2014 Black Sea/Crimean Coast Cruises

I just e-mailed MSC Cruises US office stating that we cancelled our pre booked ship excursion for Yalta, that we had no intention of getting off the ship for any of the scheduled Ukraine or Russian controlled ports & we were requesting their proposed itinerary changes as soon as possible due to how uncomfortable we felt regarding our October 3rd sailing and the recent events that were escalating. Also, we wished to preplan for the new scheduled ports.

 

Just want to mention something not being discussed... but on the recent cruise we took a week ago, there were several crew/staff members from the Ukraine on our sailing. They expressed how difficult/stressful all of this has been for them. They are far away; they have family in the affected areas and there's the uncertainty of the outcome of all these events.

 

scampi

I agree with everything you are saying. Our Princess cruise leaves October 8th. I know it's a long way off and unfortunately the cruise lines are likely to drag their feet. However, having their passengers endure months of uncertainty can't be beneficial to anyone.

At this point I have no desire to set foot in Russia or any Russian controlled territory. If I was scheduled on a Baltic cruise I would probably cancel since St. Petersburg is such a central focus of that itinerary. However, in this case I have no desire to cancel. What I want to see is a modified itinerary.

Please post here if and when you receive some feedback from MSC. I plan on contacting Princess also.

Just got the notification that our Oceania cruise departing May 29th has deleted Sevastapol and Yalta.

Substituting an overnight in Constanta, and a day of 'cruising the black sea'.:(

Wish we would overnight in Odessa instead of Constanta, and stop in Batumi, Georgia instead of sailing circles in the Black Sea.:confused:

Not very happy they waited so long to make the decision. They switched the itineraries of the other summer cruise quite some time ago. We were just starting to be hopeful the trip would go as planned.:mad:

I agree with you. An over night in Odessa (which is lovely) would be much better than Constanta. There is very little to do in Constanta. It is a pretty depressing city. We did an all day tour to the Danube Delta. It was OK but not outstanding. Touted to be able to see all this wildlife. We saw a few birds and muddy water. The 2 hr bus rides each way were interesting because we got to see the Romanian countryside which was pretty. Maybe they will offer a long day trip to Bucharest.

Hope your trip turns out to be great!

We are booked on Voyages of Discovery's ship, 'Voyager', for Oct 8th with an itinerary of 2 ports in Russia and four in the Ukraine, (3 of the Ukranian ports are in Crimea). I rang to ask if any decisions have been taken regarding changes and it seems that they are poised to mail changes on the 7th May, (changes have been discussed but may be reviewed before then). It will be a major change from our point of view, even if it is only the 3 Crimean ports changed, as we would not have booked the cruise on that itinerary, and we would not be confident at present that the other Russian ports and Odessa will actually go ahead, which means more than half our ports are 'iffy' from our point of view. Sounds like we will be given 'options' so not sure what that means. Just wondering what sort of 'options' may be offered - perhaps an ability to change cruise, but then there is nothing else in their brochure we would want to book at present.

I have seen that Swan Hellenic have altered their Black Sea itinerary for Aug/Sept (Sevastopol and Yalta have been replaced with Sochi and Novorossiysk in Russia, but both of those are already on our itinerary). Swan Hellenic is run by the 'All Leisure Group', and the company we have booked with is also owned by them. I note that the Swan Hellenic Blach Sea cruise is now on sale, yet it has been flagged up as fully booked for the last couple of months, so it looks like some customers are no longer booked on that itinerary.

At this point it looks as though Odessa is now in serious doubt for all cruises as the geopolitical situation in Ukraine looks on the verge of collapse into civil war or open conflict.

I do wonder about the Russian ports as well, especially for the American owned lines as they seem more ready to cancel ports in those sort of circumstances. Our cruise company is one of the few British based ones, but Russia could still be 'iffy' to say the least.

If all the 6 ports are cancelled on our itinerary we should be able to claim a refund without hassle, as it would be more than half the ports and the T&C's say the majority of ports need to be cancelled. Worth fighting if necessary as there would be a high risk of the other ports being cancelled after we sail.

Bucharest is well worth seeing for those who may end up in Constanta - we went to Bucharest on a river cruise a couple of years ago. It would be better as an overnight though in my opinion, but it would probably be a long day anyway. Too far for an independent trip I suspect.

The ship we are due to sail on has some Ukrainian crew, so sad news for them as well as the rest of Ukraine and there will be an effect on the economy of many other countries as well. Sad times.

Our itinerary for Oct has now been changed on the company's internet site, but we are yet to be notified officially. They have deleted the 3 ports in Crimea and added Batumi and Trabzon as well as a sea day. The best bit is that we are now docking in Odessa early morning instead of midday, but still leaving at midday the next day - hence a day and a half instead of 24 hours, so we should be able to catch a performance at the opera house, yet still have plenty of time to 'do' the city. The two Russian ports remain.

I was looking at another forum earlier and there was a post saying the cruise season had started, so I copied the details posted about the first two stops:-

'German M\V Hamburg called Odessa on the 9th of April in the afternoon. She stayed here untill the evening of April 10th. Now we are waiting for the next call. It will be M\V Artania on the 19th of April. She will also stay overnight'.

I am now keeping my fingers crossed they will continue.

Our Prinsendam itinerary in the fall has been amended as well. Gone is Odessa and our overnights in Sevestapol. They have been replaced with ports, not sea days. Batumi, Georgia and in Turkey - Trapzon & Sinop.

Back to researching one more time

Very interesting Black sea cruises in 2015 Oct from Royal Caravella Cruise Lines on small vessel royalcaravella.umi.ru/black_sea_adventure_cruises/