Industrial action in Cadiz - December cruise cancelled

[colint17]

Just had an email stating that my Mediterranean Moments cuise on 9th December 2021, sailing on Marella Explorer 2 from Malaga, has been cancelled.

 

Sadly, due to ongoing industrial action in Cadiz, your cruise will no longer be going ahead. 
Marella Explorer is currently in dry dock in Cadiz, where major disruption has seen much of the essential maintenance come to a standstill. This means works will not be completed in time for Marella Explorer to head to the Canaries.
 As a result of this, we’ve made the difficult decision to move Marella Explorer 2 to the Canaries to cover Marella Explorer.

 

This is a bit confusing as Marella are still selling the same cruise I was booked on running a week later on 16th December.  How can the ship Marella Explorer 2 get back from the Canaries in time for a weeks cruise starting from Malaga on 16th December ? 

[2BACRUISER]

we cross posted!!  We were going this thursday !!! 

Edited November 22, 2021 by 2BACRUISER

[colint17]

I agree, just read your post minutes after posting mine !

 

My confusion is that I phoned Marella immediately I received the cancellation email to try to book the same cruise and the agent said it was very unusual for cruises to be cancelled, and was happy to rebook me on same cruise a week later on EX2 ???

Edited November 22, 2021 by colint17

[2BACRUISER]

What irks me is they must have known sooner than this they were going to cancel so why leave it until we'd bought our test, trips, printed labels, filled in covid bleddy questionnaires. Angry does not cover it. 😠😠

[colint17]

I feel your pain, fortunately we are both retired so can change our plans fairly easily.

 

BUT .. just last month we had a another cruise for April 2022 cancelled by Celestyal going round the Greek islands.

 

Getting the feeling we will never get away 😠

[Cardiff girl]

10 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

What irks me is they must have known sooner than this they were going to cancel so why leave it until we'd bought our test, trips, printed labels, filled in covid bleddy questionnaires. Angry does not cover it. 😠😠

Same! I was heading off to my extortionate airport hotel tomorrow ahead of their 6am flight - no indication there was an issue. 😡

[2BACRUISER]

They knew there were problems in Cadiz last week. Queen Elizabeth was unable to call their last friday. Obviously they stand to lose more money on cancelling two canarues cruises rather than 2 malaga weeks. This was the only chance we had of a week away this year. After next weekend we go in to animals to butchers for xmas and december  births we wont get chance now until after harvest next year we are dead on our feet. It's too late to arrange anything else now. I am distraught. 

[ferretktf]

@colint17

 

We are also booked on that 16th December cruise from Malaga

 

Looking at the bare details. three Mediterranean Cruises have been cancelled so far - 25th Nov, 2nd Dec and 9th Dec - that's three weeks out of the itinerary

 

The industrial action is now into it's seventh day - with apparently no end in sight (although three attempts to end it have been tried and failed)

 

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2021/11/19/cadiz-shipyard-strike-losing-the-industry-millions-of-euros/     <- this article hoped it would be finished by today

 

https://www.tellerreport.com/business/2021-11-23-third-attempt-to-reach-an-agreement-in-the-metal-sector-fails.SyZHwo-cuF.html   <- this article from earlier today suggests no obvious end in sight

 

Potentially there is still at least a week's leeway before they have to cancel the 16th December departure.  I'm not an expert on Spanish Industrial Action so no idea on how long these things normally take to get resolved 

 

Massive commiserations to those on the three cancelled cruises.  Fingers crossed some of you may be able to switch to the 16th if it still goes ahead?

 

 

[Medeba]

If the remaining EX2 cruises go ahead from 16 December I would guess it would be on the Explorer as I wouldn't expect Marella to bring EX2 back from the Canaries to complete the remaining Spanish cruise itineraries.  Keeping fingers crossed that the work gets finished in time but I won't hold my breath!

[2BACRUISER]

Just a heads up i have had grief with Tui re my refund as the card i used to pay for it had gone out of date. I was on the line to them for 27 mins trying to get it resolved and am now awaiting a call back with a resolution.

