Due to operational reasons...

[HAL4NOW]

Just curious; how many of you have received an itinerary change notification recently that states it is "due to operational reasons"?

Has anyone received an ITINERARY CHANGE NOTIFICATION that actually gives a reason, or are all changes "due to operational reasons"?

[KroozNut]

We received one for our sailing to Mexico from San Diego next March (as did some others on this same itinerary). And yes, it was for 'operational reasons'.

 

I think they use this catch-all phrase (likely intentionally broad and vague) so as not to have to get into too much detail about the real reason(s).

[canadianbear]

Our upcoming back to back Mexico changes were “operational” reasons.   It seems a catch all phrase.  

[USN59-79]

I just received 2 of them for an upcoming Westerdam cruise.  One was useful: "Due to operational reasons a day at sea has been replaced with an extra day in Keelung".  The other not so useful: "Due to operational reasons the call to Qingdao, China has been cancelled and replaced with a day at sea."

[TwinMommyByGrace]

I've recently received notification for an itinerary charge for our August 2020 cruise. It stated, "To enhance the guest experience, Icy Strait Point, AK has been added after Glacier Bay scenic cruising from 1800 to 2200 ."

☺

[Copper10-8]

It's a term/designator borrowed from the airlines:

 

“Operational Reasons” is a term usually used by Airlines to inform the passengers about the delay or cancellation of flights.

All passengers may not necessarily be aware of the how a particular situation may affect the operations of flights and may ask further questions with regard to the reason stated. Therefore a single term is used for their information.

 

 

[crystalspin]

It's not just HAL, have had changes to itinerary on Princess and RC with that reason given.

[Dr.Dobro]

8 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

I just received 2 of them for an upcoming Westerdam cruise.  One was useful: "Due to operational reasons a day at sea has been replaced with an extra day in Keelung".  The other not so useful: "Due to operational reasons the call to Qingdao, China has been cancelled and replaced with a day at sea."

Could you tell me which sailing you are on? We board the Westerdam in Hong Kong on March 14 and we received the change you mention for Qingdao (March 24), but nothing for Keelung (April 5). Just wondering if you are on a different cruise. Thanks!

[Floridiana]

Since itineraries are made 2-3 years before the ships sail them, any number of reasons could change it in the year the ship sails because conditions have changed in the meantime. On our cruise, one port  city had decided to limit the size of ships they were willing to accept starting Jan 1, 2019. HAL had to find an alternative and move some other ports around to fit the schedule. The captain explained it on the cruise.

 

I could imagine all sorts of other reasons like civil unrest, strikes, changes in the visa policy, damage to a dock etc.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Floridiana

[TiogaCruiser]

For the airline and cruise industry “Operational reasons” beats “technical difficulties.”

[Djptcp]

We just received an email notification that our stop at Half Moon Cay during our Feb. 5th Veendam cruise has been cancelled "due to operational reasons." We will have another at sea day instead and will receive $200 in onboard credit for our "inconvenience." Someone on our roll call surmised that it was because the 3,500 passenger Carnival Magic was also going to be there on the same day and HMC couldn't handle both ships there at the same time. It would be interesting to find out if passengers on the Magic also received the same notice and no one will be at HMC that day.

[rucrazy]

8 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

It's a term/designator borrowed from the airlines:

 

“Operational Reasons” is a term usually used by Airlines to inform the passengers about the delay or cancellation of flights.

All passengers may not necessarily be aware of the how a particular situation may affect the operations of flights and may ask further questions with regard to the reason stated. Therefore a single term is used for their information.

 

 

And now we know! 

[whogo]

"Operational reasons" sounds so much better than "we goofed and scheduled a sixth ship in a port that can only handle five" or "it would cost too much to sail to that port at high speed" or "we can make more money with a large Carnival ship there than with a small HAL ship".

 

Were any of the "operational reasons" announced just after you reached the cancellation penalty phase?

[VennDiagram]

16 minutes ago, whogo said:

Were any of the "operational reasons" announced just after you reached the cancellation penalty phase?

 

I remember one that was announced after final payment, removal of Topolobampo in MX on one cruise.  It could legitimately have been for security reasons at the time.  I remember that one specifically.  Can't comment on any others we received.

 

[USN59-79]

2 hours ago, Dr.Dobro said:

Could you tell me which sailing you are on? We board the Westerdam in Hong Kong on March 14 and we received the change you mention for Qingdao (March 24), but nothing for Keelung (April 5). Just wondering if you are on a different cruise. Thanks!

We are on a B2B2B on Westerdam from 1 February thru 14 March.  So it looks like they are no longer stopping at Quingdao, but the extra day at Keelung just affects our cruise.

[MisterBill99]

2 hours ago, Djptcp said:

We just received an email notification that our stop at Half Moon Cay during our Feb. 5th Veendam cruise has been cancelled "due to operational reasons." We will have another at sea day instead and will receive $200 in onboard credit for our "inconvenience." Someone on our roll call surmised that it was because the 3,500 passenger Carnival Magic was also going to be there on the same day and HMC couldn't handle both ships there at the same time. It would be interesting to find out if passengers on the Magic also received the same notice and no one will be at HMC that day.

