Royal Caribbean is facing challenges at its cruise terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico, leading to unexpected changes to the itinerary of one of its largest cruise ships.
San Juan is one of the most popular cruise ports in the Caribbean, with a rich history and vibrant culture; in addition, the Puerto Rican capital is also used as a homeport for Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean offers many flights with San Juan as a port of call. However, due to the ship’s size, Symphony of the Seas’ schedule was particularly affected by port issues.
Royal Caribbean explained the situation regarding “technical issues” at the San Juan Cruise Terminal in an email sent to guests booked to sail on Symphony of the Seas on Dec. 1, 2024. Royal Caribbean made it clear that the issue was beyond their control. Oasis-class ships will not be able to dock until the damaged docks are repaired and subsequently cleared by the U.S. Coast Guard.
“We were recently notified by the Port Authority of San Juan, Puerto Rico that we must adjust our sailing itineraries due to technical issues at the terminal and work that the U.S. Coast Guard must complete and clean up to accept a vessel of our size,” the cruise line said.
It is unclear when the marina in the heart of Old San Juan will be cleared by authorities to accept larger ships. Neither Royal Caribbean nor Port of San Juan said when the issue was expected to be resolved.
Symphony of the Seas is one of the largest ships in the world, with a registered gross tonnage of 228,081 tons. The ship was originally scheduled to depart Miami on a seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise on December 1, 2024. Due to unforeseen problems at the San Juan port, the itinerary was adjusted at the last minute.
Symphony of the Seas was scheduled to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico and Philipsburg, St. Maarten, and spend a day on Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day Trip to CocoCay. Guests were told that Symphony of the Seas would instead visit Falmouth, Jamaica, and Labatee, Haiti, with an itinerary adjustment. However, the ship will also continue its planned Perfect Day visit to CocoCay.
Royal Caribbean said guests will receive an automatic refund to the original method of payment for any prepaid travel booked to San Juan and Phillipsburg. In addition, excursions to new ports of call in Jamaica and Haiti can be booked.
Only the Symphony of the Seas was affected.
This is not the first time Royal Caribbean has been affected by issues at the San Juan pier. The cruise line was also forced to drop San Juan from the Symphony of the Seas itinerary earlier this month. The ship’s November 17, 2024 itinerary was originally scheduled to call at San Juan, St. Martin and CocoCay Perfect Day before adjustments were made.
In a letter sent to passengers, Royal Caribbean said: “After exploring all options and in order to provide you with the best experience, we will now travel to our private destinations in Labadee, Haiti and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. To make up for these Changes, we’ve added a visit to Nassau, Bahamas! ”
It’s also important to note that San Juan, Puerto Rico has two different ports used by cruise ships. The current issue only affects Royal Caribbean’s largest ship when it docks in San Juan Harbor near Old Town for the day. San Juan’s second port, located across the harbor called Pan American Terminal, was unaffected. The terminal serves as a home port for ships departing from San Juan.
Currently, Rhapsody of the Seas has round-trip sailings from San Juan and no itinerary adjustments have been made. There will be no other Royal Caribbean cruises sailing from San Juan in the coming months, but several cruise ships are planned to call the city as a port of call.
Looking ahead, Symphony of the Seas plans to visit San Juan again on December 22, 2024. The ship will also have more sailings featuring the port by January 2025. The cruise line has not announced any further changes to future itineraries at this time. If damage to the terminal remains, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class cruise ships may continue to be affected in the coming months.
How were San Juan’s piers damaged?
Starting earlier this year, guests on Royal Caribbean cruises began reporting problems at the San Juan pier in the spring. In April 2024, people began posting online about issues with the Puerto Rico docking, allegedly caused by damage caused by the MSC cruise ship.
According to guests on board at the time, the Miracle of the Seas was forced to change course due to damage caused in San Juan in April 2024. Oasis-class ships can only dock at damaged docks due to their size. Therefore, Royal Caribbean can only let the port repair the damaged terminal to resume normal operations.
April 2024, user @Brooke Posted in our website’s forum“onboard the Wonder of the Seas, which had just been rerouted from San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. [Now we are] Travel to St. Maarten and St. Thomas. They said a ship crashed into San Juan harbor. Does anyone have any information on this? “
User @Austin commented: “To clarify for anyone doing a Puerto Rico itinerary on an Oasis class ship, the captain said [pier] The use of the Oasis ship was unstable as MSC ships attacked it in Puerto Rico. “
The cruiser continued: “They tried to work with the Port Authority to dock on the east side of the pier instead of the usual west side, but the Port Authority rejected that option and told them we couldn’t dock until the Dolphin was fixed.” (Unknown downtime). “
Also, the title comes from elnuwodiaLocal news sources confirmed the incident back in April. The headline reads “MSC Meraviglia Cruise Arrives at Pier 3 in San Juan.” The article goes on to explain how the San Juan Cruise Port was forced to close its west side facility until further notice due to damage caused by the accident. Neither Royal Caribbean nor the Port of San Juan confirmed terminal damage caused by MSC Meraviglia.
Most guests are unhappy with last minute changes to their itinerary.
Affected guests are understandably upset about the itinerary changes. Last minute itinerary changes are always disappointing, especially when guests have booked flights to a specific destination. While cruise lines try to replace canceled ports of call, itinerary updates are not always considered adequate.
Royal Caribbean told guests: “We apologize for any inconvenience these changes may cause you. Nonetheless, we are excited to visit our private destinations and new ports with you!” Even so, affected passengers Still frustrated by the changes.
“I’m very upset about it. I’m excited to take my kids to San Juan because they’ve never been to San Juan and San Martin looks nice. I feel like the port they changed us is the same as our previous one The port is not on the same level as the cruise pricing and activities,” commented one affected guest. on Reddit thread.
Royal Caribbean only recently began sailing again to its private island in Haiti, which is used as an alternative port in San Juan. Although Labadee is a safe, remote, and entirely private area operated by Royal Caribbean, the country of Haiti has been in turmoil recently.
Due to civil unrest in the spring and summer, Royal Caribbean Suspended operations for several months “Out of an abundance of caution.” The cruise line is removing Labadie from Caribbean itineraries throughout the spring and summer due to safety concerns. Royal Caribbean will not return to Labatee until October 2024, even as unrest in the country continues.
Even as three commercial planes were shot at in the nation’s capital this month, Royal Caribbean Confirmed There are no planned changes to the itinerary to visit private destinations. It is therefore not surprising to see Labatee being used as an alternative port for itinerary changes.
One guest said online they were unhappy with the symphony’s change of schedule given the violence in Haiti. Commenter stated: “Man I personally would be very frustrated with these changes; skip San Juan but keep St. Maarten. I personally don’t feel safe in Haiti right now.”
“I’m on this cruise now. It’s a big shame but we adapted. We booked the St. Maarten excursion through a third party and they gave us a refund after notifying them of last minute itinerary changes,” one said a cruise ship on the affected route on November 17.
The poster continued: “As far as this change goes, a lot of people are very upset about this change, but the terms and conditions you agree to when you book with Royal Cruise Lines is that they can change the itinerary for any reason. At any time, and No prior warning is required. Of course, as a matter of good business practice, they will let you know as soon as possible.”
“So, based on the other comments on this post, it sounds like this has been a known issue since April and there’s basically no hope of fixing it? We chose the specific itinerary of Puerto Rico and St. Maarten.” Also one cruise ship exclaimed online.
