Odyssey may not go to to Ashdod Israel tomorrow

[gumshoe958]

20 minutes ago, celoplyr said:

Sure, it's easy to me.  I could have paid less for a Greek Isles cruise.  If RCL is charging a premium for going to Israel, they should understand that if they decide not to put the ship or passengers in harm's way, they should have plans for undoing their premium.  Same way that the Cuba cruises that were scheduled to go, and people were on the ship, had some of that premium refunded. 

 

In a extreme view- why not put everyone on a premium port on a cruise (Havana, in the caribbean, israel in the med, etc) and then cancel that port, replace them with cheaper ports (Cozumel, Chania) and keep the money for every cruise?

 

I'm not suggesting that RCL should refund a lot, but let's say the passengers get back 50% of the premium they paid over an equivalent Greek Island cruise (which is what they got).  Then both parties are sharing in the risk. Heck, they're even homeporting in Haifa soon! Can you imagine them being like "oh sorry, you can't board the ship here, so you have to buy new flights, and we aren't refunding you"? That's insane. And other companies have run Holy Land cruises for years and this isn't a new thing that Israel is unpredictable.

A good travel insurance policy will pay out for missed ports. And Royal may end up offering some token OBC - albeit not a lot.

But it’s a fast moving situation and while understandably passengers want answers immediately, organising logistics takes time so a bit of patience may be required.

[sandebeach]

I am not expecting any but it will be interesting to see if Royal offers us any compensation, like perhaps discounts on our Greek islands excursions. I would like to also give a shoutout to the awesome casino bar staff who were expecting three days off. They have been busy in the casino this evening!!

[sandebeach]

And here is the letter 

[kitkat343]

Here is a forum on last years' water taxi situation in Santorini:  https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2868732-are-water-taxis-running-in-santorini-hope-to-avoid-cable-car/

 

It looks like you might want to either take a shore excursion to get priority tender, or see if the private boat taxis are running (since they may or may not be)

Edited May 10, 2023 by kitkat343

[Ret MP]

4 hours ago, scottw3 said:

Did Royal offer any credit for the itinerary change?

This kind of question reminds me of when I used to work (now retired from) an Electric Utility Cooperative when the power went out for a short period of time.  Some, very few, people would call in and ask if they were going to be compensated for the time they went without electricity.  My answer:  I assure you, sir/ma'am, we will not charge you for any of the electricity you did not receive.  

[Tree_skier]

2 hours ago, sandebeach said:

And here is the letter 

While disappointing, that seems like fair compensation.

[Jkaczanowski]

Just now, Ret MP said:

This kind of question reminds me of when I used to work (now retired from) an Electric Utility Cooperative when the power went out for a short period of time.  Some, very few, people would call in and ask if they were going to be compensated for the time they went without electricity.  My answer:  I assure you, sir/ma'am, we will not charge you for any of the electricity you did not receive.  

 

Better analogy would be your cable or internet going out and your provider refusing to credit you for the days you were without service.  
 

In this case, junior suites were priced at grand suite rates and grand suites at star class prices.  Don’t get me wrong - it was the right decision to leave Israel but the credit provided was only about 1/8 the premium paid.  

[scottw3]

37 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

This kind of question reminds me of when I used to work (now retired from) an Electric Utility Cooperative when the power went out for a short period of time.  Some, very few, people would call in and ask if they were going to be compensated for the time they went without electricity.  My answer:  I assure you, sir/ma'am, we will not charge you for any of the electricity you did not receive.  

I never implied that I expected passengers to be given anything. I was just asking a simple factual question. As it turns out the answer was yes, they did give a credit. 

Is it a nice gesture of goodwill, yes.  Is it expected or required, no. 

Edited May 10, 2023 by scottw3

[ILCTCRUISER]

4 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

 

 

Looks like for June they are interporting but that wasn’t an option for TA, or even the rest of May as far as I know. 

Right you are!  Interporting.  Overlooked that possibility.

[Ret MP]

38 minutes ago, scottw3 said:

I never implied that I expected passengers to be given anything. I was just asking a simple factual question. As it turns out the answer was yes, they did give a credit. 

Is it a nice gesture of goodwill, yes.  Is it expected or required, no. 

And I didn't take it in any specific way.  It just made me reminisce about times past. 

