Hi there!
Well, one of the realities of going on a cruise is that you are sailing the ocean and that ocean can impact whether or not you can reach your destination.
Rough seas can result in cruise ports canceled at the last minute.
You might literally see the port from the cruise ship… and moments later you might be sailing away!
This actually did happen on 2 of my cruises.
The captain got close to land, and then decided that the cruise ship cannot be safely docked. So close, yet so far…
Other times, the port cancellation was known the day before.
👆 You may receive a letter about an upcoming canceled cruise port. And/or it may be announced over the ship-wide public announcement system.
I know, it’s incredibly disappointing when you had it all planned out what you were going to do in port and you were all excited for it… and then you can’t go.
But it’s important to manage your expectations before your cruise and realize that this can happen during your cruise.
It certainly doesn’t happen on every cruise, but still, it can be good to be mentally prepared that it can happen to lessen the disappointment, at least a little bit!
Of course it’s going to be disappointing if it does happen, but by understanding that it can happen, it can help at least a little bit!
I have been on Princess cruises where cruise ports or scenic glacier sea days were canceled during the cruise:
- Ketchikan cruise port (Alaska)
- Hubbard Glacier sea day x2 (Alaska)
- Victoria cruise port (British Columbia, Canada)
- Maui cruise port (Hawaii)
- Saipan cruise port (transpacific cruise)
More about what happened in the case of some of these cruise ports below!
Port day turns into sea day
If you miss a cruise port, in most cases, it means your port day will turn into a sea day.
So you can expect a full schedule of onboard activities as you would have on any sea day.
If there is an alternative cruise port available, there may be a different cruise port added to the itinerary, but this is not something to expect.
Do you get compensation if there’s a missed port?
Typically, there is no compensation offered for a missed cruise port due to weather, as this is just something that can happen on a cruise.
The exception to this is if you have booked a shore excursion through the cruise line.
If you have booked a shore excursion through the cruise line, you can fully expect that you will receive a full refund automatically.
You shouldn’t have to visit the shore excursions desk or guest services.
You can monitor your onboard account to see that you have received a refund for your shore excursion.
There’s a lot going on behind the scenes when there’s a missed port, so don’t expect the refund the moment it’s announced.
But if you don’t see the refund by the following day, then I would contact guest services.
On Princess, you can visit guest services in person, or you can avoid the line and contact them through the app through “crewchat” which is a livechat with guest services basically.
There is still waiting involved, but you can wait in the comfort of your cabin or the chair of your choosing around the ship!
I was booked on an excursion through the cruise line for a missed “port” (glacier sea day excursion).
In addition to the full refund, they also offered 10% off if you book an excursion for the “next port” on the day of the missed port.
I say “next port” in quotes because actually, I asked if I could get the discount on the subsequent ports that were not the “next port” and I was given the discount. This worked out well for me since I hadn’t yet booked the excursions I was planning to do once on the cruise ship. You might not want to wait to book excursions because some excursions do sell out.
👆 I checked my onboard account through the Princess app and saw that a refund was given automatically as a result of the canceled port. I also received a discount on shore excursions for other cruise ports.
👆 After there was a canceled cruise port, there was a discount offered on future shore excursions: 10% off tours purchased today for the next port. There were also other discounts provided to encourage you to spend money on the cruise ship during the new sea day. 🤪
Missed ports and canceled shore excursions
Prior to my 2 Alaska cruise port cancellations, I really didn’t have much of an opinion as to whether to book through the cruise line or independently. I’ve done both, and it was more or less a matter of convenience and availability.
But now, potential missed ports could be the biggest reason to book shore excursions through the cruise line.
For most excursions, I do not think the “guaranteed back to ship on time” is really all that big of a reason to book through the cruise line.
By booking through the cruise line, you know for sure the refund will happen without you needing to do anything.
Whereas if you book independently, you will need to separately contact the tour company to make sure your refund will happen… if they have stated in the cancellation policy that they do provide refunds if you’re on a cruise ship that misses a port!
So, if you are booking shore excursions independently, be sure to check the cancellation policy!
Or if you are sailing at a time of year that is known for rough seas and a higher chance of missed ports, maybe it’s better to stick with booking a shore excursion through the cruise line.
This won’t stop me from booking excursions independently, but if it might make me stop to think about it.
More below about my experiences with missed cruise ports!
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My experiences of canceled cruise ports, canceled glacier days, and altered cruise itineraries
1. Ketchikan cruise port canceled
I was on an Alaska cruise that canceled Ketchikan cruise port. The scheduled port time in Ketchikan was from 6:30am to 3pm on September 11, 2023.
