ship change - should I cancel?

mrajecki

Earning My Ears
Joined
Dec 26, 2015
We were booked on the Freedom OTS for April 2021 but "Lifted and Shifted" to April 2022. Freedom has just come off a refurbishment. Two days ago I got an email from RCCL saying they have changed my ship to Explorer OTS. Same southern itinerary. Explorer had its refurbishment from earlier this year cancelled. I am concerned about what this ship will be like with another year/year and a half of use. The last cruise was on Mariner and it was in need of work. We couldn't even charge our phones in our room because the outlet was worn out. RCCL has only given me a week to decide if I want to cancel. Compensation was $100 shipboard credit (balcony room). I don't mind going down a class in ships but not if it also means that the ship is tired and quality of entertainment is reduced. Please help. Should I cancel? Anyone been on Explorer from earlier this year to tell me what the ship was like? This will be my 12th RCCL cruise so I know lower class ships equal lower prices and lower quality of entertainment and amenities.
 
I've not been on anything that level but I'd go with your gut here. Also see if you can get credit for rebooking to a different cruise.
 
Are you travelling with kids? I know my son is at an age when the water slides and "fun stuff" are important to him. Personally, we enjoyed the Freedom before it was refurbished and at that point the differences between the two wouldn't be a big deal, but now that it's been updated, it would be a clear winner. As much as we want to do a southern itinerary, the ship does play a role.
 


Can you sail on Celebrity instead, or does it have to be RCL?

Celebrity Summit and Equinox do the southern Caribbean itineraries, and those ships have been what they call 'revolutionized'. The Celebrity 'revolution' refurbishments are at an entirely different level. The Royal Amp program doesn't do much to the staterooms; Celebrity Revolution touches everything.

We sailed on Celebrity Millennium last December (after it had gone through one) and felt like our stateroom was in a modern boutique hotel. Obviously, you are not going to find water slides or rock-climbing walls, but you will love everything geared towards two adults.
 
That sounds like a great choice for my next cruise, however, this one needs to be RCCL.
 


Southern Caribbean is extremely itinerary based. If you're on one of the itineraries with no sea days I wouldn't worry at all. You're not going to lose much on entertainment either unless you're big into waterslides and flowrider.

Are you on a non-refundable fare? Not sure how good your price is with your lift and shift, but odds are pretty good you'll be able to find some good deals since you're looking that far out. May be better to cancel and rebook the same ship or itinerary anyway.
 
Got a really good deal on the price so we can only lift and shift or rebook another 7 day cruises (tried to book an 8 day and I wasn't able to do so). We have been on many cruises so were looking forward to a cruise that went to some different islands. Thanks to all who have given us a lot to think about. We have decided the itinerary is more important than the ship so will keep our reservation. We have sailed on the Explorer before (2009) so I am OK with the ship as long as it isn't really, really tired. I am hoping that it isn't.
 
I may be wrong, but I thought they had to do certain updates even if they cancelled the amplification changes. Ships have to have a refurb/dry dock every so many years. A "technical" dry dock, for routine maintenance. It was scheduled for August.
 
cruise ships must have a history of 2 dry dockings within the past 5 years (sliding scale) ... the purpose of this dry dock is to inspect underwater hull penetrations (openings to the sea) and things like screws, rudders etc. It is a SOLAS requirement .... in the US it is written into the US Code and enforced by USCG. Failure to comply means you can't load passengers in a US port. (we can't require you do do it ... but we CAN stop you from making MONEY) Since the ship is out of action a bunch of other work will be scheduled but this underwater inspection IS the driving factor.
 
I had to make a similar decision to the OP. We have a cruise in November on Freedom that was moved to Explorer. At first, we were going to cancel but a few factors changed my mind. The first was that most of my extended family decided to stay on this sailing due to the itinerary. So I decided to see how it played out. When I got my new rooms the cost went down like 25% so that savings along with the OBC pushed me over the edge of staying on Explorer. I am extremely disappointed as I am sailing with kids who would have loved the slides but at the same time we have never seen the ports that we will be seeing on this Southern itinerary and don't get the opportunity to do it often so that played a factor.

On another board there were people saying that the OBC is per person and not per stateroom as well. Not counting on that but would be nice if true.
 

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