No Egypt Ports--and no notice from Seaboun to psgrs/agents yet!

[jhcrossfield]

If you go to their website the Egypt ports have been eliminated and replaced in some instances with other ports--Haifa and Cyprus for the 20 night Soujourn 3/26. As of last Thursday when I looked regarding shore excursions it was still showing Egypt. A friend of mine found out about the cancellation Friday when she phoned them. When I spoke with my agent today she indicated they did not provide her with notice yet. They did not contact me as a psgr or post anything on the website either---other than merely changing the itinerary, which you will not notice unless you specifically go to that itinerary and happen to notice Egypt is missing. This is a VERY poor showing for Seabourn---if they made the decision then they should tell the travel agents and passengers....at least via their travel agents if not directly. A clear notice should also be posted on their website. Given these circumstances and the late timing for this decision---all other lines decided some time ago---I am less than impressed with how Seabourn chose to handle (or NOT handle) this. I know that per the cruise contract they do not legally owe us anything but I am wondering if as a goodwill gesture for a disappointment out of their control and the inadequate notice thereof if they will do anything to take the edge off the psgrs' disappointment.

[LaPaloma]

For the first time on this issue..I agree with your disapointment with Seabourn. I DO NOT THINK..that Egypt should be a port right now...but...in this crisis...they chose to tell you that they were going ahead with it. NOW..they back off when you are at their disposal..WRONG. Shame on you Seabourn. I generally stand up for you...but..whoever made this bad decision....you don't need them anymore! :confused:

[alfa]

Now I am p%^(@$ off, if this is true.

 

This is an absolute disgrace.

 

No notice, no advice, no respect to clients who are so loyal they will defend you in a battle.

 

How dare you treat us like idiots.

 

Changing the itinerary without even a hint, warning.

 

Continually telling me after writing to you consistently, that the itinerary remains unaltered. What has happened now in Egypt that had not happened before you chose to alter the itinerary other than things have improved !!!!!

 

There is no doubt in my mind that this is a deliberate attempt to mislead us, in your motivation of preventing cancellation of cruise and potential losses of paid cruises.

 

Now what choice do I have, all flights booked, paid, hotel booked and paid, cruise paid, car hire booked and paid, arrangements made with things back home, oh I can go on and on.

 

All I asked way back when this crisis started in Egypt, was what were the itinerary options if a cancellation occurs so I can make an informed choice.

 

Seabourn, you have denied me and fellow passengers, some of which have joined the Singapore leg just now. Hang your collective heads in shame and get ready to open your wallet for compensation.

 

Lucky it is Sunday, as I have plenty more to say when I get a hold of you Seabourn and lets not mention my wife's feelings at the moment ! :mad::mad::mad:

[jhcrossfield]

Note this: Per Seabourn's cancellation policy there is NO refund of any amount within 30 days of departure. This would be Feb. 25th for this cruise. They cancelled Egypt ports on March 11, two weeks following this date. It takes at least two weeks or more to rearrange several ports with substitutions, excursions, etc. So, I think it's reasonable to infer that Seabourn made this decision well before the 30 day no refund period to "lock in" that revenue. Thus, you can't convince me they were "monitoring the situation and that all was a go" during the two weeks before the official change. They knew it was cancelled and lied. Of course, they will likely claim they waited until the last possible minute to announce this because they wanted to do everything they could to try to keep the Egypt ports, but this still begs the questions as to why they did not tell us at the end of Feb. when this was likely decided---people could have made other arrangements....it all comes down to them locking in that revenue. Oh wait, they still HAVE NOT told the passengers or agents! They simply posted a new itinerary buried on the website. Another reason they waited so late was for those who had not made their final payment. Surely all have done so by now and bought airlines tickets, etc. Thus, they duped those people as well who could have cancelled as late as last Friday and received money back. Boy, they sure know how to cover their secure revenue bases at the expense of the passengers!

 

I wonder if Seabourn will give proper notice on Monday..........

[alfa]

Hi jhcrossfield,

 

I have had a night to sleep on this matter and am still as angry and frustrated as I was last night. I have written a letter to Seabourn CEO Mr Richard D Meadows and their senior manager Mr David Bloom and kept typing it until late in the Sunday night.

 

In feeling my anger, I neglected to thank you for alerting me to this terrible and unsatisfactory situation. Had it not been for you, I would have been none the wiser, thinking all is well as I pack my bags.

 

In reply to the contents of your last post, I personally commenced communicating with Seabourn since the 29th January 2011 when the crisis peaked in Egypt. There are 6 separate occasions from that and including this date where I contacted them in writing and they responded in writing.

 

All I sought in my communications was the opportunity of making an informed choice about whether I should continue with my cruise by considering their alternative ports of call should a cancellation occur for safety reasons. It is important to state, that I am not being critical of a decision being made on safety reasons of the crew and passengers.

