Yes.
Oh… You’re still here. You want an explanation, you say? Well then, I guess I’ll explain.
Can cruise ships really just change your itinerary?
Once again, yes, cruise ships can just change your itinerary with, basically, no notice. The cruise lines reserve the right to amend, alter, and cancel any part of the cruise, including any ports, and even cancel the entire sailing. To show you what I mean, let’s take a look at a contract from Princess Cruises. It’s a typical representation of a passage contract, which is what you agree to when you book a cruise.
Here is an excerpt from Princess Cruises passage contract:
Except as otherwise provided, Carrier may, for any reason, without prior notice, cancel the cruise; deviate from the scheduled ports of call, route and timetable; call or omit to call at any port or place or cancel or modify any activity on or off the vessel; comply with all governmental laws and orders given by governmental authorities; render assistance to preserve life and property; or change the date or time of sailing or arrival, change the port of embarkation or disembarkation, shorten the Cruise or substitute vessels, aircraft or other transportation or lodging.
Since most people are not versed in legalese, the “Carrier”, in this case, means the cruise line and that wall of text means they can change itinerary plans with no prior notification and they can do so for any reason. The passage contract continues:
Accordingly, You should not make any important arrangements or meetings based on the scheduled Cruise, which may change without liability to Carrier. Furthermore, the Captain of the vessel as well as the operator of any other means of transportation may, in his/her sole discretion, take any action deemed necessary for the safety, security, comfort, or well-being of any person or to prevent damage to or loss of the vessel.
In other words, this is the cruise line advising you, the passenger, not to make important plans around the cruise ship arriving at where or when its scheduled to arrive. “Important plans” is open to some interpretation, but that could be something like a wedding, a business meeting, a funeral, even a medical appointment. The contract goes on to give notice that the Captain of the ship has the power to, at their sole discretion, change plans and take actions to keep people safe, secure, and comfortable and do the same for the ship itself.
This is just the first paragraph of Section 8, which covers schedule deviations, of 18 sections in the contract. There are three more paragraphs in Section 8 alone.
Lawyers be thorough.
To be clear, I am not one and this is not professional legal interpretation. Additionally, just to be doubly clear, Princess is not being singled out here. That language is similar to other lines, and I chose it because Princess is one of the largest cruise companies in the world so many people have taken a cruise under that exact language.
Should This Make Me Nervous?
Let’s step back and have a reality check about this for a second. When legal structure comes into play it starts to feel intimidating to many folks, which I get. However, this is not the time to hit the panic button.
The reason that this language exists is to protect the cruise companies from lawsuits because they didn’t go to a specific port on the itinerary and ensure that the captain of the cruise ship can make the call to keep a ship safe and undamaged even if it means that the passengers don’t get to go to The Bahamas.
It’s good to ask, can a cruise just change the itinerary, but it’s not a common occurrence.
In practice, this doesn’t really impact your typical cruise all that much. It’s not like cruise lines are out here just taking people’s money and telling them to get bent every time they leave port. It’s in the cruise line’s interest to give the passengers a good time so they want to come back and, broadly speaking, people want more cruises. The cruise industry has grown consistently over the decades to be one of the most popular ways to vacation, especially for families.
Customers often don’t go back to companies when they have a bad time and given the growth of the industry it’s reasonable to conclude that most people are having a good time on cruises.
That’s not to say that bad times don’t happen, though. What you need to know is what to prepare for.
Why do these changes happen?
To understand why the cruise lines reserve the power to change the cruise without prior notice, we need to discuss the realities of sailing.
The moment you step onto a cruise ship, you are embarking on one of the largest vehicles and most complex systems ever created. Take a moment to think about all the things that a cruise ship is, what it contains, and the tasks it performs. It contains hundred or even thousands of hotel rooms for guests, hundreds more rooms for the staff, not to mention the commons spaces like bars or theaters for people to spend time in. There are desalination plants to provide fresh water, there is an engine to propel the ship and provide power to every inch of the vessel. There is a brig, medical facilities, food preparation and storage to feed thousands of people every day. Most have at least one pool, many have two or more, there are hot tubs, gyms, spas, and shops. All of it needs to be cleaned, daily, and the ship is ten stories tall, or more, above the water.
Oh, the water. I almost forgot. The entire thing floats on the ocean and needs to navigate, safely, waters that can experience 100+ mph winds and waves that crest 40 feet or more.
Careful consideration needs to be given to the safety of all the people on board and all the equipment. That’s not something to be taken lightly and cruise lines will do what they need to keep you out of harm’s way. The reason you so rarely hear stories of ships navigating weather like that is because they take pains to avoid it, even if it means skipping ports or changing destinations.
The weather doesn’t even need to be that extreme to cause a problem. Some ports have narrow channels or shallows that could wreak havoc on a massive ship being piloted through tight spaces. If the waves and currents are too strong, ships might not be able to safely dock.
Besides the weather, another reason that needs to be considered is medical emergencies. Sometimes this means that a person needs to be evacuated from the ship and that means changes to schedules or experiences. I’ve taken several cruises that diverted for medical emergencies where we stopped at ports that weren’t planned on so someone could get lifesaving care.
