt to

go right into the eye of the storm and get them to that *****

port:rolleyes:......they are the people who book during hurricane season

and expect everything to go perfectly:eek:...no matter what Mother

Nature has decided. And I am not saying the Original Posters are in this category.

I am just saying "in general".

 

I bet you remember the 2004 and 2005 seasons.....both were

absolutely horrible for the whole Southeast. I can't recall which

hurricane it was but I clearly remember Century was doing the

7 nighters at that time East/West and in 2004 she was at

sea and could not dock back in FLL because of the storm. Those

folks got a couple of extra days on board while the next sailing was

cut short.....Hurricane Season, anything can happen.

[GeorgeL]

My wife and I are on the Millenium Oct. 22 out of San Juan, 10-day Southern Caribbean. I don't think we'll have a weather problem --- hurricanes/tropical storms are rare that late in season. But: if Celebrity deems it necessary to make an itinerary change, what are my rights? Can I ask to take the cruise at another time. or am I stuck with whatever Celebrity decides? (Note the Carnival Cruise line change as a result of tropical storm --- soon to be hurricane --- Earl. The marvelous southern Caribbean itinerary was changed to a Mexican itinerary that, for my, holds far less interest).

 

When you book your cruise and pay the money to the cruise line you enter into a contract. In that contract the cruise line specifies that itinerary changes are possible and at cruise line's discretions and by signing it you agree to those terms and conditions. If you do not agree, don't enter into that contract, that's pretty simple.

Contracts are there to protect both parties so it cuts both ways and we cannot pick and choose which part of a contract we want to uphold and which ones we would rather not since then the entire contract is void.

[98Charlie]

As everyone has stated there are no real passenger rights with an itinerary change.

 

The situation is the same for all cruise lines. We've missed ports, been late getting in (gave us and overnight in Acupulco:p), circled hurricanes and never had a bad cruise. We've never been diverted from a warm weather cruise to New England or Canada.

 

Go with the idea of having a good time and you will. For us it's not the destination but the journey.

 

Charlie

[Denny01]

There are two 'laws' involved in cancelled ports/changes in itinerary:

1- If the Capt deviates due to Wx, trust me, you Want the Capt to deviate for Wx. Not only do you not want to be in a port when a Hurricane/bad wx occurs, you don't want to cruise in the bad wx area, you want the ship to deviate. Just think that as the ship is moving around because of Wx the Capt deviated away from, what it would be like if you just stayed to the itinerary.

And of course:

2 - The port cancelled is The One Port you'd set your heart on visiting for the past 20 years and missing it will completely ruin your cruise, if not your entire life......until of course, the Line provides major compensation which consists of a full refund of the entire cruise since it ruined the entire experience, and a free cruise to follow with an upgrade to a Suite. We once missed Cozumel because of bad wx and this guy went on and on about how this was the highlight of the entire cruise and it was now ruined.....yeah, right. Cozumel? OK port I guess, but highlight of the cruise?

 

OK, I exagerate a bit on #2....but according to some posts, not that much.

 

And in most cases, you don't have to worry or even think about deviations due to Wx since few are announced beforehand which means you can do nothing about them anyway except enjoy the cruise. A deviation may occur, but no one, including the Capt knows until the cruise starts....its Wx, and if it's a hurricane, then its real guesswork.

 

Remember, this Is a ship. You are at sea, which for many of us is the reason we love cruising, so you are at the mercy of wx, port schedules and so on. And think about this....you decide you don't want the chance of a changed itinerary so you go for an all-inclusive land vacation in the Caribbean instead. You get there and a hurricane is bearing down on you. The All-Inclusive doesn't have the option to turn and get clear of it, it sits there and everybody hopes the hurricane hits another All-Inclusive island spot.

 

Said by someone who lives on the Gulf Coast and gets a kick out of people 'praying' some hurricane doesn't hit us....their prayer never includes who it should hit, just not 'us'. And trust me, once a Hurricane gets into the Gulf, its going to hit Somebody!

 

Denny

[jagoffee]

So you never know when you book for sure you will get where you want to go. The good news is that 95% of the time, you do get there.

 

Tucker in Texas

 

Tucker, closer to 99.9% I would guess.

[cruisestitch]

Was thinking about this and remembered another "missed opportunity". This one had quite a story behind it. It was on another cruise line. On about the second day, we noticed an enormous yacht following the ship. Others had seen it from the beginning but the second day was when we noticed it. On the third day, we were on a shore excursion and one of the dealers from the casino was along for the experience and she shared with us that the yacht belonged to a Very High Roller. He stayed on his yacht by day, then transferred to our ship every night so he could gamble. The casino had even brought a special baccarat table and dealers aboard to accommodate him. We were curious, so began walking through the casino to see if we could spot him. He was very obvious, with a tall blonde lady at his side (well, she might not have been a lady, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.) Anyway, he began losing. Big time. Night after night, losing, getting madder and madder. Security had to be called just to help protect the dealers and other staff, as well as the fellow cruisers. Apparently he had a reputation for violent outbursts (so our source told us). The last afternoon, as we headed towards Athens, the ship speeded up noticeably. The captain came on the loudspeaker and said there was a medical emergency on board and we would actually be arriving Athens that afternoon, rather than the next morning (disembarking day). He said we would all be able to go ashore if we wanted, have the night in Athens to enjoy the tavernas and some ouzo, etc. As we pulled in, an ambulance was waiting, a gurney was wheeled down the gangway, and off they sped. We never saw the "patient" but the word around the ship was that the captain simply wanted to get within the "no gambling" zone so that the guy wouldn't get a chance to win back his losses, or create a scene, as he had already done a couple of times. I never could figure out why they let him back on board after he created a scene the first time, but the girl who worked in the casino said he had lost a significant amount of money and it was worth it to the casino to put pressure on the ship to make sure that he stayed in the losing column. So instead of missing a port, we actually got an extra port stop out of it!

[Tucker in Texas]

Tucker, closer to 99.9% I would guess.

 

I think you are correct.

 

Tucker in Texas

[Jobeth66]

My 2007 Carnival Western Caribbean was a total wash (no pun intended) due to Hurricane Dean, which did major damage to Belize and Costa Maya. We went to Key West and Progresso instead.

 

No refunds, no OBC. I didn't hear anyone complain, though I'm sure there were some who did. I spent 4 months doing relief work in New Orleans after Katrina. I sure as heck wouldn't want to spend time during a cruise at a devastated port.

 

If you are taking a cruise to go to a specific port, understand that there are no guarantees. The only guarantee you'll have is that you'll be on a ship. :)

 

(Oh, and my boss got "stuck" on a cruise during the 2005 hurricane season - they couldn't get in to Port Canaveral, so they sailed to Galveston, took on new entertainment & re-stocked provisions, and spent an extra 3 days at sea. No cost to them.)