 

They also did that to an April cruise (posted on a FB group). There is also a large Carnival ship there that day. But they knew that both ships would be there when they set the schedules so the question is what changed to require the cancellation? Someone on FB wondered if there was some construction starting on HMC (like a pier so you don't have to tender, which I think has been announced) which might limit the number of passengers they could handle per day, or maybe they will only have room for a single ship tendering operation at a time.

[Taters]

I received one of these for Westerdam's Transpacific cruise departing Yokohama on April 25, 2020.  We will no longer be going to Muroran for operational reasons, but will call at Hakodate instead. 

[Floridiana]

Hakodate has a wonderful cherry blossom park, hopefully you'll be there at the right time. If the ship docks at the morning market, you can take a tram or a taxi to the park. 

[bennybear]

On our Westerdam Japan Cruise this spring a port was eliminated and another substituted just weeks before sailing.   On our recent Koningsdam Mediterranean cruise there were also several changes after final payment.  

 

 I can understand unrest at the last minute but at times it makes no sense and no reasons  are given.   We had one port cut short by three hours, another two ports reversed necessitating changes in private tours and another where we arrived an hour earlier but confusion abounded even the night before.  That doesn’t count the other earlier two port changes.     It is difficult at best to rearrange these tours so late in the game.  I almost think that is the point🤨

Edited November 26, 2019 by bennybear

[MisterBill99]

25 minutes ago, bennybear said:

On our Westerdam Japan Cruise this spring a port was eliminated and another substituted just weeks before sailing.   On our recent Koningsdam Mediterranean cruise there were also several changes after final payment.  

 

 I can understand unrest at the last minute but at times it makes no sense and no reasons  are given.   We had one port cut short by three hours, another two ports reversed necessitating changes in private tours and another where we arrived an hour earlier but confusion abounded even the night before.  That doesn’t count the other earlier two port changes.     It is difficult at best to rearrange these tours so late in the game.  I almost think that is the point🤨

 

Did they have a Q&A with the captain where you could ask the reasons for the changes? It really sucks when they rearrange ports and you need to scurry to change private tours. Fortunately none of our ports were changed when we were on Kdam in the Med in June. When we sailed the Caribbean on Eurodam in 2017, they ended up reversing all of our ports during the cruise, but that was due to weather. Missed one private excursion because I wasn't able to contact the provider that we would be there a day earlier (I had emailed but did not hear back).

[Stakeout]

received just 1 notice so far.. have 7 cruises to Caribbean booked in Jan Feb Mar so more to come..

this might be the reason

https://cruiseradio.net/major-change-coming-to-carnival-cruise-lines-half-moon-cay

[Copper10-8]

11 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

They also did that to an April cruise (posted on a FB group). There is also a large Carnival ship there that day. But they knew that both ships would be there when they set the schedules so the question is what changed to require the cancellation? Someone on FB wondered if there was some construction starting on HMC (like a pier so you don't have to tender, which I think has been announced) which might limit the number of passengers they could handle per day, or maybe they will only have room for a single ship tendering operation at a time.

 

It's a HAL island also used by Carnival however, unlike two HAL ships, you won't see a dam ship and a Carnival ship at HMC at the same time. There is no construction of a potential pier going on at this time, yet...........

 

[MisterBill99]

16 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

It's a HAL island also used by Carnival however, unlike two HAL ships, you won't see a dam ship and a Carnival ship at HMC at the same time. There is no construction of a potential pier going on at this time, yet...........

 

 

That's what I thought, yet there were several dates listed with both Carnival and HAL ships on the same date on the schedule I have linked below. Maybe someone messed up and allowed it to be double booked? That would be a major screw-up if true. 

 

http://crew-center.com/half-moon-cay-cruise-ship-schedule-2020-2021

 

I checked a couple of Veendam sailings on the HAL site that are listed on this site with a HMC stop on the same day as a Carnival ship and neither of them is currently stopping at HMC. One is doing Key West that day and the other has a sea day. Of course this assumes the port schedule on the site is accurate, but I have no reason to think it isn't (and have used it before).

Edited November 27, 2019 by MisterBill99

[Copper10-8]

3 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

That's what I thought, yet there were several dates listed with both Carnival and HAL ships on the same date on the schedule I have linked below. Maybe someone messed up and allowed it to be double booked? That would be a major screw-up if true. 

 

http://crew-center.com/half-moon-cay-cruise-ship-schedule-2020-2021

 

I checked a couple of Veendam sailings on the HAL site that are listed on this site with a HMC stop on the same day as a Carnival ship and neither of them is currently stopping at HMC. One is doing Key West that day and the other has a sea day. Of course this assumes the port schedule on the site is accurate, but I have no reason to think it isn't (and have used it before).

 

Things can always change, as we know , but that (no Carnival and HAL ship together at the island) has been the ground rule when Carnival decided to start using HMC a few years ago

[MisterBill99]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Things can always change, as we know , but that (no Carnival and HAL ship together at the island) has been the ground rule when Carnival decided to start using HMC a few years ago

 

Maybe they thought they could try it but realized it wasn't going to work. Bottom line is that HAL is cancelling HMC stops on some cruises and the common thread appears to be that there is a Carnival ship scheduled there the same day. Someone probably needs to ask questions when they're on an affected cruise.

Edited November 27, 2019 by MisterBill99