Other considerations are widespread violence or war. We’ve seen companies scuttle destinations or pull out of entire regions because of both of those. Earlier this year, Mexican cartel violence exploded and some lines skipped Mexican ports. On the other side of the world, cruise ships no longer go through the Red Sea because of war in Yemen and ships being threatened.
I’ve given examples of just a few things, but once you consider the complexity of everything at play you start to understand the caution needed. Ships don’t like to change plans because they pick up fuel and supplies at some stops and sourcing all their various needs becomes more challenging the more itineraries are altered. They also, let’s not forget, want you to have a good time and changing plans makes that harder to do in many cases.
While all that is true, the bottom line for a cruise ship is that none of that comes before safety and security.
What recourse do you have?
If the plans change and your entire cruise is altered, there are still obligations that the cruise line has to you but, there are also things they are not obligated to do. Let’s start with what they are obligated to do.
Should the cruise line not stop at a port, they do need to refund you the port fee that you paid. Most of the time these fees are between $5 – $15 per person for each port. They also need to refund you any excursions that were booked at that port, if, and this is critical,you booked it through the cruise line. If youbooked thatexcursion on your own, outside of the cruise company, that loss is on you.
Additionally, if a cruise is shorter in length than what you paid for, you are likely entitled to compensation. As an example, if you paid for a 10 night cruise and the sailing only lasted 5 nights, then there is likely a refund of your fare that you are owed, prorated by the portion of the length of the voyage that was completed. In our example that would be a 50% refund. That may even be true in the case of weather causing the shortening.
You also may have paid attention to the phrase, “Except as otherwise provided”, in the passenger contract above. That clause is, really, about mechanical issues. Should a ship suffer mechanical problems, like an engine failure, those are, typically, considered to be the responsibility of the cruise line and, should they occur, the cruise line then becomes liable for some form of compensation to passengers. The specifics of the compensation will vary by situation, but there will be some form of remedy.
There’s another important document that passengers, at least North American ones, should know about when it comes to their rights, the International Cruise Line Passenger Bill of Rights, the PBOR. This document is not a law, but rather a set of rules that has been adopted by oceangoing members of CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Association. The PBOR outlines certain rights that these companies guarantee for passengers sailing on their ships. Take a few minutes and read it over, it isn’t dense legalese or complex, but it is important.
Beyond what I’ve stated above, there is nothing that a cruise line is obligated to do should they change your itinerary. They owe you no refund, explanation, or apology.
That, and this is true, does not mean that it doesn’t suck if they do that.
What can you do?
Well, there’s really only one thing that you can do should a cruise line decide to change all the plans and not tell you until it’s happening – complain.
There isn’t a better answer than that, truly. Complaining about the way that you were treated or how much the situation sucks is the only thing you can, realistically, do. With that in mind, I’m going to share my advice on how to complain most effectively.
Here are my bona fides on complaining.
- Manager of customer service call center that served 100,000+ customers.
- Food service employee, supervisor, and restaurant manager for 5+ years.
- Twenty years working in customer service and customer engagement and retention.
Believe me when I tell you, I know how to effectively complain.
Here’s the strategy:
- Do not be rude. Personal insults, hostility, name calling, etc., will always get you little or nothing. The company has more money, PR, and lawyers than you do and the employees are often cogs in a machine given little ability to override policy or compensate people. What abilities, and mental/emotional bandwidth, they do have will not be used on a person who belittles them.
- Know your rights. Understanding exactly what your rights are gives you grounding in the conversation. Not all employees fully understand the rights of the consumer, not out of maliciousness, but because most call centers suck at providing training to their staff and that’s something that’s only getting worse in my opinion. If you have firm ground to stand on with your argument, you are in a much better position should you need to escalate it.
- Be firm and consistent. Know what you are looking to get before you complain. If you are looking for an amount, state that amount and don’t change it. It doesn’t mean you are going to get it, but being consistent in what you ask for makes you seem more reasonable.
- Contact your travel agent. We travel agents have some pull with these companies. I don’t want to overstate our influence, but we do have a different relationship with them than you do as a consumer. If you book through a travel agent, we can help take up the fight with you and coordinate our efforts. There’s also the advantage that we can help advise you on the first three points.
- As a last resort, publicly air your grievance. Sometimes shaming a company can get results. They want to control their image as much as possible and a public display of your bad interaction can bring about actions. However, you still need to follow the first three rules when you do this. If you post something publicly and you just make yourself look bad, it won’t help your case. Being courteous, professional, informed, and consistent are absolutely key to this working.
This is not a huge problem
I’ve just put more than two thousand words down, explaining the legal structure of passenger contracts and what your rights are under them. That’s a lot of information but it really isn’t that big of deal most of the time.
I’ve sailed on cruises more than most people; it’s part of my job. Changing or cancelling ports has only happened to me once. Yes, we missed some ports we wanted to see because bad weather made it unsafe to stop. In the grand scheme of things, that’s a small problem. The line gave our port fees back and we got some onboard credit for the trouble. I wish we could have stopped there, but sometimes things can’t be helped.
I’ve said this before, many times, but sometimes your job as a traveler is to roll with the punches. No one can control everything in life, and it can get messed up. Keep a level head, try to have a positive attitude and, if something goes wrong, follow the advice I gave above.
