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Oct-Nov 2019 Persian Gulf and Hormuz Straight


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8 hours ago, JPR said:

Is spellcheck “correcting” Straits of Hormuz to “Straight of Hormuz” in everyone’s posts?

 

While we are not suppose to question or comment on how a poster spells something (or their grammar), when I did a Bing search, I found two spellings "Hormus" and "Hormuz".  Fortunately we all know what is being discussed.  During the search I learned that Iran threatened to close this waterway back in April so I am not sure it will be resolved in the near future.

 

While it would be a pleasant surprise if Regent decided to do land transfers, (and we have seen this done on another cruise line), I suspect that Dubai would be dropped before they start "schlepping" passengers back and forth from Fujairah.

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14 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

 

While it would be a pleasant surprise if Regent decided to do land transfers, (and we have seen this done on another cruise line), I suspect that Dubai would be dropped before they start "schlepping" passengers back and forth from Fujairah.

 

I disagree with your assumption that Dubai would be dropped; I think Dave's "alternative" is quite ingenious and something that Regent would entertain.  Of course, it doesn't matter what the two of us think, we will know the answer in a few months.

 

Marc

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36 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

I think Dave's "alternative" is quite ingenious and something that Regent would entertain.

I agree.

It is no different to the bussing that Regent is used to having to provide from the turn-round ports nearest to cities such as Rome, Bangkok, Beijing and the like.

Much more practical to keep Dubai as the airport for incoming & outgoing passengers and simply turn the ship around in Oman, if the Strait of Hormuz is still seen as a risk at the time of the cruise.

As you rightly say, we will see nearer the time when Regent have the up-to-date risk assessment and have considered the options. 

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Not quite the same.  Passengers generally arrive at the ship from the morning to a couple of hours prior to sailing. They either get there on their own or Regent provides transportation (IF they have booked into the Regent hotel and have Regent air).  Non-concierge and above guests arrive the day of embarkation.  If their flight arrives 4 hours prior to sailing, for instance, it would be enough time to get to the ship in Dubai but not necessarily enough time to drive to Fujairah.  And, can't help but wonder about the safety of tourists on buses on the drive to the ship.

 

Agree that Dave's idea is great (he generally has great ideas), however, we need to look at the entire situation (i.e. Regent having to transport embarking passengers from Dubai to Fujairah - likely all day - many buses - many trips.  Regent could decide to provide an overnight hotel and transportation for everyone which would help tremendously but people would still need to change their flights (Regent would change flights for passengers with Regent Air).

 

Marc, of course you are right - it doesn't matter what we think but there is no harm in speculating.  I'm guessing that Regent will make a decision in September.  From the sound of things on the news today, the situation is worsening - not getting better.  Actually, people in the U.K. are likely watching the news regarding their ship that is now possession of Iran.  

 

lincslady - guess that computers think that they are smarter than we are.  I know that when I try to spell "Splendor" or any other word that may end in "our" in many countries, my computers correct it to remove the "u".  Since many people that post on CC are from other countries, this could be why they don't want people pointing out spelling or grammatical errors.  Thanks for clarifying what word was being misspelled.  

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

And, can't help but wonder about the safety of tourists on buses on the drive to the ship.

 

You are not seriously suggesting that the United Arab Emirates are unsafe compared to Italy (Rome), the UK (London) and Thailand (Bangkok)? I travelled to the UAE several times and I can assure you that roads are new, countryside traffic is minimal, bus drivers are law abiding and have a disciplined driving style, street crime is non existent, tourism is well developed,  ordinary residents do not own guns, there hasn't been any terror attack ever.  Europeans vacation there all the time.

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Was not suggesting what you accused me of. No one knows what the current issues are going to cause in that region.  You may know the area but many of us do not (although we have been to Oman, Dubai etc. )

 

Since the road we are discussing is a way to get around the area where there are problems, Iran could go after that area. None of us know the answer but Regent generally does whatever is safest for the passengers, crew and their ships. 

 

Egypt was very safe at one time ..... until it wasn’t 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Floridiana said:

I am sorry I interpreted your post as doubting the ability of the UAE to keep visitors safe.  Were you really thinking of Iran attacking  UAE territory?   

 

I honestly have no idea what Iran will do next.  I never thought that they would commandeer a British ship.  It isn't beyond the realm of possibility that they would want to cause problems for British and American tourists using the road to and from Dubai since we cannot get there by sea.

 

Hopefully there will be no issues.  I felt very safe in Dubai and really enjoy that part of the world (which is why we are returning next year).  The last time we were there was when there were pirate problems in the Gulf of Aden.   We had special security equipment and Israeli soldiers onboard.   

 

Our will be interesting to learn what Regent decided to do.