 

As a General Manager of a large construction firm, I understand and appreciate the obligations, both legally and morally regarding the safety of personnel.

 

In all the replies I received from Seabourn, they clearly stated to me, that the itinerary remains unaltered and the cruise and its port of calls stand unaltered. Simple as that. This advice was provided at the absolute peak of the crisis, its settlement and now that it's returning back to normal and at this very point in time, they chose to cancel all the ports of call in Egypt. Even ports where there was never a hint of issuing a parking ticket let alone the crisis have been canceled.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that I have personally been at best mislead, at worst lied to in writing on 6 separate occasions. As you have and other guests on the cruise.

 

I even have friends who have joined this cruise from Singapore, seeking the highlights of Egypt, who do not even know yet what you have discovered. I have sent them a text message warning them of this development. Others on the cruise advised me that the captain/crew advise them that the itinerary is unchanged

 

If you now check Seabourn's facebook page, they have now admitted (reluctantly) a change in itinerary and replied that they apologize for any misunderstanding. They did not volunteer this information, they replied to a post seeking answers and all they could respond with "sorry for this misunderstanding."

 

What a joke, what kind of a show are they running over there in Seattle or Miami ?.

 

There is no misunderstanding here, none at all, they deliberately withheld alternative itineraries.

 

They deliberately altered the web page without a hint of warning, advice via press releases, messages to my travel agent, message to me via email, phone (all of which they have).

 

Have a look at what Oceania did for their clients, absolute professionalism. Look at other cruise lines of allegedly lesser standards.

 

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/corporate/mediacenter.aspx

 

Oceania posted the above on 3rd February 2011. They provided their clients the opportunity to make an informed decision and choice.

 

Seabourn's conduct in this matter, is an absolute disgrace of such magnitude, that I do not intend to lay down until I receive answers to my questions and fair consideration.

 

I know we friends of Seabourn are as loyal as a sheep herder's dog and always defend them, but surely, after you consider what they have done to us, they agree that it could have been better and more professionally handled. I do hope they support us.

 

If that fails, maybe I should let Seabourn know that I am an Italian and we hold respect, as a core value of how we do business. :cool:

 

Maintain the rage I say ! :mad::mad::mad:

[mariap]

Hi Alfla/jhcrossfiled - thanks for the advice, as we would have been none the wiser. Sent an email to TA on Saturday who in turn this am emailed the letter from Seabourn offering $250 per person compo!! Since the situation in Egypt erupted I have been in contact with both Seabourn and TA - same explanations. If we had been advised earlier, we would have cancelled and taken another cruise mid year with Seabourn as we have travelled with Seabourn on a no of occasions and have been loyal....

 

Alfa - agree wholeheartedly with what you have written. Hope to meet you all on board.

 

Regards Maria (no not Italian)

[alfa]

Hi Maria,

 

I noticed you are from Sydney. I reckon your state government who you are about to throw out could have done better !

 

One thing about us Aussies, we are pretty easy going and happy to have a beer looking at the barbie, but don't tell us it's raining when you're passing water on our backs. (cleaned that up a bit, didn't I)

 

$ 250 compensation per couple ?,,,, please Seabourn stop insulting our intelligence.

 

Even though it is a public holiday, I am now checking how I get to Egypt after or before the cruise. $250 won't cover that I am sure.

 

Yes lets please catch up if we are on the cruise together, there are other aussie friends who are on it that we know. Poor buggers, they don't know yet what Seabourn have done, as they are on the cruise already.

[mariap]

Thanks Alfa. Have you received the letter as it also states "if the travel warning is withdrawn or revised prior to the time we were scheduled to be in Egypt, we will try to reinstate the original itinerary if it is at all possible to do so."

 

On another note, my TA travelled with you in the Med in 2009 - it's a small world!

[alfa]

Hi Maria,

 

I have received nothing at all from Seabourn, just discovered the change through the good work of Cruise Critic members.

 

I do know who you speak of, had a wonderful time we did. Such a distant memory now ! Yes small world indeed !

 

Was there anything else they stated within the letter you received ?

 

Thanks in advance

[Travelcat2]

While I am an outsider to this situation, I did go on the Seabourn Facebook page and saw the apology. It seems that they are working on 2012 and had not quite reached the part where they contact TA's and customers. You may want to give them a day or two to sort things out. IMO, it is unlikely that Egypt will be cut out since, according to the news, most cruiselines are resuming port visits in Egypt.

 

Just my 2 cents.:o

[alfa]

Hi Travelcat2

 

I sincerely hope you are right and appreciate your comments.

 

I am in the process of considering alternative arrangements after the cruise, god help me if they do change their minds again and I get to visit Egypt twice.

