Morella Discovery 2, Aegean Cruise. Anyone else got concerns?

[Lazysol]

Is anyone else concerned about travelling down the Suez Canal and Egypt with the current unrest in the area?  I am.

[Lazysol]

Spoke to TUI today still insisting it is safe and will not change.

Asked if they would be happy sailing down the Suez Canal….. no reply!

[Simonthesailor]

We are booked on same cruise. No concerns as yet with revised routing. If the situation escalates as it may our feelings may change. It could end up as a repositioning cruise with no/even fewer port visits! Marella has reacted quickly so far and will no doubt do so again if safety dictates.

[vwgolf]

We had an Egypt stop cancelled a few years ago by Marella (or Thomson's as they were then) for safety reason. Ironically, we ended up going to Israel instead! 

[Simonthesailor]

Hi Lazysol

Have you heard any more fromTUI. Assume still no need for visa obtained in advance 

[Lazysol]

I haven’t heard anything else and as far as they are concerned there isn’t any danger.

We have decided not to go if they stick to this route. Seems morally wrong as well as dangerous. 

[Simonthesailor]

We are still going …

[FuzzyDuckUK]

I can't see the issue, the Suez canal is a long way from the Gaza Strip and since this part of a relocation cruise to get the ship to the far east, unless the Suez area was a war zone there is no way they would take the long way round. Not sure where morals come it to it.

 

 

[Simonthesailor]

And now the ports of call have changed again - no surprise. Sharm el Sheik instead of Jordan.

[DodoSails]

Hi, I haven't received a notification re this change yet.   This is for the Aegean cruise on 15 November?   Are there any other changes?   Thanks for your help.   Karen

[Lazysol]

Yes there are no stops in Jordan, diverted to more ports in Egypt. Apparently we will receive a phone call with options. 

[DodoSails]

Many thx indeed for update. I’ve still received no notification - glad to hear that there maybe alternative options as well. Let’s see what happens tomorrow!! 
 

[Simonthesailor]

I have had two chats with Marella. They offer a fee free change to another cruise or cancellation with money back. With the former they would refund or charge for any price difference as may be the case.

I looked at alternative cruises on similar dates and surprise, surprise, what had the day before been great advertised last minute bargains rapidly increased in price & they say, now sold out! 
I conclude many have cancelled. I have suggested they offer an upgrade to those who do not change or pull out. To me that would be a good move for them as an alternative to losing business through cancellation. Not able to offer that yet they say.

I do not know if Marella ever does do upgrades, free or otherwise, anyway. Anyone have experience of that? I would guess the ship is not full or near it. This cruise does not seem to have been advertised for a while.

[DodoSails]

Many thanks for your update.   We have now received an email offering us the option to cancel and transfer to another cruise, which we definitely want to do.   We are waiting to hear back from the Retention Team re transferring onto another trip and different itinerary.   We are very relieved to be able to change, especially as we had read that other cruise companies have already cancelled all voyages to Egypt.

[DodoSails]

Actually, we haven't been given the option to cancel and get a refund.   We booked through Planet Cruise - can I ask if you booked directly through Tui?

[D4524]

I have been contacted by Iglu cruises and they said I would get a full refund Marella have also emailed me to advise that the shore excursions will be refunded in 10 days…

[Simonthesailor]

5 hours ago, Hoare said:

Actually, we haven't been given the option to cancel and get a refund.   We booked through Planet Cruise - can I ask if you booked directly through Tui?

Yes, we booked directly through TUI (well, via Topcashback!) and Marella cruise folk are quite easy to talk to. 

[Lazysol]

TUI rang me and offered a refund to be received within 7 days. Booked directly with them via their app. 

[D4524]

Did anyone go on this cruise? I can see it is sailing to the Oman on the cruise tracker just wondered if there were many passengers on board.

[Pensioncruiser]

Is it just me but tracking ceased on D2, 5 days ago when she entered the Red sea.!

[DodoSails]

Hi - my husband's been tracking Marella Discovery 2 on Cruise mapper.   According to this, the ship is currently moored at Sharm Ash Sheik (not Sharm El Sheik).   Yesterday, it looked like it was sailing randomly round the red sea!   We're very relieved indeed to have been able to cancel the trip but also wondered how many people went ahead 

[Pensioncruiser]

Thanks for your reply it is a worrying situation and my personal feelings are that you took the right decision.

[DodoSails]

Yes, we were so relieved that we were able to cancel the trip.   We were very anxious ourselves and so were the family.   Now re-booked on a lovely cruise for the new year.

[Pensioncruiser]

Hope you have a great cruise and perhaps in the future you will do the Red sea, we can certainly recommend it , Petra is unbelievable and Cairo is something else but even when we went, many years ago, we had problems, armed guards etc. 

[Pensioncruiser]

Hopefully all onboard are ok , tracker is showing armed security onboard. Fingers crossed for everyone.