Grand Princess’s lost ports make the case for refunds, not future credits

Grand Princess has now lost every original destination on its 10-night cruise from Los Angeles. Hurricane Polo forced the first rewrite. Hurricane Rachel then took out Cabo San Lucas, the only original port that had survived.

With three ports removed before departure, I’d have preferred the option to cancel for a cash refund of the base fare. Princess offered passengers a chance to cancel before departure and receive a future cruise credit equal to 100 percent of the base fare paid. That gave them a way out of the sailing, but kept the value of their fare tied to another Princess cruise.

Guests who chose to sail were offered a $100 onboard credit. Useful spending money, certainly, but it cannot do much for someone whose reason for booking was the itinerary.

Grand Princess, which carries approximately 2,600 passengers at lower-berth occupancy, departed Los Angeles on September 25, 2026, for what was originally planned as a Baja Peninsula and Sea of Cortez voyage. In its pre-departure notice, Princess said the changes would “keep us well out of the path of the storm,” citing passenger and crew safety and onboard comfort.

Avoiding the hurricanes was the necessary decision. How much choice passengers should get when the replacement cruise bears so little resemblance to the original is a separate issue.

Cabo survived the first revision, then disappeared too

Princess first responded to Polo by dropping La Paz on September 29, Guaymas on September 30 and Puerto Vallarta on October 2. It added San Diego and Mazatlan, with Grand Princess arriving in San Diego on September 26 for an overnight stay.

The first revised schedule moved Cabo San Lucas from September 27 to October 2. Its planned two-day visit became a single-day call with a late-night departure. Princess then cancelled that stop as well because of Rachel.

That sequence matters. This was not one missed call with the rest of the holiday intact. The first revision substantially changed the trip, and the second removed its last connection to the original destination list. An overnight in San Diego provides time ashore, but it does not replace a Sea of Cortez itinerary.

Polo and Rachel hit other lines too

Other lines have also been rewriting their Mexican itineraries. Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas changed its weeklong sailing from Los Angeles because of Polo, dropping Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, moving Mazatlan to another day and adding Puerto Vallarta.

Carnival Panorama’s September 26 departure from Long Beach went through successive revisions. Polo first forced the cancellation of Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, with Ensenada added on September 28.

Carnival then dropped La Paz and Cabo San Lucas because of Rachel. That left Panorama with a second Ensenada visit on October 1 and no calls farther south. Its revised schedule has sea days on October 2 and 3 before the planned return to Long Beach on October 4. Carnival offered a $300 onboard credit per stateroom and added daily onboard activities and events.

Those sailings show the limits of onboard compensation. When every original destination disappears, passengers have a strong case for getting their fare back without having to book another cruise to use it.

See current Grand Princess fares and itineraries on Cruise Lookup.