Is it time for Cunard and other lines to boycott Russia?

Would hate to see cruise lines boycott Russia.

Let cruisers have the option to go or not.

cruise ships issue visa forms on board before ST Petersburg, these are handed to immigration control together with your excursion ticket, you can only do a ship excursion or a tour organised by a recognised tour company such as Alla Tours

But if Russia requires a full visa,this scenario will change,making it very expensive.They will shoot themselves in the foot if they did this,cheers,Brian.

It may be coincidence but the price fir the Baltic cruise on 10 June appears to have halved in the last two weeks. There are now saver fares too, appears to be availability in all stateroom grades.

It's also just past final payment, approximately when (US) bookings become nonrefundable and Cunard can price to sell remaining cabins without needing to worry about price adjustments on existing bookings.

It may be coincidence but the price fir the Baltic cruise on 10 June appears to have halved in the last two weeks. There are now saver fares too, appears to be availability in all stateroom grades.

the current Cunard fare for our cabin grade is £300 more than the price we paid when booking for this cruise opened wayback in Sept 16

Did Oceania Sept 2017 and St. Pete was the highlight.

Did not require a Visa because we used a private tour company TJ who took care of this item.

People should travel where they want subject to safety of course.

For female travellers, most of the world would be off limits given how poorly females (the largest persecuted group in history and today) are treated about everywhere in the world.

The folks we met in St. Petes were exposed to our business and they talked and learned about non communist countries - this assists in inch by inch changing attitudes in Russia. All good.

Individual choice.

Of course Russia hasn't been a communist country for over 25 years. (but your point remains)

As one who would make a personal choice to avoid it, it would be nice to have an itinerary to choose from which offered the rest of the Baltics without it.

- Mark

Of course Russia hasn't been a communist country for over 25 years. (but your point remains)

 

As one who would make a personal choice to avoid it, it would be nice to have an itinerary to choose from which offered the rest of the Baltics without it.

 

- Mark

I am sure the cruise lines would avoid SP if there were issues with safety and there appears to be none currently. Our Sapphire Princess cruise on 2 June to Baltics inc SP is 95% full.:cool:

Let us not preempt things or prejudge Mr Putin. After all Uncle Donald T is talking to him.

While I share your outrage at the poisonings etc. if we boycott all the ports and countries in the world that offends at least some of the passengers consist, we shall be left with a rather thin slice. There are those who would have all lines not stop in the US for certain reasons. Vietnam comes to mind as does Germany, Japan. all of the middle east and now S. Africa with their taking of all white farms. And the beat goes on. There was an old folk song that ends up with No one likes anyone very much or something to that tune.

I agree to the above but would just like to try and put things in context.

At the moment it has NOT been proved that the Russian state was complicit in the UK poisonings.

Also as sad it is, the attack only effected 3 people that we know about.

However we do know that the west including the UK were complicit in attacking and destroying a nation on the false premise of them having weapons of mass destruction..

Also the west, including the UK are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, including women and children in the middle east.

The western governments seem a tad hypocritical to me, or maybe they just need a demon Russia to justify their very lucrative armament industries.

Generally I don't like to discuss politics. Speaking as a gay married couple who have already cruised to Russia with Cunard some years ago. Given the extreme Homophobia and now the recent suspected Russian State condoned murders on our soil in Salisbury we would certainly not now book a trip/cruise to Russia. Had we booked one we would now be consider rebooking the cruise, if only purely based on Russia condoning Homophobia. St Petersburg and surrounding area was stunning - breath-taking beautiful palaces and galleries. But to be frank the people were darn right rude and most seemed to completely lack any customer facing service skills; smiling alone seemed a physical impossibility. I shall not miss not seeing Moscow.

It was just posted today that the Government in Russia has order the US Consulate in St Petersburg closed and send the officers home. It is reaction to the United States closing Russian Consulates with the US. Not directly involving the cruise Industry but could have impact.

Given the recent events in Salisbury, and many other places around the world, is it time for cruise ships/passengers to stop calling at Russian ports?

No , I hope not as we are going again in June on the QE ! It’s my fourth time in St Petersburg, not all by ship and Russia and it’s people are lovely, welcoming and need the tourism. Like someone said if the Foreign office issued a warning that’s different but given the World cup is there that is unlikely. Other countries have views we don’t share yet we still go to them.St Petersburg is so beautiful and despite having been there so many times before there is so much to see.

I agree to the above but would just like to try and put things in context.

At the moment it has NOT been proved that the Russian state was complicit in the UK poisonings.

Also as sad it is, the attack only effected 3 people that we know about.

However we do know that the west including the UK were complicit in attacking and destroying a nation on the false premise of them having weapons of mass destruction..

Also the west, including the UK are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, including women and children in the middle east.

The western governments seem a tad hypocritical to me, or maybe they just need a demon Russia to justify their very lucrative armament industries.

Well said , the info re Salisbury attack is so bizarre that I can’t make any sense out of it. Very fishy that no journalists question it . Ofcourse some people just lap it up however strange .

It was just posted today that the Government in Russia has order the US Consulate in St Petersburg closed and send the officers home. It is reaction to the United States closing Russian Consulates with the US. Not directly involving the cruise Industry but could have impact.

Just don't lose your passport.:halo:

I cannot see proof of this type of case being presented. If all the evidence was presented it would enable each other to work out how the evidence was collected. In this respect it would reveal a lot about ones home security and systems in place to gather intelligence.

 

If a major political statement was to be made by a cruise line and its passengers, it would be for a huge ship to dock and absolutely nobody bothers to disembark to look round. That would be a statement.

 

Regards John

Totally agree with this. It is not normal practice in the UK for criminal investigators to roll out their evidence for dissemination to the public by the Media and Politicians or provide a running commentary to an investigation - that is what we have courts for, In Camera if necessary. Little point in any case evidence being rolled out to the public - many have no ability to assess it properly.

If people just stop booking Baltic cruises without letting the Cruise lines know why they might think people have just got fed up with Bruges.

Well said , the info re Salisbury attack is so bizarre that I can’t make any sense out of it. Very fishy that no journalists question it . Ofcourse some people just lap it up however strange .

And of course some people will see a conspiracy theory at every turn however strange.

"Very fishy no journalists question it" - Ockham's Razor might suggest that this is nonsense

I reckon closure of US Consulate in St Petersburg might deter a few North American cruisers.:loudcry:

I reckon closure of US Consulate in St Petersburg might deter a few North American cruisers.:loudcry:

It's not the closing of the consulate in St Petersburg that shoals deter American cruisers, it's the guy who sits in the Kremlin in Moscow who should deter us.

It would be nice if one cruise line did one itinerary in the summer that didn’t include Russia. Russia isn’t an option for my family either. For cost reasons that means Scandinavia is out too. It is frustrating.

For the record (to avoid discussion of safety, etc for not going to Russia), my family can’t go to Russia because it would be cause to get fired AND no longer work in that industry. So it’s just a non-negotiable hard no, can’t go.

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It would be nice if one cruise line did one itinerary in the summer that didn’t include Russia. Russia isn’t an option for my family either. For cost reasons that means Scandinavia is out too. It is frustrating.

 

For the record (to avoid discussion of safety, etc for not going to Russia), my family can’t go to Russia because it would be cause to get fired AND no longer work in that industry. So it’s just a non-negotiable hard no, can’t go.

 

 

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I am a bit mystified by your post, but fair enough, if you cannot go, you cannot go.

Re Scandinavia, I agree very expensive, cost me an arm and a leg for the shorex I have purchased.:eek: