More sailings through all of February have had their visits to San Juan, Puerto Rico replaced with other plans.
Royal Caribbean canceled another month of visits to Puerto Rico after pier repairs couldn't be completed in January.
Oasis Class ships haven't called at San Juan since November 2024 because of the ongoing problem with Pier 3-West. Instead, the massive vessels have been routed to other ports.
Note that the issue hasn't impacted all cruise lines because San Juan has more than one pier for cruise ships. Oasis Class ships are some of the largest in the world, measuring well over 220,000 gross registered tons (GRT). In comparison, Carnival Venezia, which successfully docked in Puerto Rico on Thursday, January 23, comes in at just 135,225 GRT.
Last week, local media outlet El Vocero reported that the Coast Guard was working on repair efforts, indicating the pier could be fixed and ready to safely welcome guests later in January. The news relieved many who were anxiously awaiting to see whether San Juan would remain on their itineraries.
However, guests aboard the February 23 cruise on Symphony of the Seas received an email stating they'll skip their scheduled visit to San Juan.
"Due to ongoing construction at the pier in San Juan, the port authority has advised us that the port will not be ready in time for our visit," the notice reads.
"You will now get to explore the beautiful Labdadee, Haiti. Although we need to skip our visit to Phillipsburg, St. Maarten, you will get the enjoy the charming Falmouth, Jamaica...Thank you for your understanding. We're excited to share these wonderful destinations with you."
Other impacted voyages include the February 9 and February 16 sailings.
The February 2 cruise remains unchanged because San Juan isn't on the Eastern Caribbean itinerary. The 7-night cruise is scheduled to visit Perfect Day at CocoCay, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.
Labadee is one of Royal Caribbean's private destinations
Though not a private island like Perfect Day at CocoCay, the remote area is only available to Royal Caribbean guests. The private beach area is walled off on a peninsula in northern Haiti. It is located 130 miles north of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Visits were suspended last year due to civil unrest. However, Royal Caribbean resumed sailings to Labadee in October 2024 after a 7-month hiatus and was met with criticism.
"The high, hill positions would make it easy to fire down on people at Labadee; it would be difficult to defend for Royal’s security forces," commented David on a Royal Caribbean Blog post.
"As far as the problems being only in Port au Prince, that’s what the media is reporting. No one really knows if it is safe in Cap-Haitian. And Cap-Haitien is not that far [from] Labadee, so that = a no-go for me."
Amy added, "There's no way that Royal Caribbean can repel an attack and protect passengers visiting the island or the cruise ship should it happen. People can be kidnapped, [raped, tortured], taken hostage, and killed."
"It's extremely irresponsible for any cruise line to continue to visit Labadee, Haiti falsely thinking for some reason, that Labadee is completely insulated from the extreme violence in the country, just on the other side of the fence!"
Disappointed guests
It's important to be open to change on a cruise vacation. Weather, medical emergencies, and other unforeseen circumstances can disrupt itineraries. That, however, doesn't mean you can't be disappointed.
"These are major downgrades of ports…both Falmouth and Nassau suck and I tried to avoid them when initially booking the cruise," wrote wormy1996 on Reddit.
"[I'm] more upset about St. Maarten, not sure why they are skipping it. I like Labadee but Nassau and Falmouth are both terrible options."
AnswerGuy301 added, "'Charming' Falmouth, Jamaica?! Ha! It’s just a mall in the middle of nowhere."
"This happened [to] us on Symphony over New Year’s. Labadee is fine, but yes, the others are major downgrades. Unfortunate, but we still had a great time," said Educational_Sky_1136.