[Ret MP]

53 minutes ago, Jkaczanowski said:

Better analogy would be your cable or internet going out and your provider refusing to credit you for the days you were without service.  

I hear ya.  But, in the case of cable and internet, you are actually paying for something on a monthly basis.  Electricity is based upon actual metered usage, in this case, the usage that didn't happen.  The premise of my post was that some people want compensation for something they physically didn't get.  On a cruise, if you don't get to a particular port, you are still cruising and they may substitute another port of call but they will credit back any port taxes and cruise company excursions, as appropriate.  

 

I don't know about my Internet but my cable company has something about how many hours it must be out before they credit some of the monthly fee.  I really haven't had an issue with either my electricity, internet, or cable (actually satellite) here in Alabama.  

[Morecruisesplz]

On 5/10/2023 at 3:10 PM, Ret MP said:

This kind of question reminds me of when I used to work (now retired from) an Electric Utility Cooperative when the power went out for a short period of time.  Some, very few, people would call in and ask if they were going to be compensated for the time they went without electricity.  My answer:  I assure you, sir/ma'am, we will not charge you for any of the electricity you did not receive.  

Love the new $. So easy to spot.

[ONECRUISER]

On 5/10/2023 at 10:38 AM, sandebeach said:

I am not expecting any but it will be interesting to see if Royal offers us any compensation, like perhaps discounts on our Greek islands excursions. I would like to also give a shoutout to the awesome casino bar staff who were expecting three days off. They have been busy in the casino this evening!!

Had Port Changes dozens of times, Weather, Civil War, Medical Emergency's. Once got $30, few times free drinks for couple hrs, extra Sea Days on most and on all rest of them...nothing

[PWP-001]

Almost the same exact thing occurred on my cruise 12/2010.  Beginning of week saw in the news Israel announced plans to continue building (I think) in Gaza Strip when we had planned ports in Haifa & Ashdod near end of week.  I thought, “well that’s not going to be good.”  
 

Back then Israel would bring delegates on board for us to clear customs/immigration the sea day before arrival.  We had an assigned time to report to a venue on board to present ourself for clearance.  All went as usual.  Upon arriving at Haifa we were told that we’d spend two days in Haifa and not visit Ashdod.  Our Ashdod planned shore excursions would run as planned.

 

when I went to cancel and ask for a refund —given a fairly recent news event where a bus carrying tourists was bombed— I got a defensive “why? Why? Why cancel” and a push back on a refund.  Me:  “I’m canceling for the same reason you won’t sail this ship to Ashdod.”  “The full refund will be credited back to you.”

 

Regrets that I didn’t get to visit.

Not sorry I took the safe approach.

[LibertyBella]

If you travel the world you have to be ready to accommodate world events.

 

Safety is always the priority for the ship captains, no matter how much the non-port calls may upset passengers.  

 

Right now I am watching the election coverage in Turkey, as I will be cruising to Istanbul in a few months.  The last time I tried to go to Istanbul there was an attempted coup, and cruise ships stopped going there for almost five years!  Tunisia is still on my list to visit as well.  Thankfully I have been to Machu Picchu, as the recent protests made many travelers miss the trips they had planned and saved for for years.

 

Poor RC. They are scrambling right now--how great they were able to offer two ports in Greece, one of my favorite countries in the world to cruise to and visit.  I am glad everybody on the ship is safe and comfortable.  I hope to visit Israel in the next year or so--definitely NOT by cruise ship!!

[c-leg5]

6 minutes ago, LibertyBella said:

If you travel the world you have to be ready to accommodate world events.

 

Safety is always the priority for the ship captains, no matter how much the non-port calls may upset passengers.  

 

Right now I am watching the election coverage in Turkey, as I will be cruising to Istanbul in a few months.  The last time I tried to go to Istanbul there was an attempted coup, and cruise ships stopped going there for almost five years!  Tunisia is still on my list to visit as well.  Thankfully I have been to Machu Picchu, as the recent protests made many travelers miss the trips they had planned and saved for for years.

 

Poor RC. They are scrambling right now--how great they were able to offer two ports in Greece, one of my favorite countries in the world to cruise to and visit.  I am glad everybody on the ship is safe and comfortable.  I hope to visit Israel in the next year or so--definitely NOT by cruise ship!!

I am waiting for updates on Rhapsody which is due to complete TA and homeport in Haifa.  Its homeport has already been changed once.