In the meantime I contacted Barclaycard and they said Vendors DO NOT need an expiry date to refund cards so just be aware if they try to fob you off and always use a credit card to book. 

 

[howmuch!]

There is a £300 Black Friday offer on website - for every cruise up to Dec 31st 2022 - just in case anyone decides to book something else - probably not after such disappointment ☹️

[Cardiff girl]

42 minutes ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Just a heads up i have had grief with Tui re my refund as the card i used to pay for it had gone out of date. I was on the line to them for 27 mins trying to get it resolved and am now awaiting a call back with a resolution.

In the meantime I contacted Barclaycard and they said Vendors DO NOT need an expiry date to refund cards so just be aware if they try to fob you off and always use a credit card to book. 

 

Sorry to hear that you've had a further bad experience. Did they offer any compensation for costs incurred - tests, insurance, etc?

[2BACRUISER]

1 hour ago, Cardiff girl said:

Sorry to hear that you've had a further bad experience. Did they offer any compensation for costs incurred - tests, insurance, etc?

Nothing just straight refund 

Consider my expenses

Farm sitter £300

Kennels 2 dogs £270

Insurance £300

Parking airport £72

Chromatics £60 

Not to mention all my time packing planning arranging 

They sent me a text to rate their service I had to delete it b4 I gave them severe abuse,!!!!

Edited November 23, 2021 by 2BACRUISER
Additional information

[howmuch!]

Wow - not surprised you are fuming.

 

Is there any chance that the cancellation or abandonment parts of the insurance would cover any of these costs?

 

Martin Lewis website usually has useful info

 

[ferretktf]

Just checked the cruise positions - see image

 

unfortunately the Explorer is the ship most affected by the Strike as it is still in dry dock. The other three cruise ships affected are on the water.

 

I am a little bemused as to why Marella have not diverted Discovery2, which tonight is off the coast of Sicily heading for Croatia, with no cruise scheduled until March. It’s only two days away from Malaga.  I assume it is crew related, in that it probably only has a skeleton crew on board and I guess they can’t simply leverage the crew hanging around to re board Explorer.

[Cardiff girl]

2BACRUISER, hope your insurance covers some of that. I'd expected better from Tui, and yesterday they were still sending pre-departure emails. It makes me wonder whether or not to risk accepting a replacement. I wouldn't fancy the chances for the Spanish cruises they haven't cancelled yet. 

[paulatsea]

Sorry to hear about this and all the hassle .

 

Marella customer service is disorganised - some are very good but others are hopeless - it depends who you get on the phone - I wish they were as good as they are on board.

 

something else separate to this  which annoys me is the massive variation in prices over time -  I booked a week ago for Croatia Italy explorer 2 and the price had gone down £300 - I know lots of companies vary prices and they can go up and down but it’s not right that it’s such a big variation.

I wish I hadn’t booked it - I would rather save and go with saga who do a price guarantee- but they are expensive.

 

best of luck with refunds and changes.

 

paul

 

[terrier]

Hi, yes we are amongst those with an email notification that out cruise is cancelled, still waiting to hear from them direct, I tried to contact them last night, couldn’t get through, tried the chat function and go no help at all. Am appalled at the way they are treating people. It seems morally wrong to cancel our cruise so that others can have theirs. If it was our ship out of action or COVID issues I would have been disappointed but understood, this has just made me soooo angry. And yes we got an apparently incorrect cancellation email, then a few hours later  a pre cruise check list before the 2nd cancellation email. Felt like they were rubbing my face in it🤬

Edited November 24, 2021 by terrier
Additional detail

[paulatsea]

Horrible for you - it makes no sense to kick you off your cruise if another one has the problem -  it just makes more people unhappy.

 

chaotic. 
 

 

[Cardiff girl]

When's the first Canaries cruise? Explorer has areas for children and youth but Explorer2 is built adults only. Will they be putting kids on a ship with no facilities or telling families they can't come? 

