It is incredibly frustrating. I know there are people out there who don’t care so long as they’re on Ship X. And I know there are people out there who don’t care so long as they’re on any ship. For us, the ship isn’t important but it and its features will factor into our reckoning and the reason we like to book early is because we’re fussy about the sort of cabin we want and the preferred location; not always, but typically. And that was the case for this cruise. It’s one thing for Princess to change one ship for another but if they’re changing one class of ship for another then there really ought to be more flexibility to say “Well, actually, you’re not fulfilling the terms of the contract I agreed with you here so how about a full, no-fee cancellation?” They have an extraordinary circumstances clause in their contract but it’s vague enough that a ship change won’t warrant it in this case. It’s really irritating because we’ve spent a lot of time telling people what a good holiday a cruise can be but then something like this happens and you think, ah, right, you’ve got far more protection to cancel if you book another type of vacation and they can’t match what you booked like-for-like, so maybe avoid booking cruises if this is a worry after all.