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As many countries are attempting to de-escalate tensions with Iran, I am not sure of the reasons for the continuing scaremongering posts on this thread.

 

On 7/22/2019 at 6:52 PM, fluckey said:

No way of knowing anything at this point, but if there is real trouble in the region, Regent may not want to be anywhere near the Straight which would eliminate disembarkation at Fujairah.

 

On 7/22/2019 at 9:12 PM, Travelcat2 said:

I don't think that Regent would mind if it had to end the cruise somewhere other than Dubai.  That may be easier to do than to transport all of the passengers with their luggage (and they likely would need lots of security for the buses).  Also, while I am not sure where your cruise is ending (is it Dubai?), there will be passengers waiting to board the ship (if they can get flights which is iffy right now).

 

On 7/23/2019 at 4:45 AM, Travelcat2 said:

While it would be a pleasant surprise if Regent decided to do land transfers, (and we have seen this done on another cruise line), I suspect that Dubai would be dropped before they start "schlepping" passengers back and forth from Fujairah.

 

15 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

From the sound of things on the news today, the situation is worsening - not getting better.

 

15 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

And, can't help but wonder about the safety of tourists on buses on the drive to the ship.

 

12 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Since the road we are discussing is a way to get around the area where there are problems, Iran could go after that area.

 

 

I could be wrong but I agree with @Floridiana that it is highly unlikely that Iran will escalate to attacks on UAE ports, airports or roads Therefore Dave's solution of transfers from the port at Fujairah to Dubai is eminently sensible, very simple & safe to accomplish and would cause the least disruption to guests' existing travel arrangements.

(I am not aware of any difficulties with flights to/from Dubai, as intimated in post #23)

785616340_UAETransfer.thumb.jpg.b22aa1f85cc0927701da4da3bc1a42ee.jpg

 

 

However, if the situation in the area does massively escalate and say spread into the Gulf of Oman then obviously Regent would have no alternative but to end the cruise segment at one of the Oman ports or elsewhere.

The travel arrangements for all incoming and outgoing guests would then have be totally re-scheduled, which I am sure that most hope would not be necessary.

 

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Just a reminder, Fujarah is in UAE not Oman; no need to cross any international borders from Dubai.

 

And, as the map Flossie posted shows so well, the road to Fujarah is nowhere near the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Let's just wait and see what happens.  

 

Marc

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20 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Not quite the same.  Passengers generally arrive at the ship from the morning to a couple of hours prior to sailing. They either get there on their own or Regent provides transportation (IF they have booked into the Regent hotel and have Regent air).  Non-concierge and above guests arrive the day of embarkation.  If their flight arrives 4 hours prior to sailing, for instance, it would be enough time to get to the ship in Dubai but not necessarily enough time to drive to Fujairah.  And, can't help but wonder about the safety of tourists on buses on the drive to the ship.

 

Agree that Dave's idea is great (he generally has great ideas), however, we need to look at the entire situation (i.e. Regent having to transport embarking passengers from Dubai to Fujairah - likely all day - many buses - many trips.  Regent could decide to provide an overnight hotel and transportation for everyone which would help tremendously but people would still need to change their flights (Regent would change flights for passengers with Regent Air).

 

Marc, of course you are right - it doesn't matter what we think but there is no harm in speculating.  I'm guessing that Regent will make a decision in September.  From the sound of things on the news today, the situation is worsening - not getting better.  Actually, people in the U.K. are likely watching the news regarding their ship that is now possession of Iran.  

 

lincslady - guess that computers think that they are smarter than we are.  I know that when I try to spell "Splendor" or any other word that may end in "our" in many countries, my computers correct it to remove the "u".  Since many people that post on CC are from other countries, this could be why they don't want people pointing out spelling or grammatical errors.  Thanks for clarifying what word was being misspelled.  

 

 

Any passenger on a cruise like this who arranges for his flight to arrive a couple of hours or even the morning of departure is taking a far greater risk than that caused by potential instability in the region. Applying Murphy's Law something will go wrong and they will miss the ship. 

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Really do not want to get political (plus, we are on CC - not CNN or FOX) but the news I'm reading in this country is not showing attempts to deescalate anything with Iran. 

 

While I like Dave's idea, it is by no means "simple" or "easy" - not for the passengers or for Regent.  Easy to me would be dropping the port but I understand that Dubai may be a highlight for people on the upcoming cruise.  It still will likely cause flight changes for some passengers to insure that they will have time to debark the plane in Dubai, get their luggage, clear immigration/customs and find their way to the bus that will take them to the ship (where it is typically required that a passenger be onboard 2 hours prior to sailing).   

