Itinerary Change for World’s Largest Cruise Ship for Unusual Reason

Guests booked aboard Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas‘ January 7, 2024 departure are being notified of an itinerary change for an unusual reason. Instead of weather concerns, port conditions, propulsion issues, or other common reasons for a schedule change, the ship is being rerouted to a different port for refueling.

With this schedule adjustment, one port of call is changed completely and others are reordered for a more efficient route.

Wonder of the Seas Itinerary Change

The Oasis-class Wonder of the Seas is scheduled for a 7-night Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day cruise departing Port Canaveral, Florida on January 7, 2024. The cruise length and overall sailing region is unchanged, but the ship will no longer be visiting St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands and will instead visit San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“To assist in the refueling process, we’ll now visit San Juan, Puerto Rico instead of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas,” the email to guests explained. “Additionally, we’ve swapped the days we’ll visit Philipsburg, St. Maarten, and Perfect Day at CocoCay. This means we’ll still enjy these beautiful destinations – just in a different order!”

The original itinerary called for the first day of the cruise to be spent at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island destination in the Bahamas, followed by a day at sea before arriving in St. Thomas on January 10. St. Maarten followed on January 11, then two full days at sea before returning to Port Canaveral on January 14.

Now, the ship will first enjoy two days at sea and St. Maarten will be the first port of call on January 10, followed by San Juan on January 11. After another day at sea, the ship will spend January 13 at CocoCay before arriving back at Port Canaveral as originally scheduled on Sunday, January 14.

Wonder of the Seas will remain the largest cruise ship in the world until her fleet mate, Icon of the Seas, debuts in late January 2024. The 236,857-gross-ton Wonder of the Seas can welcome 5,734 guests at double occupancy, or up to 6,988 travelers when fully booked.

Shore Excursion Adjustments

All pre-paid shore tours booked through Royal Caribbean for the now-cancelled visit to St. Thomas are being automatically refunded to guests’ original form of payment. If travelers have booked independent tours, they should contact their tour operator or travel agent for cancellation options or rescheduling for the shifted visit days at other ports.

Tours for both CocoCay and St. Maarten are being appropriately rescheduled for the correct day and time for the adjusted itinerary.

As a matter of note, in addition to the day changes, the port time for CocoCay has been shifted by one hour and Wonder of the Seas will now be in port from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. instead of from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. as originally scheduled.

Guests should also note that according to the original schedule, Wonder of the Seas was to have been the only ship visiting CocoCay on January 8, but will now be joined by Freedom of the Seas on January 13. It is possible that Freedom of the Seas‘ schedule may be shifted in the weeks to come in order to provide a more exclusive experience for all visitors.

The time in St. Maarten has not been changed and remains from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., albeit on Wednesday rather than Thursday.

Wonder of the Seas is currently homeported year-round from Port Canaveral, offering alternating Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean 7-night sailings, all of which call on CocoCay.

While the adjusted itinerary is an Eastern Caribbean cruise, the Western Caribbean voyages call on Cozumel, Roatan, and Costa Maya along with CocoCay.