Cancellation of cruise in the Middle East

[ORV]

4 hours ago, Linda Deenen said:

We will also be trying to make the best of this Nov 17 situation.  Once boarded, there is no point in ruining our own holiday. O will hopefully have some negative consequences because of this but I won’t let it affect the quality of my life.

Excellent point of view to take on this. 

[Hlitner]

Just wanted to post an interesting tidbit we picked up on the Princess blog.  As most here are aware, O has cancelled all their port visits to Turkey for the foreseeable future.  This week, the Enchanted Princess had its normal port visit to Kusadasi where there were no issues.  In fact, one poster reported that their guide mentioned that Americans should spend less time watching CNN and understand that a war between Israel and Gaza does not involve Turkey.  Interesting point of view in light of the comments made by President Erdogen.  

 

We could debate whether O is being overly cautious, in cancelling Turkey, but we do need to respect their concern about safety.

 

Hank

[edgee]

28 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We could debate whether O is being overly cautious, in cancelling Turkey, but we do need to respect their concern about safety.

I do not disagree, but given O's very poor handling of this Suez Canal/Red Sea cruise it is hard to use the term respect when referring to them these days.

[cruiserchuck]

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Just wanted to post an interesting tidbit we picked up on the Princess blog.  As most here are aware, O has cancelled all their port visits to Turkey for the foreseeable future.  This week, the Enchanted Princess had its normal port visit to Kusadasi where there were no issues.  In fact, one poster reported that their guide mentioned that Americans should spend less time watching CNN and understand that a war between Israel and Gaza does not involve Turkey.  Interesting point of view in light of the comments made by President Erdogen.  

 

We could debate whether O is being overly cautious, in cancelling Turkey, but we do need to respect their concern about safety.

 

Hank

We are currently onboard Riviera, and docked in Istanbul yesterday for an overnight stay.  We felt safe everywhere we went in Istanbul.  Riviera’s next cruise ends here in Istanbul, and for now, the itinerary has not been changed.

[Hlitner]

12 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

We are currently onboard Riviera, and docked in Istanbul yesterday for an overnight stay.  We felt safe everywhere we went in Istanbul.  Riviera’s next cruise ends here in Istanbul, and for now, the itinerary has not been changed.

But they have done it for the future.  For example, our late March Vista cruise was scheduled to go to both Istanbul and Kusadasi but those ports have been replaced with ports in Greece.  

[dock]

Our summer ‘24 ,Athens-Istanbul cruise , still has all 6 Turkish ports of call. 
 

I’m waiting to see what ports they would switch them to and hopefully well before final payment, if they are planning on changes. 
 

[cruiserchuck]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

But they have done it for the future.  For example, our late March Vista cruise was scheduled to go to both Istanbul and Kusadasi but those ports have been replaced with ports in Greece.  

I suspect they have kept the current Istanbul stops due to the fact that Riviera’s next cruise ends in Istanbul, and the cruise after that begins there.  Changing embarkation/debarkation locations costs Oceania money due to air changes.  

[Vertygo]

10 hours ago, Hlitner said:

But they have done it for the future.  For example, our late March Vista cruise was scheduled to go to both Istanbul and Kusadasi but those ports have been replaced with ports in Greece.  

My August 2024 Vista Istanbul to Athens has not changed so far.

Hoping it doesn’t, but not holding my breath.

[Vineyard View]

15 minutes ago, Vertygo said:

My August 2024 Vista Istanbul to Athens has not changed so far.

Hoping it doesn’t, but not holding my breath.

I wouldn’t hold my breath either. Other lines have cancelled already. I think this re-shifting of ships is going to put a lot of pressure on capacity at many islands of Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean. 

[mybagsarepacked]

On 11/11/2023 at 3:04 PM, Linda Deenen said:

We will also be trying to make the best of this Nov 17 situation.  Once boarded, there is no point in ruining our own holiday. O will hopefully have some negative consequences because of this but I won’t let it affect the quality of my life.

We have the same Attitude. We have decided to go, even though we live in Italy, travel extensively, and literally just came back from a 12- day Med cruise with a similar itinerary. We have decided to go, really enjoy it as best we can, leave our resentment at the door, and hang with people like you who feel the same way. We are not going to bite our noses to spite our faces, but we also are smart enough to know we vehemently disagree with this whole mess, and we are cancelling our future business with Oceania. Way too many other great lines out there. I will send you a DM and maybe we can have a coffee or a drink or have dinner with you all. 

[Linda Deenen]

Sounds great.  Please do. We don’t want to spend 3 weeks rehashing our misfortune and missing the gifts of cruising. This was a bucket list cruise for us and our first with O.  We are sorely disappointed and will continue to do what we can to discourage potential O cruisers in the future, but for now?  Lovely ship, new friends and we are on the water. How bad can that be?

[mybagsarepacked]

49 minutes ago, Linda Deenen said:

Sounds great.  Please do. We don’t want to spend 3 weeks rehashing our misfortune and missing the gifts of cruising. This was a bucket list cruise for us and our first with O.  We are sorely disappointed and will continue to do what we can to discourage potential O cruisers in the future, but for now?  Lovely ship, new friends and we are on the water. How bad can that be?