 

At the moment however, no advice has been received, other than what I have seen in Cruise Critic and facebook.

 

The internet has truly open the world's communications, otherwise, we would have been at the mercy of Seabourn's information release timetable.

[mariap]

Hi Alfa, if you pass on your email address I can forward to you. M

[alfa]

Hi Alfa, if you pass on your email address I can forward to you. M

 

Hi maria, send it to radaconsultants@gmail.com

 

Thanking you again, Romeo:o

[jhcrossfield]

$250 per person for this? Insulting to say the least.

 

I wish they offered another day in Jordan as I understand the offerings there are spectacular. Instead, we get a sea day so they can save a few dollars on port charges.....

 

Does anyone know who the cruise director is on this segment? I love traveling with Jan and/or David E.

 

My agent is to contact Seabourn tomorrow and see what they say. I will update ASAP thereafter.

[alfa]

An update, my travel agent has just received, an update itinerary, no covering letter, no explanation, just an itinerary.

 

Within this, is Seabourn confirmation of my bookings for shore excursions in, wait for it, Cairo and Luxor !!!!

 

My travel agent has contacted Seabourn and they are awaiting company advice from the USA. It appears that I am not the only one that has written to Seabourn on this matter.

 

No surprise, but what really surprises me is that they did not have a response and or explanation ready when letters started to flood in.

 

To those within Australia, that feel they have been done hard by, their email address is seabourn.aspac@carnivalaustralia.com

 

Outside Australia, their email addresses is webmaster@seabourn.com or bgood@seabourn.com (public relations department as detailed in their media center section within their webpage).

 

Good luck all.

[greg75093]

I am also scheduled for the March 26th sailing, and I have the same disappointment as everyone else. I have been calling seabournd this morning and I can only get the reservation agent on the phone (if you can believe that they only have just one agent handling your calls). There is no one in a posotion of authority who will take your call, but here is the email address of the customer Service manager dbloom@searbourn.com. Let's email him and let him feel your pain. In addition to the poor port replacements, the cruise line is awarding each cabin only $250 per cabin. Talk about great (lack of ) customer service from a six star cruse line. The six star rate is ture for the cruse line, but for the management and their customer service let's say that get six :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Miss Jet Set]

We are on the 18th April sailing and today we got our new itinerary. Ours does say

it is $250 each person.

With regard to Customer Services, it seems it does not matter where you live, to get

a reply either on the telephone or by EM from their offices is practically impossible.

I had to wait SEVEN weeks for a response to my recorded letters and EM.s

So do not hold your breath.

[JUDBIRD]

Finally got a Seabourne agent who gave me the story. TA's were notified via FAX on Sunday that Egypt Ports are cancelled. Going to Petra, Isreal, Sorrento , and Rome instead. They will give $250 shipboard credit for our trouble.

 

After conversation it it clear that HA is in charge. When I asked about further rebates or discounts on future cruises I was told HA said NO"it's business as usual". Miami operations are being shut down and people layed off. The operation is being moved to Seattle which I think accounts for the chaos.

 

My travel agent on the West coast finally contacted me and was also stunned. They are checking but know less than I & Cruise Critic people.

 

I wrote and e-mail to Patricia Conover , President Seabourn and D. Bloom Customer Service, pconover@seabourn ; dbloom@seabourn.com expressing our outrage at the non communication on the issue and HA's unwillingness to make reasonable financial adjustments or options for future cruises. I also told them that waiting for passengers to get "locked in" before informing them is no less than unscruplous business practice. I further stated that decisions no longer rest at Seabourn Miami but rather HA in Seattle.

Offering 250 bucks shows how much empathy HA has for customers of Seabourn.

 

We are waiting to hear from our TA and will log on as soon as we have further information.

[JUDBIRD]

Forgot to say that we are booked on the Spirit Dubai-Rome 3/21- 4/8 not sure my info applies for future cruises.

[alfa]

I am also scheduled for the March 26th sailing, and I have the same disappointment as everyone else. I have been calling seabournd this morning and I can only get the reservation agent on the phone (if you can believe that they only have just one agent handling your calls). There is no one in a posotion of authority who will take your call, but here is the email address of the customer Service manager dbloom@searbourn.com. Let's email him and let him feel your pain. In addition to the poor port replacements, the cruise line is awarding each cabin only $250 per cabin. Talk about great (lack of ) customer service from a six star cruse line. The six star rate is ture for the cruse line, but for the management and their customer service let's say that get six :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

 

Hi Greg, it is sad that your first post on this board is to express your disappointment, disappointment that I share, even after 2 sleeps.

 

I find it so bemusing that a cruise line that openly advertises 1 crew member to each guest, does not have more than one person available to answer all our queries. What did they expect when this news was filtered out in the manner that they chose to do.

