Gbear12

Yes Gbear12 you are in port the same amount of time but a more inconvenient time and are going slower between ports adding an hour to the cruising times. I explained this to you when responding to your original post.

Actually we're not in port the same amount of time... We're in port more time... And that gives the ship less time to get from port-to-port.

We're leaving Ephesus at midnight now (used to be 8PM) and arriving the next day at 8AM (same as before), so the ship takes FOUR LESS hours to get there and has to travel much faster than when they had 12 hours to get to the same place that they now get to in 8 hours.

Same with Santorini-Mykonos time change: Old times 8PM leave - 8AM arrive. New times 11PM leave - 8AM arrive. Ship has three hours less to get there.

Same for one of the other time changes... We have LESS time to get to the next port than before.

Only one of the time changes gives them 3 more hours to get to the next port.

But overall they "lose hours" to travel to the next port.

So, overall we're spending less time getting from one port to the next, and more time total in ports than originally scheduled.

If it's more expensive to leave at night as someone has said (e.g.: line handlers working after hours [OT]) and more expensive to take less time to get to the next port (faster speeds needed), most of these changes cost more money according to what people have been saying here.

On our one week long Mediterranean cruise we experienced three port time changes.

 

07-Aug-2015 Provence (Marseille), France

Departure time has been changed from (11pm) to 7pm

 

08-Aug-2015 Saint Tropez, France

Departure time has been changed from (11pm) to 7pm

 

And in La spezia it was a couple of hours time change too.

 

We actually heard one of the staff (a man with white uniform) discuss the time changes with couple of passengers who were disappointed. He said it happens because of the cost. Every hour costs extra and late departures are expensive for the company. It makes sense...

If late departures are expensive for the company, then between your cruise and ours they're losing money on their choice of changes.

Our Riviera Sep 27, 2015 cruise has had three time changes (out of 7 port stops) and in each of the three changes they all went from all departing at 8PM to departing at either 11Pm (for two of them) or midnight (for the third one). So Oceania is apparently spending "more money" to stay in those ports later at night. And for these three changes, for two of them the "in port" time is the same, and for the third port the "in port" time is actually four hours more!

Therefore, the comment from the man in the white uniform seems a bit dubious. I have yet to hear what sounds like a "sensible answer" on this whole topic. Only the general one that "lines like to make more money," which goes without saying.

This part of the advice is not specific to Turkey. In many countries, whenever you are out in public, you are supposed to carry documents that establish your identity and your legal presence in the country, with potentially unpleasant consequences if you are caught without papers. That is the rule, but I suppose the chances of being stopped for a random identity check are typically very low.

 

As for the second part of the advice, I have never been asked to show my passport in Turkey to get into tourist sites. If you are visiting some sensitive places (government/military areas, some Jewish sites under protection), I guess you will need your documents. I don't recall ever having to show my passport for a credit card payment (except maybe at hotels, where you have to show your passport anyway).

 

I would suggest you do whatever you do when traveling in other countries. I don't think there is anything particular about Istanbul/Turkey in this respect for a short-term visitor. So do whatever you feel most comfortable with.

Thanks. That's what I thought. Since we've never been to Turkey I thought there might be something different about that area. But I suppose the guide book is just being extra-cautious. So we'll just carry our US drivers' licenses and a copy of our passport front page like we've always done.

We're staying in Istanbul for 3 days before a 7-day cruise.

In Rick Steve's Istanbul guide book it says: "You are required to have proof of identity with you at all times in Istanbul and may be asked to show your passport when entering sites or using your credit card."

We normally do not carry around passports when in Europe or the Caribbean... Just our USA driver's license. Is it necessary to carry your passport in Istanbul? Or is a driver's license sufficient?

And how many of you folks keep your passport with you when walking around town?

... we've seen Oceania and other lines stay in port right until the all aboard time, even when all passengers were back on board much earlier. We often sit outside to watch the port tear downs, which is often followed by a dead period of a couple hours before we sail.

Weather and sea conditions change all the time, we've experienced port time changes accordingly.

Makes sense ships would still stay in port even if all passengers were on early, since the locals who handle the dock lines are scheduled for a certain time and will show up at the scheduled time to lift the lines. Otherwise the ship would pull the docks away from the ports. Or tow Greece to Asia.

That is true; but they don't know years ahead how much silt or debris might be in the channel, that might require more clearance. We have totally missed ports and/or had to change schedules for it.

Again... I agree that could be a reason, but I think it's a pretty "low probability reason" in this case since all these four port changes have all been made very recently 1-2 months before the cruise and it's quite a coincidence that four different Greek ports on different islands have "silt and debris" issues all of a sudden and also 2months before we get there (i.e.: silt and debris could change a lot in 2 months by the time we arrive).

