Cancellation of Alexandria, Egypt as well as Israel on Moon cruise 10th December

[Cruiser32323]

Silverseas hasn’t canceled theirs yet, but Royal Caribbean has through the rest of the year, which is Silverseas’ parent company. To be honest, it’s not safe to be anywhere near there right now. The U.S. State department has extreme caution for Americans traveling overseas, which means you shouldn’t travel there unless it’s absolutely necessary. That’s because there’s a high possibility of terrorist threats to Americans right now. 
 

My biggest frustration is that the rerouting of cruises to different ports that aren’t anything close to what our initial travel plans would have been. We wouldn’t have booked the cruise with the new ports. I personally don’t feel safe floating around in the Mediterranean with this war going on, and unfortunately, it’s not getting any better. And, the whole point of going on a cruise is to relax and explore in areas, but now it’s more like, let’s go to ports and hang out on the ship. I wouldn’t be relaxed in this current climate. 
 

MSC has canceled all cruises there through April 2024; Windstar canceled all of theirs through the fall of 2024; Norwegian also canceled all ports to Greece because of the proximity; Cyprus is apparently not safe to go to either anymore, and those port stops are also starting to get rerouted. 
 

What is everyone doing about their cruise travel plans through the end of the year and next year that has booked with Silverseas or other lines?

[TLCOhio]

3 hours ago, Cruiser32323 said:

To be honest, it’s not safe to be anywhere near there right now. The U.S. State department has extreme caution for Americans traveling overseas, which means you shouldn’t travel there unless it’s absolutely necessary. That’s because there’s a high possibility of terrorist threats to Americans right now.   MSC has canceled all cruises there through April 2024; Windstar canceled all of theirs through the fall of 2024; Norwegian also canceled all ports to Greece because of the proximity; Cyprus is apparently not safe to go to either anymore, and those port stops are also starting to get rerouted. What is everyone doing about their cruise travel plans through the end of the year and next year that has booked with Silverseas or other lines?

 

Breaking News this afternoon:  From the Wall Street Journal, they had this headline: “Royal Caribbean Adjusts 2024 Cruise Schedule to Avoid Israel” with these highlights: “Royal Caribbean has adjusted its cruise itineraries for 2024 to avoid calls to Israel, the second major cruise line to do so.  A Royal Caribbean spokesman said. "Due to the continued uncertainty in the area, we're adjusting several itineraries in 2024."  Earlier this week, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said it was canceling its planned calls to Israel for 2024.  Royal Caribbean is redeploying its Jewel of the Seas ship from Haifa, Israel, to Boston for 2024. Its Grandeur of the Seas ship will be redeployed from Haifa to Tampa, Fla. The Celebrity Cruises brand canceled all calls to Israel for its Celebrity Infinity ship for 2024.   Voyages that were scheduled to visit Israel in 2024 accounted for less than 1.5% of Royal Caribbean's total capacity for the year, Chief Financial Officer Naftali Holtz said last week on a conference call with analysts.”

 

Silversea's changes/impact was not announced as a part of this news release, but I assume this means no Silversea stops will happen for Israel in 2024.  Any other insights or background to share?  Reactions?

 

Full story at:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/royal-caribbean-adjusts-2024-cruise-schedule-to-avoid-israel-522cc80f

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Lisbon, NWSpain, Bordeaux/Brittany: Live/blog, June 2017 from Portugal to France along scenic Atlantic Coast on the Silver Spirit.  Now at 34,066 views.  Many pictures, details for history, food, culture, etc.:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511358

[temerarious]

10 hours ago, TLCOhio said:

 Below is the map just posted by Silversea as to how their 15-day,  Dec. 22-Jan. 6 cruise has changed so dramatically.  The stops have been adjusted with the skipping of planned/promised ports for Israel and Egypt.  

The 15-day, Dec 22-Jan 6 cruise itinerary never included Israel.  It is true that the Egypt ports have been changed.  This was the original plan:

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by temerarious

[nav1027]

Apparently the ship will be half-empty. I am looking at the number of cabins that are available in all categories. There are new ones every day (due to cancellations, I presume). I was really looking forward to this sailing, now my only hope is that they would divert us to the Adriatic Sea. 😉 

[canderson]

14 hours ago, nav1027 said:

Apparently the ship will be half-empty. I am looking at the number of cabins that are available in all categories. There are new ones every day (due to cancellations, I presume).

