When Paul and Mary McGuirk booked their six-day cruise from Sydney to Tasmania, they expected to spend more than one day in the island state.
But two months after their booking, the couple were told they would only spend 26 hours on the ground in Hobart in March due to a ‘port dispute’.
The McGuirks, based in Port Macquarie, have booked the cruise in November and will be joined by relatives from Britain. “Our intention was to show them some of Hobart,” Paul said.
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“Some people love being on board, but for those of us who wanted to spend some time in Hobart [the itinerary change] has been a crushing blow.”
The Celebrity Edge was originally advertised to sail to Hobart and Port Arthur on March 7 before returning to Sydney. A route change in 2022 removed 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 ship will now leave NSW and spend just one day and night in Tasmania before returning to Sydney, due to changes that Celebrity Cruises – owned by the Royal Caribbean Group – says are beyond its control.
Passengers received an email in early January announcing the schedule had been changed due to a port dispute in Hobart. The stay was reduced to just 26 hours, but 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 balance of $2,580 at the end of December.
‘If I had booked when Port Arthur was [still] if I followed the schedule I would be even more annoyed,” Paul McGuirk said, adding that he would receive a refund “in a heartbeat” if it was offered.
Deviations “in any way” from the advertised itinerary are covered by Celebrity Cruises booking conditions. The McGuirks say they have “no expectation of compensation whatsoever.”
“You could sign up for a cruise to Tasmania and end up in Queensland – you have no power at all,” said Paul McGuirk. “Once [the operator has] When you have your money, you have to go with the flow.”
Changes in cruise itineraries are not uncommon. A Facebook user living in a coal mining town in Australia went on a cruise to the “tropics only to wake up in the morning and open the cabin blinds and stare at two large piles of coal and a loading terminal.”
In November, a P&O Pacific Adventure cruise left Sydney for New Zealand but was turned away because it did not meet the country’s strict biohazard entry requirements. Passengers called it a “cruise to nowhere” and were compensated.
TasPorts CEO Anthony Donald said the McGuirks’ cruise was affected by a change in “dock parameters” at Hobart Port, which resulted in a double booking. TasPorts’ shipping schedule now shows the Royal Princess arriving seven hours after Celebrity Edge’s departure.
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The port change took place in September – more than three months before the cruise operator notified customers of the latest route change.
A spokesperson for Celebrity Cruises told the Guardian that the change was beyond its control and was due to “extenuating circumstances”.
“Celebrity Cruises and TasPorts work closely together. After being informed of port congestion by TasPorts, we have changed our arrival plans and shared this update with our booked guests,” the spokesperson said.
Dr. David Beirman, an adjunct fellow in tourism at Sydney University of Technology, said double bookings at ports were rare but larger companies tended to demote smaller operators when they occurred.
Gerard Brody, president of the Consumer Federation of Australia, said cruise passengers’ rights were linked to the terms and conditions of their tickets.
“Typically, terms and conditions will not provide for major consumer rights because they are written by the cruise provider [and] That will be in their interest,” he said.
But passengers are also covered by Australian consumer law, and if an itinerary change is “unilateral and not reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the cruise line, it may be unfair”.
NSW Fair Trading said it is unlikely that consumer guarantee provisions will apply to cancellations or travel changes that are a direct result of government restrictions that “may impact the remedies available to consumers”.
Anthony Cordato, a travel attorney, said any attempt by the McGuirks and fellow passengers to secure compensation “would not be easy.”
Cordato said case law suggested that the obligation of cruise operators was to provide a “safe, relaxing and enjoyable cruise holiday substantially in accordance with the advertised and booked itinerary”.
In a case filed against Scenic Tours in 2020, traveler David Moore claimed he was owed a refund and damages after his luxury European river cruise became partially a bus trip due to heavy flooding. Moore argued that Scenic had failed to comply with consumer guarantees under Australian Consumer Law and sought damages for the disappointment and distress resulting from that failure.
The legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Moore’s favor, ruling that he was entitled to compensation on the grounds that the cruise experience did not match the service originally advertised.
But not all passengers mind extra days at sea, says Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles from 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 says.
Itineraries can change due to bad weather or industrial action at a port, Higgins-Desbiolles said. Climate change could make cruising less predictable, as could growing community resistance in some countries.
Higgins-Desbiolles suggested that customers always book travel insurance with health cover.
According to consumer group Choice, some travel insurance policies cover missed ports. The group warns that some cruise lines may not allow customers to board without travel insurance and that even if a cruise does not leave Australian waters, passengers may still need travel insurance as onboard medical costs are not always covered by Medicare.