Cruising to a Likely War Zone - Ukraine, Crimeria

We got an email yesterday from Celebrity yesterday with a special deal for several cruises this late September/early October that included a mini-African safari plus 11-night cruises from Istanbul.

Nowhere in the email or FAQ do they mention the other ports of call.

Special excursions to see the civil war?

Constellation October 2014

Cruise Ports

Departing from:

Istanbul, Turkey

Sailing to:

Burgas, Bulgaria

Sochi, Russia

Sevastopol, Ukraine

Yalta, Ukraine

Odessa, Ukraine

Istanbul, Turkey

Cruise Ports

Departing from:

Istanbul, Turkey

Sailing to:

Yalta, Ukraine

Sevastopol, Ukraine

Odessa, Ukraine

Burgas, Bulgaria

Bosphorus Strait (Cruising)

Mykonos, Greece

Athens (Piraeus), Greece

Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey

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We have a cruise booked for this August on Azamara Quest which includes Ukraine. No changes to itinerary yet. Will just wait and see...

Meanwhile, the Celebrity web site says they are constantly monitoring the situation in "the Ukraine," which makes me smile every time. It's like saying, "the Canada."

Why consider a cruise into a potential war or civil war break out ? We are not bullet proof LOL:eek:

Celebrity has a tab on the main page of their web site for the Ukranian crisis.

They are not going to put you in harm's way. I always thought it was "The Ukraine" just like "The Bronx". It may be a reference the the region. But "The Bronx" is the official designation.

We booked this cruise more than a year ago, jumping on the chance to do a "real" Black Sea cruise when there was no crisis in the Crimea whatsoever.

We're on the roll call for this cruise and there are a lot of us in a similar situation - worried about the political situation, the people in the Ukraine and of course what will happen to the cruise. Quite a lot of us are on a B2B or even B2B2B and have already booked hotels, flights, tours.

So it's not about voluntarily travelling to a war zone but waiting and waiting until Celebrity stops "monitoring" the situation but happens to decide what to do in regard to the cruise and the two before that that combine the Black sea ports with a few Greek destinations.

Grayjay,

Here is a change Azamara is doing on their Black Sea cruise in June.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2011843

Their ships are smaller than Celebrity's M class. I assume you will be on the Constellation?

I would just relax and know that you will see the Black Sea and some interesting ports of call, even if they change the Ukraine stops on the Black Sea.

I am booked on the Black Sea cruise on the Constellation in the fall. I have received two email surveys asking my preference of other ports to visit. The first one asked about numerous other ports and which ones I preferred. The second one (which I received just a few days ago) listed three possible itineraries and asked which one I preferred. One itinerary was the original itinerary (which is Ukraine intensive). One included Sochi, Russia. The third included mainly Greek isle ports.

I just wish they would announce the new itinerary ASAP !!!

The possible missed ports of call, are EXACTLY the reason we refuse to pay for day-tours in advance. AnyThing can happen, to alter a cruise ships planned ports of call, and paying in advance to small, local PVT-tour companies can indeed, turn out to be a nightmare. Our ship cancelled a port stop at Tunis, Tunisia ( about 16 months ago) and they just added another Spanish port to the agenda. Which was fine (except, I guess, for the passengers who had pre-paid to small Tunis tour companies.)

They are not going to put you in harm's way. I always thought it was "The Ukraine" just like "The Bronx". It may be a reference the the region. But "The Bronx" is the official designation.

This changed in 1991 when the country became independent. Their constitution refers to their country as Ukraine, and their leaders formally announced the preferred name back then.

They are not going to put you in harm's way. I always thought it was "The Ukraine" just like "The Bronx". It may be a reference the the region. But "The Bronx" is the official designation.

Ukrainians don't like you to refer to their country as "the Ukraine." That seems to imply a subservient role vis-a-vis Russia.