Cruise line passengers get angry when their itinerary changes.
When that happens, they demand on-board credit. If it happens before the cruise leaves, they want refunds, perhaps with some bonus credit.
People stomp their feet over situations that are almost always beyond their cruise line's control.
Itineraries generally change for only a few reasons. The biggest one generally is the weather. Sometimes cruise ships sail away from bad weather, while in other cases storms make docking in certain ports impossible.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line has a port problem; ships may skip Mexico
No cruise line will put its ships, passengers and crew in jeopardy in order not to disappoint cruisers by missing a port. Safety is always the first concern, even if passengers get mad.
Sometimes, a cruise line has to change its itinerary because of damage to the ship. In such a case the ship must either divert to a place where repairs can be made and/or it might have to miss a port because it can't reach the speeds needed to go where it was scheduled to go.
All such situations are unfortunate, but switching Cozumel for Roatan or Labadee for San Juan probably did not affect anyone's cruise all that much (no matter how loudly they complain).
But one cruise line's massive change to a recent cruise took away a bucket-list destination — the reason most passengers were sailing on the ship in the first place — and some of them decided to protest in an extreme way.
Doug Parker has the full story and more on Cruise News Today.
Luxury cruise line angers passengers
Transcript:
This is Cruise News Today with Doug Parker. Good morning. Here's your cruise news for Tuesday, December 3.
Cruise ship passengers have staged a hunger strike after engine failure cut short their 21-day sailing.
Now, the Swan Hellenic cruise ship, which is a British line, departed from Cape Town on November 13 and was set to visit several Antarctic locations but is now slowly heading to Argentina for repairs.
Angry passengers who paid up to $10,500 per person for the cruise, well, they're demanding better compensation or they aren't eating.
Swan Hellenic has offered a 50% refund or a 65% future cruise credit.
Passengers will remain in Argentina until later today and then fly home. Swan Hellenic's CEO has called the hunger strike counterproductive.
Royal Caribbean heads down under; Princess goes to Port Canaveral
[The] summer cruise season is in full swing down under as Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas began its third consecutive season in Brisbane, Australia.
The ship will sail 22 voyages from Brisbane, ranging from short 2-night cruises to 14-night trips. Last season the port welcomed 125 cruise ships and over 650,000 passengers.
ALSO READ: Top travel agents share how to get the best price on your cruise
And the first love boat to call Port Canaveral home, the Caribbean Princess, is officially sailing.
Now on its second cruise from central Florida, the ship will sail 6- to 14-night cruises to Caribbean destinations throughout the spring and then reposition to Alaska next spring. After sailing in Alaska next summer, it will return to Florida. Welcome.
I'm Doug Parker with Cruise News Today.
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