No post-cruise extensions for July 7 Riviera sailing?

[ynottravel?]

Hi!  We are on the July 7-17 sailing from Athens to Istanbul on Riviera.  I asked my travel agent today to see if there was any availability for either of the post-cruise extensions (mainly wanted to do the 4 day option that included Cappadocia).  He called me back and said that Oceania told him that currently both post-cruise extensions have been cancelled.  The person he spoke with said it was possible that they might open the post-cruise extensions again or might add a different one, but they didn't know if/when it would happen.  Has anyone been on a cruise like this where the post-cruise extensions were cancelled and then added back later?  This is our first sailing on Oceania so we don't have any experience with how the line works.

[mauibabes]

@ynottravel?

Yes,it does happen. O contracts with Tour Companies for all tours and excursions and it is possible the contract is not in place or was cancelled or there was a lack of reservations. Consider booking a Private tour through a company like Tours By Locals and many others to see more of the sites. That is still an area of the world that is “very sensitive “ right now so pay close attention to all correspondence from Oceania or your TA. 

We have had three cruises booked that included Istanbul, either starting or ending there or as a port of call, that were “modified” due to various reasons.  Anyway, we will book Istanbul again and hope the

 “Fourth”  time is the charm. Just go and enjoy your cruise as Riviera is a beautiful ship and you should enjoy the Oceania experience. 
Mauibabes

[ynottravel?]

6 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

@ynottravel?

Yes,it does happen. O contracts with Tour Companies for all tours and excursions and it is possible the contract is not in place or was cancelled or there was a lack of reservations. Consider booking a Private tour through a company like Tours By Locals and many others to see more of the sites. That is still an area of the world that is “very sensitive “ right now so pay close attention to all correspondence from Oceania or your TA. 

We have had three cruises booked that included Istanbul, either starting or ending there or as a port of call, that were “modified” due to various reasons.  Anyway, we will book Istanbul again and hope the

 “Fourth”  time is the charm. Just go and enjoy your cruise as Riviera is a beautiful ship and you should enjoy the Oceania experience. 
Mauibabes

Thanks for your reply.  I guess I'm hesitant to plan my own post-cruise excursion because now I'm wondering if the port is going to be cancelled.  I am all for doing what is safest, best, etc... just would like to know because if we aren't going to end in Istanbul I'm going to need to change some plane tickets.

[mauibabes]

That is why when we were headed there I used Oceania Air flights as opposed to plunking down 💰 because I was not flying on a FF program. 
Plan for success but be ready with Plan B. STUFF HAPPENS so 🙏😇

Mauibabes
 

[Vallesan]

9 hours ago, mauibabes said:

@ynottravel?

Yes,it does happen. O contracts with Tour Companies for all tours and excursions and it is possible the contract is not in place or was cancelled or there was a lack of reservations. Consider booking a Private tour through a company like Tours By Locals and many others to see more of the sites. That is still an area of the world that is “very sensitive “ right now so pay close attention to all correspondence from Oceania or your TA. 

We have had three cruises booked that included Istanbul, either starting or ending there or as a port of call, that were “modified” due to various reasons.  Anyway, we will book Istanbul again and hope the

 “Fourth”  time is the charm. Just go and enjoy your cruise as Riviera is a beautiful ship and you should enjoy the Oceania experience. 
Mauibabes

How recent were your ‘modified’ cruises?

 

We are due to sail on the Riviera 28th September with an overnight in Istanbul which is also an embarkation port. Final payment is due next month, but we only have until the end of this month to cancel at the minimum penalty. 
 

Very undecided at the moment.

[thebsinmiss]

We are on the Riviera June 17 2024 sailing .   Originally booked as Rome to Istanbul but then Oceania deleted all the Turkish ports due to safety concerns in the region.  We had booked flights out of Istanbul and several shore excursions.

 

New ports were added and the disembarkation port is now Trieste. We are fine with the new ports.  Yes we had to change an O booked excursion (no issues) along with a private one (no issues). Post cruise hotel was booked with a generous cancelation window so that was no problem.  Also had to rebook our flights which ended up costing us 150.00 each as I had booked the cheapest fare class available at the time. Next time I will likely purchase seats with changes allowed at no cost.

