“Entitlement of the Seas” – Royal Caribbean cruisers mocked for protesting a missed port

• Cruisers aboard Ovation of the Seas in Alaska took to guest services with signs and chants to protest that the ship would be missing the Hubbard Glacier.
• The ship had to re-route due to delays in construction at the port of Seward.
• Other cruisers have mocked the protests, viewing it as an overreaction to a normal part of cruising.

The Alaskan cruise season has run into another obstacle, with Royal Caribbean cruisers extremely upset at last-minute itinerary changes to their Alaskan sailings.

The cruise was set to visit the famous Hubbard Glacier, but on just the second-to-last day of the cruise, it was announced that the ship would no longer visit the iconic glacier.

Eddie Dowd, a passenger on the ship said: “The captain announced on the second to last day that the glacier had to be cancelled on the itinerary. Originally, the ship was supposed to end in Seward, Alaska, but on the night before the ship left Anchorage, it was switched to Whittier, Alaska due to port repairs.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement: “Due to schedule adjustments to ensure our timely arrival into Whittier, we’ll be adjusting our itinerary and will continue with a full day at sea instead of cruising Hubbard Glacier,” the company explained.

“The ship will arrive to the port of Whittier on Friday at 1:00AM to begin luggage operations; and debarkation will begin at 6:00AM for all guests.”

The port of Seward, which has been under construction, was set to be open by May 14, but faced some delays and began welcoming passengers on May 22. Ovation of the Seas was one of many ships to redirect to Whittier instead.

A sea of guests stormed guest services and protested the change, some even holding signs. There are reports that guests were chanting ‘we want Hubbard’.

Incidents like these are difficult, with factors like port repairs, ship traffic, weather conditions and more often changing at the last minute in a way that is unavoidable for cruise lines. While passengers expressed being upset as they believed Royal Caribbean knew about the changes before, this is not confirmed.

The reality is that cruising is an activity that will always be dependent on various factors, and despite it being disappointing, these changes do happen. Depending on the severity of the changes, it’s up to the cruise line to decide if compensation is necessary, and if so, how much.

In this instance, the compensation came in the form of onboard credit, ranging from $150 to $400 depending on cabin category.

What are people saying?

Despite the unfortunate circumstances, even the most diehard Royal Caribbean fans seemed to perceive the ‘protests’ as an overreaction.

One anonymous Facebook user wrote: “Is this the Entitlement of the Seas group?”

Another cruiser wrote: “Imagine protesting on vacation. My guess would be it’s a bunch of adult babies that have never been told no on their first cruise.”

Most cruisers seemed to take a similar line: “Adults need to learn how to adult. Things can change at any minute on a cruise. We have been to Alaska multiple times, and have had changes to the trip both times, port times change, and docking times change. Trying to cause an uproar because you didn’t get your way is insane.”

Other cruisers said similar things, calling the cruisers a “bunch of crybabies” and “entitled adults”.

Another cruiser gave a measured take on the situation: “Have to believe that the captain would love nothing more than to provide them a visit to the Hubbard Glacier. Unfortunately, due to port circumstances beyond RCL control, the captain isn’t about to risk damaging a $1.1 billion ship and a tenured career for few disgruntled protesters at the Customer Service desk.”