What system are you using that shows all available cabins on  SS ship?  Unlike the other two RCG public web sites, the SS site doesn't seem to allow for this, providing instead only a few cabin options for any selected class during mock bookings.  AM guessing you're not on a public SS system?

[Randyk47]

32 minutes ago, canderson said:

What system are you using that shows all available cabins on  SS ship?  Unlike the other two RCG public web sites, the SS site doesn't seem to allow for this, providing instead only a few cabin options for any selected class during mock bookings.  AM guessing you're not on a public SS system?

I too would be interested to see how somebody can actually determine the passenger load.  I understand getting kind of a rough idea by the number of cabins shown but as pointed out Silversea doesn’t show every open cabin in a category.  I think based on my previous experience that even my TA, who books a lot of Silverssea cruises, has to call to see if specific cabins are available.   I have never gotten the feeling she can see 100% of the inventory.  

Edited November 4, 2023 by Randyk47

[canderson]

31 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

I too would be interested to see how somebody can actually determine the passenger load.  I understand getting kind of a rough idea by the number of cabins shown but as pointed out Silversea doesn’t show every open cabin in a category.  I think based on my previous experience that even my TA, who books a lot of Silverssea cruises, has to call to see if specific cabins are available.   I have never gotten the feeling she can see 100% of the inventory.  

Yes, it only works one way.  What is never known is whether there are cabins shown as 'not available' that are in fact not yet booked, but rather, being held in inventory for other reasons.  This was especially true during COVID when certain sections of ships were often blocked off for use as quarantine areas. 

 

But if you look at the available cabins (on the X and RCCL sites, for example) for a mock booking, you can be assured that these are indeed unoccupied, and from that you can say, "The ship cabin occupancy can't be any greater than 'x %' ". 

 

What can't be known is how full it actually is.

 

That said, unless you're a SS agent with access to the full available inventory, which SS doesn't provide on their public website, you can't count available cabins to get this information.  At least that's my experience.  When doing a mock booking, I never see more than 3 cabins offered in any given class on the SS site.  Conversely, on the RCL and X sites, when selecting "You pick", or whatever, one sees all cabins available in the selected class.

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by canderson
typoz

[nav1027]

1 hour ago, canderson said:

What system are you using that shows all available cabins on  SS ship?  Unlike the other two RCG public web sites, the SS site doesn't seem to allow for this, providing instead only a few cabin options for any selected class during mock bookings.  AM guessing you're not on a public SS system?

I am just looking at the SS website and "memorizing" the previous results. For example, I see additional superior veranda suites showing up (only one was available on deck 7, then two, etc. while it shows at least 6 available on deck 8 and 6 available on deck 9, which is the maximum SS shows at once).

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by nav1027

[Fletcher]

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth is in Safaga, Egypt, today while the Spirit sails past.

[9stilton]

I like Terry in Ohio have booked to go on the Silverseas Mumbai to Singapore cruise in February 2024.   As Terry states this cruise was markedly changed some time ago, with the 3 days in Myanmar replaced due to the unrest in that country.   What wasn't stated was that Silverseas offered all passengers on that cruise a number of options because of the significant change.   From memory there was an option to allow cancellation with a full refund given and those who chose to remain on the cruise were offered  $500obc along with a 15% future cruise reduction.   

In this case the change of itinerary was made well ahead of the D2D 151 days cancellation clause and clearly Silverseas took the decision to make options available to prevent mass cancellation.

It will be interesting to see in this case if Silverseas make measured decisions on ALL future itineraries, with options offered well in advance, in order to bring clarity to the situation.    Otherwise I fear that they will create much bad feeling through continuing to dilute ports of call along with little or no compensation being paid to their clientele. 

Regards 

[taxatty]

Given losing Russian and various Black Sea port stops when the war in Ukraine began, and now Egyptian and Israeli ports being avoided for the time being, this is a significant portion of the world not presently visited by cruise ships.