Originally Posted by
SRQ Guy
All cruise lines drop port calls, and all of them are protected by their contracts of carriage. Every time you buy a cruise ticket, you are informed that the cruise line can cancel or reschedule port calls for any (or no) reason. If you can't stand the idea of spending your entire cruise on the ship, then cruising is not a realistic vacation alternative for you.
Its one thing if weather or local conditions prohibit them from docking at a particular port of call. Its entirely another if they knowingly have a faulty engine and cannot deliver on a port of call until the engine is fixed.
On that same Progreso cruise I listed above, a storm moved through on our first day and we had to punt Key West. Carnival apologized profusely, gave everyone a $50 shipboard credit and added Costa Maya as a "make up" port. People were disappointed in losing Key West, but understood weather is beyond the company's control, and were happy with the new port and the credit.
Carnival should have clearly communicated ahead of time that the cruise was now only a single port, and given people a chance to back out. Failing that they should have given the pax more than their $20 port tax back. Some shipboard credit in the $50-100 per person range to make up losing 1/2 the ports on the itin would have been a decent gesture.
(14 cruises in the last 10 years)