When Paul and Mary McGuirk booked their six-night cruise from Sydney to Tasmania, they were expecting to spend more than one day in the island state.
But two months after making their booking, the couple was told that due to a “port conflict” they would be spending just 26 hours on the ground in Hobart in March.
The McGuirks, who are based in Port Macquarie, booked the cruise in November and will be joined by relatives visiting from the UK. “We had the full intention of showing them a bit of Hobart,” Paul said.
“Some people love being on board but for those of us who wanted to spend a bit of time in Hobart it [the itinerary change] has been a crushing blow.”
The Celebrity Edge was originally advertised as sailing on 7 March to Hobart and Port Arthur before returning to Sydney. An itinerary change in 2022 cut Port Arthur from the route and added Eden in New South Wales before two full days and a night in Hobart.
But the 2,900-passenger vessel will now leave NSW and spend just one night and day in Tasmania before heading back to Sydney, due to changes that Celebrity Cruises – which is owned by the Royal Caribbean Group – say are out of its control.
Passengers received an email in early January announcing the schedule had changed due to a port conflict in Hobart. The stay was cut to just 26 hours – although after Celebrity Cruises was contacted by Guardian Australia it was extended to 32 hours.
The McGuirks paid a $400 booking fee in November and the $2,580 balance in late December.
“If I’d booked when Port Arthur was [still] on the schedule I’d be even more annoyed,” Paul McGuirk said, adding he would take a refund “in an instant” if it was offered.
Deviations “in any way” from the advertised itinerary are covered in Celebrity Cruises’ booking terms and conditions. The McGuirks say they “don’t have any expectation of compensation”.
“You could sign up for a cruise to Tasmania and end up in Queensland – you have no power whatsoever,” Paul McGuirk said. “Once [the operator has] got your money you’ve got to go with the flow.”
Changes to cruise itineraries are not uncommon. One Facebook user who lives in a coal mining town in Australia went on a cruise to the “tropics” only to “wake in the morning to open the cabin blinds to be staring at two large piles of coal and a loading terminal”.
In November, a P&O Pacific Adventure cruise departed Sydney for New Zealand but was turned away because it did not meet the country’s strict biohazard entry requirements. Passengers dubbed it a “cruise to nowhere” and were compensated.
The TasPorts chief executive officer, Anthony Donald, said the McGuirks’ cruise had been impacted by a change to “berthing parameters” at the Port of Hobart which resulted in a double booking. TasPorts’ shipping schedule now shows the Royal Princess arriving seven hours after the Celebrity Edge departs.
The port change was made in September – more than three months before the cruise operator alerted customers to the latest itinerary variation.
A Celebrity Cruises spokesperson told the Guardian the change was out of its control and due to “extenuating circumstances”.
“Celebrity Cruises and TasPorts work closely together. After being advised by TasPorts of port congestion we altered our arrival plans and have shared this update with our booked guests,” the spokesperson said.
Dr David Beirman, an adjunct fellow in tourism at the University of Technology of Sydney, said port double bookings were rare but when they occurred larger companies tended to relegate smaller operators.
Gerard Brody, the chair of the Consumers Federation of Australia, said cruise passengers’ rights were linked to the terms and conditions of their tickets.
“Commonly, terms and conditions will not provide for great consumer rights, as they are written by the cruise provider [and] so will be in their interests,” he said.
But passengers are also covered by Australian consumer law, and if an itinerary change “is one-sided and not reasonably necessary to protect the cruise line’s legitimate interests then it may be unfair”.
NSW Fair Trading said that consumer guarantee provisions were unlikely to apply to cancellations or itinerary changes that were a direct result of government restrictions which “may impact the remedies available to consumers”.
Anthony Cordato, a travel lawyer, said any attempt by the McGuirks and fellow passengers to secure compensation would “not be easy”.
Cordato said case law suggested the obligation of cruise operators was to provide a “safe, relaxing and pleasurable cruise holiday substantially in accordance with the advertised and booked itinerary”.
In a case brought against Scenic Tours in 2020, traveller David Moore claimed he was owed a refund and damages after his luxury European river cruise became, in part, a coach tour because of heavy flooding. Moore argued that Scenic had failed to comply with consumer guarantees under Australian consumer law and sought damages for disappointment and distress arising from that failure.
The legal battle went all the way to the high court which ruled in Moore’s favour, finding he was entitled to compensation on the basis that the cruise experience did not match the service that was originally advertised.
But not all passengers mind extra days at sea, said Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles of the University of South Australia’s business unit.
“For many passengers, the cruise is the experience and shore visits are just an added bonus,” she said.
Itineraries could change as a result of bad weather or industrial actions at a port, Higgins-Desbiolles said. Climate change could make cruising less predictable as could growing community opposition in some countries.
Higgins-Desbiolles suggested customers always book travel insurance with health cover.
According to consumer group Choice, some travel insurance plans cover missed ports. The group warns that some cruise operators may not allow customers to board without travel insurance and that, even if a cruise will not be leaving Australian waters, passengers may still need travel insurance as shipboard medical expenses are not always covered by Medicare.
