More Cruisers Are Being BUMPED From Their Cruises Than Ever. Here’s Why!

I decided I should investigate why so many cruisers are being bumped of cruises right now after seeing in just one day, it happening to so many. Including Carnival bumping many passengers off several up-coming Carnival Conquest sailings, upset people in a Seabourn Facebook group reporting being bumped off one of three back-to-back cruises they had booked, and P&O Cruises cancelling and bumping thousands off a 35-night sailing to the Caribbean,

In this I am exploring seven reasons it’s happening more these days, what you should watch out for, and how to protect yourself.

Let’s start with the biggest cause.

Bumped By Redeployments

Most people are being bumped off cruises because cruise lines are redeploying ships to regions with more demand, and by changing or dropping plans to home base a ship out of certain ports.

Of course, over the last few years many were bumped off cruises due to the Israel / Middle East conflict making it too dangerous for cruise ships to use the Suez Canal. Ships used it to go to-and-from their Asia and Australia seasons and for World Voyages. Lines had to cancel, reroute and redeploy ships to get around this.

I saw that firsthand on my Silversea Silver Spirit in South Africa, where the ship was due to sail after my trip to the Seychelles through the Suez Canal onto Dubai. They had to redeploy the ship back to Europe via West Africa and bumped everybody booked on that planned sailing.

Now while most lines have factored in not using Suez Canal, the main reason I’m seeing for redeployments is soaring demand for Caribbean cruises, especially by new-to-cruise passengers looking for short 3- to 5-day trips.

Many cruise lines are cancelling and bumping people booked on cruises in regions like Asia, Australia, South America, and Europe to move the ships to the Caribbean.

For example, I saw that Norwegian Cruise Line cancelled and bumped people off 35 cruises on four of their most popular ships (Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Encore, and Norwegian Joy) for the last quarter of this year to redeploy them on new Caribbean-based routes.

That P&O Cruises cancellation I mentioned at the start was also due to them redeploying Ventura, to sail three new itineraries in Europe out of the UK where demand for them was greater.

I also saw Cunard launch their 2027 sailing program but abruptly pull it. I can see now they have relaunched it, that they have moved Queen Elizabeth’s home base from Miami and Seattle sailing the Caribbean and Alaska to in 2027 be home based in Europe to do fly Mediterranean cruises.

The second reason I’m seeing people bumped off cruises due to redeployment changes is when lines change cruise ship home port plans.

For example, I saw Princess pulling Majestic Princess home base out of Galveston to run Caribbean cruises, cancelling and bumping people off 15 cruises towards the end of this year and moving the ship to a busier home port.

But there is reason I had not seen before emerging this year where lines are choosing to bump people off their cruises

Bumped By Changing Requirements

This is when a cruise line changes who can go on their cruises.

I mentioned Carnival Conquest at the start, and in this case, Carnival changed five of its Caribbean sailings out of Miami, with just eight-weeks’ notice, into adult only casino-focused sailings.

It is not clear of this is a test to see introduce some adult-only sailings, but they bumped anyone on a booking that had someone under 21 on it off those sailings

As I mentioned, later I will discuss what the lines will offer, what to do, and how to be prepared if you are ever bumped off a cruise. But, before that more on why cruise lines are bumping more people than ever off cruises they have booked.

Bumped By Charters

This next one is, unfortunately, becoming increasingly common, and can happen at fairly short notice. This is when the ship has been charted.

Cruise lines find charters very appealing as it means guaranteed revenue and removes the hassle and costs of promoting a sailing, such as paying commission to travel agents.

I am seeing four main charters happening.

First to a company to run a corporate event, perhaps a sales event or conference.

Next to an interest group for a hosted themed cruise, like Atlantis who run LGBT cruises or to a company that hosts a Star Trek themed cruise and so on.

Third, for big events like for major sports events to host attendees or participants, or like when Virgin Voyages was chartered to film the TV show “The Bachelorette”.

And fourth when a line charters a ship to another line, like Quark Expeditions charting Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Voyager ship for four Antarctic seasons.

If you Google “cruises cancelled due to charter,” you will see a long list of cruise ships affected across all cruise lines from resort lines, like Carnival or Caribbean, through to ultra-luxury lines like Seabourn I mentioned at the start.

Unfortunately, charters can happen at relatively short notice, even less than four months before they happen.

