Ukraine itinerary changes

[scampi]

Some of us with booked MSC cruises in September & October are wondering when MSC will notify us of itinerary changes due to what has happened in the Crimean Peninsula and the events threatening other areas in the Ukraine.

 

We are booked on the October 3rd MSC Orchestra out of Venice. Two of our scheduled ports are Odessa & Yalta. We'd like to have the itinerary changes as soon as possible so that we feel comfortable about our upcoming cruise and so that we have time to plan our activities in the "new" ports. We have noted that the MSC office has already substituted a port in Greece and a port in Bulgaria for Odessa & Yalta for the April & May sailings. We hope they soon will make a similar change for us before final payment.

 

Thank you,

 

Scampi on Cruise Critic (Santa)

Edited March 31, 2014 by scampi

[YVRCruiser]

Hello scampi,

 

There are 4 of of us on the same sailing as yourself and we are comfortable waiting to see how this plays out over the next few months. My concern will grow as we get closer to the final payment date mid July. I think Odessa should be fine if the situation does not escalate so if anything, I would prefer to see just Yalta changed. Even then, we still would rather go to Yalta if it is safe. Time will tell.

 

We also want to start planning our stops and this makes it difficult. As Russia requires a Visa, or excursion, it will change our trip as we do not usually book the ship options.

 

We were really looking forward to this cruise, and we got ourselves a great deal on it. Now all this uncertainty...

 

I hope you get some answers shortly, and happy cruising.

 

Rob

[The_Big_M]

October's a lot further off than May. They'd normally wait some until much closer to see what impact there is, if any.

[scampi]

Hello scampi,

 

There are 4 of of us on the same sailing as yourself and we are comfortable waiting to see how this plays out over the next few months. My concern will grow as we get closer to the final payment date mid July. I think Odessa should be fine if the situation does not escalate so if anything, I would prefer to see just Yalta changed. Even then, we still would rather go to Yalta if it is safe. Time will tell.

 

We also want to start planning our stops and this makes it difficult. As Russia requires a Visa, or excursion, it will change our trip as we do not usually book the ship options.

 

We were really looking forward to this cruise, and we got ourselves a great deal on it. Now all this uncertainty...

 

I hope you get some answers shortly, and happy cruising.

 

Rob

 

 

Thank you Rob,

I think you're on the cruise when we get off. Only one other person has posted on our roll call and they're on the September cruise before our Oct. 3rd cruise. The OP cancelled & booked another cruise. Why don't you join us on our thread or do you have your own roll call thread? If our itinerary remains the same, we'll definitely use Yalta as a Sea Day & not exit the ship. No way can we support what has happened to Crimea. Odessa is very tentative although 2 cruise staff members from the Ukraine a couple of weeks ago on one of our sailings advised us strongly not to disembark in their country. There's a lot of fear and uncertainty and stress regarding ongoing events happening within their country.

 

To us, Bulgaria or another port in Greece sounds like a great alternative.

 

Santa

[houtbay]

Thank you Rob,

I think you're on the cruise when we get off. Only one other person has posted on our roll call and they're on the September cruise before our Oct. 3rd cruise. The OP cancelled & booked another cruise. Why don't you join us on our thread or do you have your own roll call thread? If our itinerary remains the same, we'll definitely use Yalta as a Sea Day & not exit the ship. No way can we support what has happened to Crimea. Odessa is very tentative although 2 cruise staff members from the Ukraine a couple of weeks ago on one of our sailings advised us strongly not to disembark in their country. There's a lot of fear and uncertainty and stress regarding ongoing events happening within their country.

 

To us, Bulgaria or another port in Greece sounds like a great alternative.

 

Santa

 

Hi My husband Ken and I are on the October 14th cruise and also are interested in getting any details on port changes. Hazel