[Cardiff girl]

1 hour ago, terrier said:

Hi, yes we are amongst those with an email notification that out cruise is cancelled, still waiting to hear from them direct, I tried to contact them last night, couldn’t get through, tried the chat function and go no help at all. Am appalled at the way they are treating people. It seems morally wrong to cancel our cruise so that others can have theirs. If it was our ship out of action or COVID issues I would have been disappointed but understood, this has just made me soooo angry. And yes we got an apparently incorrect cancellation email, then a few hours later  a pre cruise check list before the 2nd cancellation email. Felt like they were rubbing my face in it🤬

Hi Terrier, that's what got me the most, that they were pinching our ship for someone else to enjoy. Presumably it'll take a while to get the ship ready for the new itinerary. 

[ferretktf]

First Canaries cruise leaves 29th December from Gran Canaria. Current Spanish cruise ends in Malaga tomorrow morning (25th), so they have 3 full days to move the ship (26,27,28)

 

908 nautical miles at , say, average 20mph is nearly two days solid, so that takes care of 2 of the 3 days…..so it is fair to say that it is tight, particularly given that - presumably - at least some of the crew will need to switch across.

 

I expect they will attempt to use the three days to temporarily convert part of Explorer 2 to include childrens areas. I’m not familiar with EX2 so can’t comment on where that would be, but would think that there would be problems if they didn’t.

 

we await trip reports from anybody who is going to be on that first cruise.

[Cardiff girl]

1 hour ago, ferretktf said:

First Canaries cruise leaves 29th December from Gran Canaria. Current Spanish cruise ends in Malaga tomorrow morning (25th), so they have 3 full days to move the ship (26,27,28)

 

908 nautical miles at , say, average 20mph is nearly two days solid, so that takes care of 2 of the 3 days…..so it is fair to say that it is tight, particularly given that - presumably - at least some of the crew will need to switch across.

 

I expect they will attempt to use the three days to temporarily convert part of Explorer 2 to include childrens areas. I’m not familiar with EX2 so can’t comment on where that would be, but would think that there would be problems if they didn’t.

 

we await trip reports from anybody who is going to be on that first cruise.

Thanks for that, ferretktf. I read that Flutes champagne bar is where the youth area was, so they wouldn't be able to convert it back easily. If the Cádiz strike lasts, I wonder how late they will leave the decision about cancelling the later Spanish cruises. Fingers crossed they don't have to. 

[ferretktf]

Possible Good News

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/striking-metalworkers-clash-with-police-southern-spain-2021-11-24/

 

"CADIZ, Spain, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Metalworkers unions in the southern Spanish city of Cadiz reached a preliminary pay deal with employers late on Wednesday, ending a nine-day strike involving some 20,000 workers that produced tense confrontations with police.

 

A spokesperson for the UGT union confirmed a deal had been reached but did not provide details of the accord, which must still be ratified by union delegates at each company"

 

Also (n.b. clipped)

 

"shipbuilder Navantia was not involved in the strike, their operations have been disrupted.

workers at the plant had been unable to get past the picket lines, and were only able to enter on Wednesday with police assistance."

 

Hopefully this means that the work on EX2 can resume swiftly.

Edited November 25, 2021 by ferretktf

[Cliffholl55]

10 hours ago, ferretktf said:

First Canaries cruise leaves 29th December from Gran Canaria. Current Spanish cruise ends in Malaga tomorrow morning (25th), so they have 3 full days to move the ship (26,27,28)

 

908 nautical miles at , say, average 20mph is nearly two days solid, so that takes care of 2 of the 3 days…..so it is fair to say that it is tight, particularly given that - presumably - at least some of the crew will need to switch across.

 

I expect they will attempt to use the three days to temporarily convert part of Explorer 2 to include childrens areas. I’m not familiar with EX2 so can’t comment on where that would be, but would think that there would be problems if they didn’t.

 

we await trip reports from anybody who is going to be on that first cruise.

Not sure you dates add up. Unless cancelled ( and is still on sale ) the next Canary cruise departs 13/14 December so has over 2 weeks ro get there etc.