The captain made an announcement through the public announcement system, including in the cabins, that the cruise ship will not be able to dock in Ketchikan because of strong wind and rough seas.
He said the cruise ship was off shore waiting for clearance to leave Ketchikan, and the scheduled time that it will be leaving Ketchikan is 7:30am.
I was in bed when this announcement was made, and I don’t remember exactly what time it was, but I guess it was between 6:30am and 7am.
When the captain came on the PA system for his daily 12pm announcement, he mentioned wind speeds (or whatever is measured, I don’t remember what exactly he said 🤪) of 50 knots or 56 miles per hour.
2. Hubbard Glacier canceled
I was on an Alaska cruise that canceled going to see Hubbard Glacier. The scheduled Hubbard Glacier day was September 3, 2023.
This was a different cruise from the cruise with the canceled Ketchikan cruise port.
Hubbard Glacier is actually a sea day, but I consider it the same as a missed cruise port since it was a part of the cruise itinerary… and because an excursion was canceled because of the canceled cruise port. Yes, there can be excursions on sea days in Alaska.
Hubbard Glacier was canceled the night before we were to go there.
And actually, it was canceled before the cruise even began!
It was canceled due to a nature / weather related event, although nothing to do with Hubbard Glacier’s weather.
One of the realities of an Alaska cruise is that weather and natural events on land can also affect your cruise!
It was a Whittier to Vancouver cruise.
Day 1 was embarkation day in Whittier, and day 2 was Hubbard Glacier day.
Just after 8pm on embarkation day, which was the day prior to going to Hubbard Glacier, the captain announced through the ship-wide public announcement system that we would be missing Hubbard Glacier.
Hubbard Glacier was canceled because the cruise ship could not depart Whittier on time and therefore would not be able to make up time to spend time at Hubbard Glacier.
There was a large group of people who were part of the cruise line’s land and cruise tour who were delayed in getting to the cruise ship because of a mudslide.
The mudslide resulted in a train from Denali that was unable to make it before the cruise ship’s departure.
The scheduled cruise ship departure was 8:30pm.
That train ended up arriving to the Whittier cruise port at 1:30am.
According to one passenger who was on the train, it was supposed to be a 9.5 hour train ride, and they were on the train for 17 hours.
I was booked on the Hubbard Glacier excursion through the cruise line, and I received a refund automatically.
👆 Letter sent to cabins about the canceled glacier day.
3. Lahaina cruise port canceled (Maui)
I was on a transpacific cruise that canceled Lahaina cruise port in Hawaii. The scheduled port time in Lahaina was 7am to 5:30pm on February 19, 2023.
The day before Lahaina, we were docked in Honolulu cruise port (Oahu).
When I got back to the cruise ship after being out on Oahu, there was a letter in my cabin about the cancellation of the Maui cruise port.
Lahaina is a tender port which means that the cruise ship anchors off shore, and a water shuttle is needed to get from the cruise ship to land.
The reason given for the cancellation was that they didn’t think they would be able to safely operate the water shuttles because of rough seas.
Instead, we were going to stay overnight in Honolulu and have an additional day to explore Honolulu.
While I have been to Lahaina and Maui on land, this was a little disappointing because I was looking forward to the chance of being able to see whales from the cruise ship!
Lahaina is a tender port, which means the cruise ship anchors off shore, and you need to take a water shuttle to get to shore.
The channel where the cruise ship was going to anchor off shore for Lahaina cruise port is known as the best spot for whale watching in Hawaii.
On the morning show that you can watch on the stateroom TV, the entertainment staff had talked about on how a recent Lahaina cruise port visit, they actually had to stop the water shuttle operations for a time because of all the whales around.
That would have meant there must have been some great whale watching from the cruise ship!
👆 Letter sent to cabins about the canceled port day.
4. Saipan cruise port canceled
I was on a transpacific cruise that canceled Saipan cruise port. The scheduled port time in Saipan was from 8am to 6pm on March 4, 2023.
This was the same cruise as the Lahaina cruise.
The captain made an announcement through the public announcement system, including in the cabins, that the cruise ship would not be able to dock in Saipan because of rough seas and that we would not be stopping in Saipan.
Once again I was in bed when the captain made the announcement.
At first I didn’t get up immediately but then it occurred to me to go out and see Saipan as we were sailing away.
So I quickly got dressed and ran out to the back of the ship to get a glimpse of Saipan!
Saipan is a rare cruise port stop, so it would have been great to be able to go.
And that’s a bit about canceled cruise ports during a cruise!
HOPEFULLY HAPPY CRUISING WITHOUT ANY MISSED PORTS!
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