Thread: If a cruise line cancels a port, should you be able to cancel the cruise?

If you book a cruise, based on a certain itinerary, and the cruise line changes one of the ports, that you specifically wanted to visit (for a reason other than sever weather), should you be able to cancel that cruise and get a full refund?

Many cruise lines are now canceling Mazatlan (in the future they may cancel other ports) and adding another boring day at Cabo (I’ll admit I am bias – in humble opinion, Cabo is the most Americanized port in Mexico). It may be different if we could “overnight” in Cabo so we could enjoy the ambiance of Cabo at night, but the cruise lines prefer to move the ship out into “international waters” so they can open the casinos and stores.

I realize that many of the decisions that cruise lines make are based on how to increase the revenue. It seems some of the cruise lines want the cruise ship to be “the destination” and hope the passengers never leave the ship, therefore spending all their money on the additional services (e.g., shops, casinos, bars, specialty restaurants, etc.) that the ships may offer.

Tom

No, I don't think so. 1 port of call is not all there is to a cruise.

The reason a lot of cruiselines are changing their port itineraries these days is for the sake of safety. The cruiselines value the safety of the passengers and crew far above the inconvenience of cancelling a port and redirecting the ship to a different port.

Of course, it is spelled out in the cruise contract that they can change itineries any time.

If it's just one port, I don't feel it warrants a full refund.

Now if they change the entire itinerary (was a Panama Canal cruise and is now an Eastern Caribbean) I think they should give passengers the option to cancel if they're unhappy with the new itinerary.

It is in all cruise line contracts that they can change at any time. If it is short notice there are some PR considerations but you are at their mercy if it is after final payment.

I understand that the Cruise Lines write their contracts to protect them and give them almost total latitude about almost anything to do with the cruise. An example of that is, if you have a claim against a cruise line, they have, in some cases, shorten the time limit to file claim to 30 days or less.

Believe it or not, I always read the cruise line contract and there is usually a clause in there that after you read it, you can cancel the cruise if you don’t like the terms of contract.

Some of us who live in Southern California are lucky to be able to drive a few minutes to the cruise terminal in San Diego or a couple of hours up the coast to the cruise terminal in LA (Long Beach) and take a cruise to Mexico. Since we are not taking a cruise to get out of the snow like some people do, we usually go to see the sights, or to put it another way, to enjoy the culture of “old Mexico”. In the past, most of the cruises that went to Mexico stopped at Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta and sometimes even Acapulco.

I understand that some people may not be comfortable about traveling to Mazatlan right now. I also realize that the cruise lines have an obligation to protect their passengers.

If the cruise lines cancel Mazatlan, I think that they could make an effort to visit other ports, instead of doing two “days” in Cabo. For example, they could visit one of the ports in the Sea of Cortez.

As I stated in my first post, I believe that some cruise lines would prefer us to never get off the ship – but I am not one of those people. I tend to be very adventuresome and since I am fair skinned and only live 10 minutes from the ocean, I do not spend my days in port at one of the luxury hotels enjoying their amenities.

Tom

A couple of years ago, many of the Mexican Riviera cruises were switched to coastal cruises in light of the swine flu situation. Many people who had booked a MR cruise (including a group on CLF) were ticked off that this happened at the last minute, so they didn't even have some warmer clothes to wear when the ship went up to San Francisco. Personally, I would have preferred a coastal as I've been on a couple of MR cruises and several Baja ones (and I would have packed at least one or two warmer outfits because it's usually cold leaving LA on most of these cruises). But then I'm not cruising for sunny ports, just like you. Just not interested in the Mexican ports. Even before the drug problem got out of hand.

Those who cruise a lot in the Caribbean area between June and November tend to be prepared for a change of itinerary (west to east and vice versa) because of hurricanes.

Fortunately, I've only missed one port so far, and that was a decision made that morning when high waves prevented tendering into Kona. Was disappointed, but understood it was for our safety.

If there's a must port, and you miss it on a cruise, you can always return for a land vacation there. Somebody from our cruise did that -- they flew to Kona and stayed a week there. Would love to do that as Kona was dropped from Princess's Hawaiian itinerary.

for only missing 1 possibly 2 port(s) i could deal with it especially if its for the safety of my family. now it its something other then safety reasons in port or bad weather then it would not fly

Not porting in bad weather would be a safety issue for both passengers and also damage to the ship.

I agree with the majority.

The one thing about cruising is that you have to remain flexible. We started an Eastern Caribbean cruise that had to change and become a W. Carib cruise due to a hurricane. While some people were upset, we had great weather the entire time. You can't control mother nature.

We had a client who was on a cruise out of Baltimore to Bermuda - when the ship got to the Atlantic Ocean, instead of making a right turn and heading to Bermuda, they made a left turn and headed to Canada/New England. Again, due to a hurricane. My client said they had a wonderful time, but 75% of the people on the ship were miserable because they made themselves miserable. They weren't going where they wanted to go, so nothing was right; the food sucked, the entertainment was bad, etc, etc. Often it depends on people's ability to be flexible and let the little things roll off their back.

Sometimes plans change due to political unrest, mechanical problems, or other safety issues. Bottom line is the cruise line does not want to put their ship or their passengers in danger, so they are going to steer clear of these situations. Sometimes that requires them to miss one port, sometimes to change the complete itinerary. But you still get a cruise with all the excitement, entertainment, and food.

Pete

no -- cruise lines sometimes have to cancel a port for the safety of the passengers

the majority of the we have had ports cancelled once we were already on the ship ans sailing