? Re. Cruise lines advertising closed ports

[JPNNH]

Why are cruise lines still advertising cruises to certain islands they are 100% sure you will not be sailing to in next 2 months such as Puerto Rico and st. Thomas???? Isnt that false advertising and against the law???

[Floridiana]

Brochures? Printed long before the storms.

[1025cruise]

Because they still don't know where they are going, or are hoping to be able to get there sooner than later.

[fishywood]

Isnt that false advertising and against the law???

 

An advertisement is not an offer of sale, just a solicitation for the public to inquire. No company can ever be held to the terms of their marketing materials even without a "not responsible for errors" disclaimer. Basic Contract Law 101.

 

But should you go ahead and purchase said cruise the Passage Contract you have agreed to allows the cruise line to make the final decision whether to call at a port, substitute another, or abandon the call for an additional day at sea, at the very last possible moment. All experienced cruises know to never book a cruise solely based on itinerary. Always consider port calls as "tentatively scheduled".

[easyboy]

Some ports are just temporarily closed and cruise lines expect them not to last long.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Keith1010]

They are taking it a step at a time.

 

Keith

[bUU]

I suppose they would be obligated to update electronic communications but only if the port authority definitely declared that they will be closed during the entire period to which the communications pertains. Note that not even St. Maarten's port authority is willing to state that they will be closed for more than the next month or two. They simply avoid providing any statements that go beyond the short-term and as such there is no definitive information on which to base a decision to remove a port from any advertising.

[paul929207]

I suppose they would be obligated to update electronic communications but only if the port authority definitely declared that they will be closed during the entire period to which the communications pertains. Note that not even St. Maarten's port authority is willing to state that they will be closed for more than the next month or two. They simply avoid providing any statements that go beyond the short-term and as such there is no definitive information on which to base a decision to remove a port from any advertising.

Other posts are reporting that St. Maarten will officially reopen on November 11.

[LHT28]

Other posts are reporting that St. Maarten will officially reopen on November 11.

Maybe not for all ships

 

Our cruise is Dec 2nd & we are going to St Kitts instead

 

After seeing the devastation I would be surprised if St Maartan is open at all by November

[thinfool]

Why are cruise lines still advertising cruises to certain islands they are 100% sure you will not be sailing to in next 2 months such as Puerto Rico and st. Thomas???? Isnt that false advertising and against the law???

 

Dont believe everything you see/hear on the news. San Juan and St Thomas will be open for port visits sooner rather than later. Will they be "back to normal" for everyday life. Not a chance. Still, ships can dock and passengers can visit places that are available.

 

Key West had it's first port visit today.

[bUU]

Key West had it's first port visit today.

And posters here on Cruise Critic were bombastically claiming it would be months.

 

 

 

This post may have been entered by voice recognition. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[sanger727]

Cruise schedules are posted 18 months + in advance. Those itineraries were advertised and sold to many waaay before the hurricane damage. They owe their current bookings the due diligence of waiting until the cruise is close enough for them to determine exactly which ports will and won't be open before they announce a new itinerary. Anyone with any awareness booking in the next few weeks will know that these itineraries will change. But it's easy for them to simply shift everything to western ports. But if they realize a couple weeks before they can skip around a few eastern ports that are open; it will make the current bookings happier.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[leaveitallbehind]

Why are cruise lines still advertising cruises to certain islands they are 100% sure you will not be sailing to in next 2 months such as Puerto Rico and st. Thomas???? Isnt that false advertising and against the law???

No it isn't, as I'm certain the highly expert legal staff employed by the billion dollar cruise lines would confirm.

 

More to the point, if you go on the various cruise lines web sites most have a banner link accross the top of the webpage that takes you to the itinerary updates page for all of the affected itineraries and changes made in view of the closed ports. This is updated weekly and will continue until those affected ports open again to the ships. Of course it will be quite some time until St. Martin, as example, will reopen. And most longer range itineraries originally scheduled there are no longer showing that port of call.

[geoherb]

The cruise lines have the right to deviate from the scheduled ports of call. It's in the cruise contract everyone agrees to in booking a cruise.

 

Princess has this statement on its website: "Our staff will continue to assess recovery efforts and conditions in affected destinations. Should any adjustments be required to future sailings as a result of storm damage, booked guests and their travel professional will be notified." I'd bet other lines have similar statements. The most recent word I heard was that the Caribbean Princess will not be going to San Juan as scheduled on the Oct. 7 cruise.

[bUU]

USVI apparently saying that they'll be ready for a return of cruise ships by end of October.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2017/09/27/cruise-ships-could-back-st-thomas-end-october/707274001/

 

 

This post may have been entered by voice recognition. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[Aquahound]

Key West had it's first port visit today.

 

Actually, it was this past weekend. RCI returned to KW on the 24th.