While charters can be at short notice, we do tend to have more notice for the next one – but it too is a growing reason I am seeing people bumped off cruises.

Bumped By Sale Of Ship

This is when the ship is sold to a different cruise line. There is usually more notice because lines don’t tend to sell and transfer ships at short notice.

I have spoken about this topic before in another video. But here briefly are some examples I have seen right now leading to people being bumped off future cruises.

Regent Seven Seas Navigator and Oceania Insignia are both leaving their fleets to be converted into residential ships as part of a new company called Crescent Seas.

Regatta is leaving Oceania to go on a year-long world cruise under a charter to the Australian-based Flight Centre Group with the name “My Cruises Explorations by Norwegian”.

Celebrity Xpedition or Celebrity Xploration ships in the Galapagos have been sold. Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Sun are moving across to the Indian Cordelia line. Seabourn has sold Sojourn to the Japanese Mitsui Ocean Cruises, and Costa Fortuna is leaving to become part of Margaritaville At Sea.

You can’t sail on P&O Cruises Australia as they’ve been rebranded into Carnival ships.

For many, including me, ship sales are upsetting because we often chose a ship because it’s a favourite. For example, I really love Regent Navigator, and I’m booked on a West Africa cruise but luckily, I haven’t been bumped off, as it is before it leaves the fleet.

Bumped Due To Dry Dock

The next reason I see people being bumped off cruise ship is because of frequent changes to the date ships are heading into dry dock.

All cruise ships must go to dry dock every few years under Maritime law to be able to check it over including all under water areas.

I have noticed timings seem to be being chopped and changed frequently, due to limits on availability within the shipyards or availability of materials, or as it makes more sense in terms of timing for the cruise line.

As I was making this, I saw some examples. In fact, the very day I am recording this it was announced that Carnival Conquest’s dry dock was rescheduled, and they cancelled and bumped people off five scheduled cruises.

The other problem I see with ships going into dry dock is they can be delayed coming out leading to more cancellations and people being bumped off them. For example, recently there was a lot of press about P&O Cruises having to cancel with a few days’ notice cruises on P&O Aurora due to dry dock delays.

Bumped Due To Late Launch

I have also seen with great frequency people being bumped off cruises when new ships are running over-schedule in the shipyard.

The good news is fewer of these are happening as shipyards catch up after the disruption from the Pandemic Shutdowns.

But in recent years, many people were being bumped off maiden voyages including Sun Princess, Queen Anne, P&O Arvia, and Explora II.

I always recommend avoid booking maiden voyages because so many people find they get bumped off them when ships are late out of shipyards.

Bumped Due To Overbooking

Another reason I’m seeing people being bumped off cruises is due to the ship being overbooked.

I’m seeing more people posting about being contacted to be told that their particular cruise is overbooked and being offered incentives to change to a different cruise. I’ve seen that recently with Azamara, Seabourn, and Princess Cruises.

How does this happen?

Cruise lines will overbook on the basis that history tells them a percentage people will cancel or be no shows.

So, they will keep taking “guarantee fare” bookings, where they guarantee you at least the grade booked. However, if fewer people cancel than expected then the ship is over-sold, and they need to find ways of bumping people off the cruise ship.

This is important as these days, demand for cruising is high, particularly in some key areas like the Caribbean and Alaska.

Ships are sailing on average at 110%. This is possible as ship capacity is measured based on the number of fixed berths, so people sharing cabins using sofa beds means ships can sail “over capacity”.

If you book a fare that allows you to choose a specific cabin, you are not going to be bumped but could with a “guaranteed fare”.

So, if you have, I strongly recommend the minute that you are able to check in, check in for your cruise because you want to be an allocated a cabin earlier in the system. Do not wait to check in until right up close to the cruise.

These days cruise lines are proactive at contacting people in the run up to the cruise to avoid some well-reported issues like about 14 months ago when people only found they were bumped off their cruise on arriving at the port, like Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas did for an Australian sailing out of Brisbane.

What happened and were they offered?

Basically, the same as everyone affected by any of the reasons for being bumped. The cruise line will offer the chance to switch to a similar sailing if they have one, to get a full refund, or to take it as a Future Cruise Credit with some added incentive usually around 10% but can be up to 25%.

The problem is if you planned related items like hotels and flights not through the cruise line, they often do not offer any help, so having travel insurance when you book any cruise is key.

 

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