 

I'd definitely book hotels and private tours for Istanbul now but ensure you have the ability to cancel at no additional cost.  

 

We would still love to go to Istanbul but the new ports/itinerary are also great so no harm.

[Vallesan]

22 minutes ago, thebsinmiss said:

We are on the Riviera June 17 2024 sailing .   Originally booked as Rome to Istanbul but then Oceania deleted all the Turkish ports due to safety concerns in the region.  We had booked flights out of Istanbul and several shore excursions.

 

New ports were added and the disembarkation port is now Trieste. We are fine with the new ports.  Yes we had to change an O booked excursion (no issues) along with a private one (no issues). Post cruise hotel was booked with a generous cancelation window so that was no problem.  Also had to rebook our flights which ended up costing us 150.00 each as I had booked the cheapest fare class available at the time. Next time I will likely purchase seats with changes allowed at no cost.

 

I'd definitely book hotels and private tours for Istanbul now but ensure you have the ability to cancel at no additional cost.  

 

We would still love to go to Istanbul but the new ports/itinerary are also great so no harm.

 

Thank you that’s very interesting.

 

Glad you’re not too unhappy with the changes. We are in a position at the moment to cancel for £150 pp, which increases £500pp on April 1st, and our flights are fully refundable. The cruise is B2B Athens to Istanbul, overnight in Istanbul then back to Athens. I’m not sure that any alternative itinerary, especially ending in somewhere like Trieste, would be good for us.
 

 Can you tell me how long ago Oceania altered your itinerary please?  I personally don’t see much improvement in the area in the near future so I’m really veering towards cancelling.

[thebsinmiss]

We booked the June 17-27 cruise in October.  Itinerary was changed Nov/7/23 so well in advance. Only thing that confuses me (and i started a post/chat) was the fact that Oceania kept other sailings with stops in Istanbul and subsequent cruises have now included Istanbul)

 

Tough call on cancelling or not.  Given the number of ships reorganizing ports with the red sea and suez canal now off limits it appears that a lot of alternate ports in the Med are getting overbooked so the options might not be attractive to you.

 

Enjoy your cruises no matter what you chose to do.

 

[Queen of DaNile]

We recently booked this cruise because the last itinerary change created a lot of availability and they started offering cabins at 40% off to fill the space. When I saw the overnight in Istanbul, I knew that could be changed at any time. Been there before and would like to see more but if it doesn't happen, it won't be a surprise. We're getting to Europe on our own but letting Oceania handle the return, just as Mauibabes said.

Go ahead and make your plans with a reputable company that has a liberal cancellation policy.

Join the Roll Call for this sailing and we can share information more directly.

See you on board.

 

[mauibabes]

Last booking was October 2021, coming out of Covid. It went from an Istanbul Embarkation to an Athens. Just a tough part of the world to “bet” on so whatever you do, be flexible and accepting that change is the name of that game. 
 

Mauibabes

[ynottravel?]

1 hour ago, Queen of DaNile said:

We recently booked this cruise because the last itinerary change created a lot of availability and they started offering cabins at 40% off to fill the space. When I saw the overnight in Istanbul, I knew that could be changed at any time. Been there before and would like to see more but if it doesn't happen, it won't be a surprise. We're getting to Europe on our own but letting Oceania handle the return, just as Mauibabes said.

Go ahead and make your plans with a reputable company that has a liberal cancellation policy.

Join the Roll Call for this sailing and we can share information more directly.

See you on board.

 

 

1 hour ago, Queen of DaNile said:

We recently booked this cruise because the last itinerary change created a lot of availability and they started offering cabins at 40% off to fill the space. When I saw the overnight in Istanbul, I knew that could be changed at any time. Been there before and would like to see more but if it doesn't happen, it won't be a surprise. We're getting to Europe on our own but letting Oceania handle the return, just as Mauibabes said.

Go ahead and make your plans with a reputable company that has a liberal cancellation policy.

Join the Roll Call for this sailing and we can share information more directly.

See you on board.

