Puerto Rico’s San Juan Cruise Port is still not ready to accommodate Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class cruise ships – leaving Symphony of the Seas and thousands of her passengers out of luck.
It was previously announced that the 5,518-guest vessel’s upcoming voyage – a 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise embarking from Miami, Florida, on December 22, 2024 – would be operating with a revised itinerary to avoid San Juan.
This marked the third time the mega-ship was re-routed due to ongoing technical issues with the pier – and both locals and cruisers were already quite frustrated.
But now, the cruise line has announced that the port will also need to be skipped during the sailing embarking from Miami on December 29, 2024 – which is another 7-night Eastern Caribbean voyage.
“We wanted to inform you about some changes to your upcoming cruise. 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 cruise line wrote to booked guests.
The skipped port call has created a domino-effect, where most of the itinerary has had to be altered.
In addition to San Juan, the 228,081-gross ton ship was supposed to call on CocoCay, Bahamas (the cruise line’s private island destination), and Philipsburg, St. Maarten.
While the Perfect Day at CocoCay will still happen as scheduled, Philipsburg has been removed from the itinerary due to the change.
Instead, the Royal Caribbean ship will now call on Falmouth, Jamaica, their private destination at Labadee, Haiti, and Nassau, Bahamas – which adds one extra port to the itinerary than what was originally scheduled.
Some guests booked on the January 12, 2025, sailing – which also featured a call to San Juan – have spoken up on social media to say their itinerary was revised to remove the port as well.
San Juan Pier Remains Closed Indefinitely
The San Juan Cruise Port is home to three piers – but only Pier 3 is able to accommodate Royal Caribbean’s massive Oasis-class ships.
But due to an unspecified incident with an MSC cruise ship, which damaged an important mooring dolphin, Pier 3 has had to remain closed.
As of the most recent update from the port at the end of November, repairs were underway – but the pier could not resume cruise operations until the work was completed and inspected by the US Coast Guard.
No date – or estimated date – has been given as far as when Pier 3 can start servicing Oasis-class vessels again.
Read Also: San Juan Cruise Port: Amenities and What’s Nearby
However, the closure has already gone on for more than a month – with Symphony of the Seas’ first skipped port call taking place in mid-November.
Understandably, cruisers and residents of Puerto Rico have become frustrated – with many now accusing the cruise line itself of poor customer service and shady business practices.
“The dock has been out of commission for a while. RCCL is hurting their brand by not being up front with the situation,” one person wrote on Reddit after the third cancellation.
“Called Royal, they politely told me to kick rocks, wouldn’t even provide a OBC, partial refund, or any sort of compensation. When I called, the representatives didn’t even know about the change until I told them. Royal did a major f— up here,” a soon-to-be guest vented.
But while cruisers are calling for more transparency from Royal Caribbean in this situation – or for the cruise line to adjust all San Juan-bound voyages sooner – it’s also unclear how much the Miami-based cruise line knows about the progress on the pier.
Royal Caribbean has been staying in contact with the San Juan Port Authority – and may have access to information about progress and timing that isn’t known publicly, which is likely informing their decisions (and when they make those decisions).
