Grandeur of the Seas Drops Bonaire for Santa Marta Colombia in 2027

Guests booked on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas for Saturday, January 23, 2027, just lost Bonaire from their Southern Caribbean loop. The line is sending the ship to Santa Marta, Colombia, instead and sliding the sea day one day later.

If you chose that sailing for the classic ABC island set of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, you now need a new Day 3 plan, a new shore tour cart, and a clear refund check for any Bonaire excursions already paid through Royal Caribbean.

What Royal Caribbean told booked guests

According to Cruise Hive reporting on July 28, 2026, booked guests on the January 23, 2027 seven-night roundtrip from Colon received a line notice about the itinerary change.

The guest email, as quoted by Cruise Hive, says Day 3 will now visit Santa Marta, Colombia, instead of a sea day, with an 8:00 a.m. arrival and 5:00 p.m. departure. The sea day then moves to the following day in place of the previously scheduled visit to Kralendijk, Bonaire.

Colon embarkation and debarkation remain unchanged, and Cartagena on Sunday, January 24, also stays. Curacao on January 27 and Aruba on January 28 remain on the plan, with the ship still returning to Colon on January 30.

Royal Caribbean said prepaid shore tours booked through the cruise line for Bonaire will be automatically cancelled and refunded to the original form of payment. Independent operators are not covered by that automatic path.

Why the ABC loop still matters after one letter drops

Many Southern Caribbean shoppers book Grandeur of the Seas for the compact ABC island triangle. Losing Bonaire breaks that marketing set even when Curacao and Aruba still sail.

Santa Marta is a less common mainstream cruise call than Cartagena on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. For some guests that is a bonus second Colombia day; for others, it is a hard miss if dive shops or Bonaire marine park time were the whole point of the week.

Cruise Hive notes that Grandeur of the Seas was scheduled as the only vessel in Bonaire on the former call day, so crowding is not the obvious cause. Royal Caribbean’s notice used only general language about finalizing scheduling, port arrangements, and operational details.

No elevated U.S. travel advisory for Bonaire was cited as the trigger, so guests should not invent a crisis narrative where the line only published an itinerary refinement.

How the revised week now sequences

The revised flow for the January 23 sailing, based on the guest notice, is Colon embarkation, Cartagena on Day 2, Santa Marta on Day 3, a sea day on Day 4, then Curacao and Aruba before the return to Colon.

That stacks two Colombia port days before the Dutch Caribbean pair. Guests who planned a heavy Cartagena tour day should decide whether Santa Marta is a recovery day, a second city day, or a light beach day.

Deep Arrival already covered the ship’s broader Latin America deployment in Grandeur of the Seas Latin America season coverage. That earlier story explains why Colon and Cartagena appear so often on this ship’s calendar; this notice is a single sailing change inside that deployment.

Itinerary pages elsewhere can lag guest emails. Cruise Critic’s Grandeur of the Seas itinerary board remains useful for scanning other sailings, but the January 23 guest notice is the controlling document for this booking until Royal Caribbean’s own planner and app match it.

What to do with tours, money, and expectations

If you bought Bonaire excursions through Royal Caribbean, wait for the automatic cancellation and then confirm the refund on your card or cruise folio. Screenshot the original booking and the cancellation email before you open a guest services case.

If you booked a private Bonaire operator, contact that operator yourself. Line-issued refunds do not cancel third-party contracts, and many independent tours hold deposit rules that favor early notice.

For Santa Marta, start with low-commitment shore plans until the app shows official Royal Caribbean tours for that call. A first-time Colombia port day is a poor moment for an all-day prepaid commitment if transport and return windows are still thin in the catalog.

Keep hotel nights in Colon, flight home buffers, and beverage package timing the same. This is a mid-cruise port swap, not an embarkation change.

Deep Arrival’s Royal Caribbean drink package guide still applies to shipboard spend even when the shore map changes. If you are rethinking the whole Southern Caribbean island mix after losing Bonaire, the best islands in the Caribbean guide can help you decide whether Aruba and Curacao alone still justify the week.

For fleet context after other Royal Caribbean port disruptions, compare this notice with Legend of the Seas’ same-day Naples cancellation. Different ships and oceans, same guest job: rebuild the day without waiting for social media rumor.

What remains uncertain for Santa Marta day

Royal Caribbean has not published a public press release listing every new shore excursion for Santa Marta on this sailing. Until the app and Cruise Planner show the final catalog, treat third-party tour sites as provisional.

Guests should also recheck tender versus dock language if it appears later. Cruise Hive’s report does not say Santa Marta requires a tender, but port conditions can still change operational detail closer to sail date.

Finally, confirm whether any future notice softens or reverses the Bonaire drop, because itinerary refinements sometimes get a second edit when port agreements change again. Until then, plan as if Santa Marta is real and Bonaire is gone for this cabin.

The useful move is mechanical, not emotional. Update the day-by-day plan, clear Bonaire money, and only then decide whether Santa Marta is a happy surprise or a reason to change ships.