 

Hi Queen of DaNile!  We are on the Roll Call already!  We do have a hotel and excursions booked for after the cruise, but I had been hoping to make it to Cappadocia and that seems a little more complicated with many transfers, plane rides, etc.  I guess for now we'll just keep our plans as they are and hope that we do indeed make it to Istanbul (we've never been!).   We will fly back to the states from Germany and thankfully I haven't booked the leg from Turkey-Germany yet, so I'm going to wait until we are within 90 days as others seem to think if there are changes they will be made by the 90 day mark.

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, thebsinmiss said:

We booked the June 17-27 cruise in October.  Itinerary was changed Nov/7/23 so well in advance. Only thing that confuses me (and i started a post/chat) was the fact that Oceania kept other sailings with stops in Istanbul and subsequent cruises have now included Istanbul)

 

Tough call on cancelling or not.  Given the number of ships reorganizing ports with the red sea and suez canal now off limits it appears that a lot of alternate ports in the Med are getting overbooked so the options might not be attractive to you.

 

Enjoy your cruises no matter what you chose to do.

 

 
Yes that is odd that your itinerary was changed 7 months before the cruise but other sailings still have Istanbul as a port of call. I just checked on the website and the first cruise with Istanbul departs Athens on July 7th. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes!

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, Queen of DaNile said:

We recently booked this cruise because the last itinerary change created a lot of availability and they started offering cabins at 40% off to fill the space. When I saw the overnight in Istanbul, I knew that could be changed at any time. Been there before and would like to see more but if it doesn't happen, it won't be a surprise. We're getting to Europe on our own but letting Oceania handle the return, just as Mauibabes said.

Go ahead and make your plans with a reputable company that has a liberal cancellation policy.

Join the Roll Call for this sailing and we can share information more directly.

See you on board.

 

 Checked out the roll calls but they don’t seem to be very active …. maybe we are the only ones booked!

[MEFIowa]

So bizarre about Istanbul. We were there on 2 consecutive weekends overnight on Riviera on a B2B (Trieste to Athens and then Athens to Barcelona) in November 2023. So 4 days and 2 nights there. When we first arrived the massive Istanbul marathon was taking place that day. There were Palestinian protests near Hagia Sophia/Cistern area. And then in Dec the Turks arrest a couple hundred potential troublemakers. There was one other cruise ship both times.

[basor]

If Istanbul is very important to you and if that port is canceled it will majorly affect your enjoyment of the cruise, then you should cancel.  No one has a crystal bal to know what will be happening 4-5 months from now in that region of the world.

We are booked on a cruise that includes an overnight in Istanbul next October.  We have never been and really looking forward to enjoying the city but know there is a high chance the port may be canceled and have set our expectations accordingly.

[Vallesan]

51 minutes ago, basor said:

If Istanbul is very important to you and if that port is canceled it will majorly affect your enjoyment of the cruise, then you should cancel.  No one has a crystal bal to know what will be happening 4-5 months from now in that region of the world.

We are booked on a cruise that includes an overnight in Istanbul next October.  We have never been and really looking forward to enjoying the city but know there is a high chance the port may be canceled and have set our expectations accordingly.

Actually although our cruise leaves September we don’t dock in Istanbul until October 7th or 8th. I’m not that bothered about seeing Istanbul again just don’t want to end up either on a cruise to ‘nowhere’ or one that ‘rotates’ popping into the same few ports again and again!

[clo]

19 hours ago, mauibabes said:

@ynottravel?

Yes,it does happen. O contracts with Tour Companies for all tours and excursions and it is possible the contract is not in place or was cancelled or there was a lack of reservations. Consider booking a Private tour through a company like Tours By Locals and many others to see more of the sites. That is still an area of the world that is “very sensitive “ right now so pay close attention to all correspondence from Oceania or your TA. 

We have had three cruises booked that included Istanbul, either starting or ending there or as a port of call, that were “modified” due to various reasons.  Anyway, we will book Istanbul again and hope the

 “Fourth”  time is the charm. Just go and enjoy your cruise as Riviera is a beautiful ship and you should enjoy the Oceania experience. 
Mauibabes

We did an escorted land trip of Turkey probably eight years ago (a good time to go) and it was incredible. There is so much to see there. We love Istanbul but I hope everyone gets to see more of the country.