 

IMO, there is nothing wrong with any of the posts on this thread.  We are all speculating as to what may happen.  We are going to Dubai next year and if we were going in October, 2019, I would not be afraid to go at all but I do need to be aware of all possibilities.

 

Marc - I wasn't thinking about whether or not Oman was part of the UAE.  When I was researching the road to Dubai I found an article about a great new freeway/road from Oman.  It probably was not a helpful comment.

 

Do want to correct my statement about flights to Dubai.  Guess I'm doing too much research and mixed up Dubai with Egypt a destination that British Airways is currently not flying to (for a week) and I'm unsure if there are any flights to Egypt from the U.S.  

 

It would be a shame if Dubai's tourism was hurt by all of this but if ships cannot easily reach Dubai (speaking of all cruise lines - not just Regent), it is a port that will likely be dropped.  

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Interesting article yesterday from Middle East Logistics, noting that Royal Caribbean does not currently see a threat to cruise ships visiting or sailing from the Arabian Gulf.  I’m quite surprised, actually.  See:

https://www.logisticsmiddleeast.com/transport/maritime/33435-iran-crisis-not-currently-a-threat-to-cruise-shipping-in-dubai-says-royal-caribbean

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46 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

While I like Dave's idea, it is by no means "simple" or "easy" - not for the passengers or for Regent.  Easy to me would be dropping the port but I understand that Dubai may be a highlight for people on the upcoming cruise.  It still will likely cause flight changes for some passengers to insure that they will have time to debark the plane in Dubai, get their luggage, clear immigration/customs and find their way to the bus that will take them to the ship (where it is typically required that a passenger be onboard 2 hours prior to sailing). 

Since this point has been raised a couple of times, I think some additional facts would be helpful in evaluating my proposal.  First, there is an included three-day precruise program in Dubai before the November 16 Dubai to Singapore cruise.  Coupled with the passengers taking advantage of the the one-night hotel stay for passengers in Concierge and above suites, it seems likely that there will be a sizable contingent of passengers in Dubai prior to November 16 who can be easily bused from Dubai to Fujairah for embarkation on the 16th.

 

Second, the Voyager is scheduled to depart Dubai at 6 pm on November 16.  I think an assumption is being made that the Voyager would leave Fujairah at 6 pm on November 16 which might cause some passengers to have to change their flight arrangements to avoid missing the ship in Fujairah.  However as my proposal states, the Voyager would either stay overnight in Fujairah on the 16th (obviously not a problem for late arriving passengers) or would cruise around in the Gulf of Oman and return to Fujairah on November 17 for its normal port stop there as originally scheduled.  If the Voyager did not stay overnight in Fujairah on the 16th, it could leave Fujairah later than 6 pm so that late arriving passengers would not miss the ship.

 

IMO removing Dubai would be much more difficult for passengers and Regent than leaving it in place and transporting passengers to Fujairah.  Of course, as others have pointed out, this is only speculation and we'll just have to wait until Autumn to see what happens, if anything.

 

Dave

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Dave, thanks so much for the further explanation.  Having the ship overnight in Dubai and potentially in Fujairah does make a difference.  It would be nice if Regent provided transportation for people not staying at a Regent hotel as long as they could make it to the hotel in time for the transport.

 

So, if I understand it correctly, passengers that will be boarding the Voyager in Fujairah arrive in Dubai and will need to take either Regent transportation or their own transportation to the ship.

 

It is always refreshing to hear your ideas as they are on point.  

 

Here are a couple of current articles that may be of interest (or not) https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/ships-urged-to-alert-navies-before-sailing-through-strait-of-hormuz/

 

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201906031075589269-us-carrier-not-sailing-through-hormuz-strait/

 

 

 

 

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I'm on the Barcelona to Dubai cruise (while I hoping for some sort of special badge or certificate for transversing the Strait of Hormuz), I would be very happy with DaveFr's solution. Have hotel, excursion, and flight booked in Dubai. I hope someone from Regent is monitoring this thread. Visiting Iran is not on my bucket list.

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Being on the same cruise i am interested in what possible options there could be if problems continue.  I am hopefully that the cruise will go off without a hitch but regardless what will be will be. 

Kinkajou, that must have been quite the experience. 

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On 7/27/2019 at 3:43 PM, Kinkajou said:

I'm on the Barcelona to Dubai cruise (while I hoping for some sort of special badge or certificate for transversing the Strait of Hormuz), I would be very happy with DaveFr's solution. Have hotel, excursion, and flight booked in Dubai. I hope someone from Regent is monitoring this thread. Visiting Iran is not on my bucket list.

We are also on this cruise (but starting in Athens) and will basically just go where Regent takes us; both while on the ship, and also for flights.  But Kinkajou, think about what an exciting excursion it would be to go to Iran.  That's a place to which we never expect to go. 

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