 

In Australia we would say, these guys couldn't organize a beer in a pub. But the reality is they knew exactly what they were doing, it was calculated to be announced at the most convenient time for them, to protect their financial status at our expense.

 

So I finish with these classical words, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna to take this anymore"

[iramack]

Just a few comments here.

First I must say that I feel your pain. Having travel plans disrupted like this is NO FUN INDEED!!

However, It seems to me that once the whole Egypt thing blew up, I (just my opinion of course) would have said "no way am I going anywhere near there right now" Period !!

 

I would have re-booked my travel plans immediately and not waited to see what the cruise line thought about the safety/feasibility of keeping those port stops in the itinerary. Now I realize that this a world cruise segment we are talking about here, and much disappointment in not making the stops one is so looking forward to. Certainly for those folks doing the whole trip. But, certainly there were other options for changing to bookings in less "fragile" places. There will be other world cruise segments and perhaps at more opportune times in world history. Stuff Happens!!

Perhaps with Japan as an example now, that might bring this into more focus. There is NO WAY anyone is going there now for pretty much anything except humanitarian efforts etc. I am sure there were MANY people looking forward to going there either by ship or plane or what have you. NO ONE is going there now so really big a disappointment for them right?

 

I guess my point is that Seabourn probably tried to get those ports to stay in the segment, and in the end decided to replace them as we have all heard. But those passengers who felt that they were willing to wait and roll the dice for Seabourn's decision are now angry that they decided after all to pull the ports. YES, it absolutely stinks. But that is what gambling is all about, you win some and..you loose some. The world situation is NOT Seabourn's fault. And yet we get to cruise around for fun and pleasure while all this sh*^& is happening in the world. Could it really be that bad for us???

 

Steve

[alfa]

Hi Steve

 

I have no problem with what you are saying except, I wish to confirm that I wrote to Seabourn on 6 separate occasions and on 6 separate occasions they said in plainest of English language, that the itinerary will not change and the cruise and ports of call continue unaltered.

 

I asked and asked and asked, what if things don't improve or things get worse, what alternative ports are being considered in the event of cancellation. In every single instance they declined to answer the question. We are not talking about a new event here, like the terrible situation in Japan.

 

This matter was current when I first raised it in mid January and they chose to deliberately mislead me.

 

The greatest insult though is that they did not advise me in the appropriate manner (which is not via Cruise critic via fellow members) and have still have not formally responded to my emails and letter requesting confirmation of what is being reported on Cruise Critic.

 

I trust this clarifies why many are disappointed. It has nothing to do with the itinerary being altered, it is they way they did it and the way they are continually us.

[iramack]

Hi Steve

 

 

This matter was current when I first raised it in mid January and they chose to deliberately mislead me.

 

 

I trust this clarifies why many are disappointed. It has nothing to do with the itinerary being altered, it is they way they did it and the way they are continually us.

 

I understand your being frustrated and feeling put upon, but WHY would they deliberately do this to you. With all that is going on in the region, do you really need to go to Egypt now?

I was just saying that with all the stuff going on in the world, if this is what gets our emotions riled up..................... We are talking about a pleasure cruise on a very upscale line. Have fun and enjoy, that's all I was saying.

 

Steve

[alfa]

Steve,

 

I thank you for your response and interest in this matter.

 

In response to you query of "WHY would they deliberately do this to you" I hope to let you know when they respond to my letter and emails as I hope, they will also respond to other clients who have also written to them.

 

In reply to "With all that is going on in the region, do you really need to go to Egypt now ?", the choice was always mine as it is everyone else's.

 

If Seabourn told us, in lieu of their definitive answer that the cruise will not be altered, that there was a chance of alteration and here are the new ports of call, than I could have made an informed choice. The problem is, that opportunity of making an informed choice has been taken away from me as I cannot seek reimbursement for a change to the itinerary, just before I depart, it is a "take or leave it" type option.

 

Finally, I am not a loner on this matter, there are 400 guests who were only told last night, of the change to the itinerary not last Thursday when the itinerary was actually altered on their web page. I trust you agree that isn't good enough for these guys. If not, we differ on our opinions which I do respect.

 

Lets hope, your future cruise doesn't alter, 13 days before you leave for it, as I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.

[fivestar]

To all those sailing to Egypt I do hope that all travel warnings are lifted and for some miraculous reason your trip remains as planned originally. I understand how angry and frustrated you are as for most people travelling to this part of the world usually book as a "once in a lifetime" experience and that is why those ports are so important and not to be replaced with other ports. I am now lucky enough to say that my work has got in the way of booking this trip which would have been my big birthday (sorry not sharing!) cruise. I would have been gutted to say the least and as mad as a cut snake!

 

Fingers, toes and everything crossed that it is all systems go for your trip and hope that we will receive an email from you saying Egypt unbelievable and having a ball !