 

Ugh, well I tried to send you a message with CruiseCritic but the error message I got was that the Message function is now disabled. my email is stacyallen5 at gmail.

 

[ORV]

20 minutes ago, mybagsarepacked said:

 

Ugh, well I tried to send you a message with CruiseCritic but the error message I got was that the Message function is now disabled. my email is stacyallen5 at gmail.

 

FYI, it's always been disabled. 

[mybagsarepacked]

19 minutes ago, ORV said:

FYI, it's always been disabled. 

 

Then why don't they just remove the MESSAGE button? That is so silly. Not to mention confusing.

 

[mybagsarepacked]

As a follow-on to this, I thought I would let you all know that I contacted our TA and cancelled the two upcoming cruises we have booked with Oceania. They informed my TA that they are "keeping" our deposits, EVEN THOUGH we are more than one year away from the commencement of the closest one, Dec 2024, and the paperwork states we are currently in a 100% refund situation. They are claiming deposits are not refundable.

 

Since when????

 

I told my TA I am considering the threat of the loss of our deposits extortion since the company said we would not lose the deposits if we decided "not" to cancel. I would rather lose the deposits than give them one more penny of my money.

 

Wow. But these guys are unprofessional. I can't wait to give my future travel budget to professional companies where loyalty is a two-way street. Oceania stinks, IMHO.

[Linda Deenen]

That is unbelievable.O might be worried about their future?

 

[davencl]

1 hour ago, mybagsarepacked said:

 

Since when????

 

Since September 1. 

 

[GeezerCouple]

31 minutes ago, davencl said:

Since September 1. 

 

What should matter is:  What was the cancellation policy at the time OP paid their deposit, NOT what was it changed to later!

 

GC

[ak1004]

47 minutes ago, davencl said:

Since September 1. 

 

 

The new cancellation policy implies only $150 per person penalty, not the whole deposit non refundable. Something doesn't add up here.

[Charlene Jones]

I wanted to update everyone on a few things.  Initially my travel agent refunded me the cost of the cruise.  However, we had an agreement that if he could get Oceania to issue us FCCs that I would return the money to the agency.  On November 6th, Oceania issued us FCCs.  So Oceania is caving in some instances.  

 

Also, a funny side note, the couples featured in the USA Today article received full refunds, but at least one of the couples has been banned for life by NCL corporate.  We laughed that it was a badge of pride.

 

Bottom line...keep pushing for FCCs. Travel agents are having better luck than individuals, and it has usually taken the President/CEO of the agency to make the request and get a resolution. 

[Vineyard View]

5 hours ago, Charlene Jones said:

I wanted to update everyone on a few things.  Initially my travel agent refunded me the cost of the cruise.  However, we had an agreement that if he could get Oceania to issue us FCCs that I would return the money to the agency.  On November 6th, Oceania issued us FCCs.  So Oceania is caving in some instances.  

 

Also, a funny side note, the couples featured in the USA Today article received full refunds, but at least one of the couples has been banned for life by NCL corporate.  We laughed that it was a badge of pride.

 

Bottom line...keep pushing for FCCs. Travel agents are having better luck than individuals, and it has usually taken the President/CEO of the agency to make the request and get a resolution. 

That is one amazing TA that you have, covering you financially if Oceania did not! 
 

I have to wonder, on what grounds would NCL have reason to ban someone from speaking the truth about their treatment of passengers with rescinding their word. Wow. That’s completely unbelievable. I sincerely hope that with this latest shot across the bow by NCL, these people go back to USA to report this latest outcome. I would venture to say that NCL/Oceania needs some upper management house cleaning - big time. 
 

 

[ak1004]

6 hours ago, Charlene Jones said:

I wanted to update everyone on a few things.  Initially my travel agent refunded me the cost of the cruise.  However, we had an agreement that if he could get Oceania to issue us FCCs that I would return the money to the agency.  On November 6th, Oceania issued us FCCs.  So Oceania is caving in some instances.  

 

Also, a funny side note, the couples featured in the USA Today article received full refunds, but at least one of the couples has been banned for life by NCL corporate.  We laughed that it was a badge of pride.

 

Bottom line...keep pushing for FCCs. Travel agents are having better luck than individuals, and it has usually taken the President/CEO of the agency to make the request and get a resolution. 

 

How they were banned by NCL? Did they get a specific letter? Was any reason given?

[kjbacon]

On 11/11/2023 at 11:47 PM, dock said:

Our summer ‘24 ,Athens-Istanbul cruise , still has all 6 Turkish ports of call. 
 

I’m waiting to see what ports they would switch them to and hopefully well before final payment, if they are planning on changes. 
 

Our October 2024 has had all Turkish ports cancelled, along with with many others, and we were notified a couple of weeks ago. It makes no sense that yours are not cancelled. We are probably going to cancel our cruise, too many changes and too much duplication.

[dock]

@kjbacon, thank you. I also find it odd that the Athens- Istanbul haven’t been changed in the summer.

 

TA has had no notification either. 
penalties start Jan 20th so hopefully we will have an answer by then. No comment on roll call either about any changes. 

[fizzy]

Our friends are also having issues and there is quite an ongoing back and forth going on currently with the BBB. We were about to try to rebook a canceled Bermuda cruise but I am not seeing a lot of confidence inspiring dialogue for when things may go wrong.