So I'm interested in the "real reason" that all these changes were so recently made, but will probably never know, since this knowledge is only in the Oceania employees' files... the fellow on the phone I talked to when I had to change my specialty reservations because of the port-time changes certainly didn't know the answer when I asked him. He said it could be the tides... obviously not the "real reason." I'm sure he didn't know the real reasons either.

I don't believe that changes to port times has anything to do with cutting corners. We have had them on many cruises. It can relate to port conditions and the effect of tides to scheduling issues from the port itself.

Several people keep mentioning "tides" as a reason for port changes. Tides are known literally years in advance and with the phases of the moon also known, so they know how high/low and severe tides will be at any port.

Since the lines originally set up the port times knowing all this, no changes should be made because of tides... unless there's a meteorological phenomenon I'm not aware of...???

Oceania DOES tend to change docking/anchoring and arrival/depart times at port A LOT. On our upcoming Sep 27th cruise on Riviera, they changed port arrival/departure times for FOUR of six ports.

On river cruises, of course, water level can change drastically with rain or no rain, so port changes would make sense on rivers.

One possibility for all the changes decreasing your time in port as well as increasing the time between ports might very well be time to the next port. Absolutely true that these times are well known and set years in advance. The possible reason is money in that by taking extra time between ports the ship sails at a slower speed andt thus uses less fuel saving money. Another poster recently reminded us of the $50,000,000 bonus for savings in the first year of the purchase of PCH by NCLH which goes to the stockholders of the previous PCH which includes many of the current Oceania Executives. Every dollar Oceania can save compared to last year adds dollars to the pockets of many of the ex PCH executives as well as other stockholders.

Good idea for "possible reason" except that on this cruise:

Ephesus went from 8AM - 8PM to 11AM - 11PM

Santorini went from 8AM - 8PM to noon - midnight

Heraklion went from 8AM - 8PM to 11AM - 11PM

Rhodes was changed from 8AM - 8PM to 8AM - 5PM (This is the only one to "short-change" us)

So it definitely doesn't appear to be travel time, since they are both leaving later and arriving later by the same intervals, except for Rhodes. So no extra time is being gained to get to the next port, except for Rhodes.

So I still think we don't have a clue why this all is what it is...

None of the changes the OP mentioned are for Istanbul. They are all for the Greek Islands. And there have now been four changes as of today for a 7-day cruise. No port changes.. only arrival/departure times. That forces us all to call DIY tour companies and change things for each change they make!

Really can't figure out "why" so many changes: Can't be tides (as an Oceania representative erroneously suggested on the phone today!) since tides are predictable years in advance. Can't be weather since it's 1-1/2 months away. Can't be how long it takes to travel to the next port since they do that all the time. And none of the other ships in these ports have changed their times on the "ships in port" website. So... ???

I couldn't disagree with you more on this subject.

Just because the hand wash is available it doesn't mean that everyone uses it.

Believe it or not, not everyone washes their hands after using the bathroom :eek: even though we assume they all do. Believe me, I have witnessed it more than once.

Or would you rather have the staff stand at the door and sing "washy-washy" as I understand they do on NCL? :)

When people help themselves at a buffet, not only does it pose a potential health hazard but they tend to make a mess of the food. I have seen more than once people use their hands to help themselves to bread and some other items (or fruit and then put it back if not ripe or too ripe).

I like it just the way it is :)

Totally agree with Paulchili. For those who are careful and frugal, serving yourself is just fine, but I'm afraid most people are not. Many take far too much and waste food, whereas the servers dish out an appropriate amount and if you want more you can always ask for more and they will gladly comply.

Also I'd rather have servers with utensils and clean hands serve me than wonder who just went through before me and hauled stuff out with their hands potentially. It keeps down the dreaded nor-virus or whatever germs are floating around, and it does not inconvenience anyone, in my opinion.

I don't understand any complaint about the use of servers as it all seems to be positive to have servers dishing out our food.

I've found cruisetimetables "dot com" to be very good for all ports and dates, even into next year. This URL is the "ports of departure."

Just pick your port of DEPARTURE and the month and day your ship sails and it will show your ship and it's various stops. Then click on the day you'll be in Santorini and it will show all the ships there.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/#depports

Just disembarked today. New carpet looks nice. New entertainment is a huge improvement. Food was as great as ever. The only other change I noticed from last year is sticky buns available every day! There were some service fails but nothing brought on by NCL ownership.

Is the string quartet still there? One of my favorite features of the Ship.

Any word on whether the string quartet is still there? That's one of the major things I liked about the Riviera, especially at tea time and before dinner.