The Collapsing Hrung

From what I can see Marella have now run out of money and are just burying their heads in the sand, ignoring everybody and everything!

We had a cruise booked on the 14th February for the 22nd March, paid in full with a credit card.

They cancelled the cruise on 13th March (just ahead of the mass cancellations?) and the email said as we booked online we would receive a refund to the credit card in 7-10 days. It has been 3 weeks now. Seen nothing. Heard nothing further.

They fobbed off my first email about rebooking for August or September and have ignored all subsequent ones.

Their website offers absolutely zero help as the cruise's date is in the past.

Their phone lines quite literally take you round in a circle of options or just cut you off after 5 minutes.

Thank God I booked with a credit card is all I can say!

Did Myths and Legends this month. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

HOWEVER....

Be aware that it ran in reverse - ish.

Day 1 - Limassol.

Day 2 - Haifa (Northern Israel - not originally on the itinerary)

Day 3 - Ashdod

Day 4 - All at sea!

Day 5 - Alanya

Day 6 - Mersin

Day 7 - Limassol

Day 8 - Limassol

It was reversed because of Lebanese bureaucracy - the immigration for Beirut was to blame.

Haifa was included instead of one of the days in Ashdod. This turned out to be a highlight for us - not somewhere we've been before. The day trip to Acre was very interesting.

The Port of Mersin was closed due to weather just before we were due to leave. We eventually left about 6 hours late.

Because the immigration routine for Beirut was going to be 3 or 4 hours, by the time we would have arrived and cleared the formalities it would be time to leave, so we didn't bother.

Apparently there was nowhere else interesting with a berth available so we went back to Limassol for the last night.

We enjoyed ourselves anyway, and one cannot blame Thomson Cruises for the weather or Lebanese bureaucracy. I do admit to being a bit disappointed, though.

When the itinerary ran in November they didn't get to Beirut either.

Just posted this as a warning.

You may want to find out the terms and conditions of your 3rd party operator trip in case this happens again and you need to re-schedule at short notice!

Israel is great, like I said before.

Been there again since and can vouch for the Jaffa / Tel Aviv trip. Interesting to see modern Israel (Tel Aviv) rather than all the ancient historic stuff.

Don't hold your breath about getting to Beirut - we didn't on the cruise a couple of weeks ago, which was disappointing, but we do understand it was beyond Thomson's control: a combination of weather and Lebanese bureaucracy.

Don't think that itinerary has ever got there (didn't in November), and I believe they may be dropping it as a port-of-call after this season. One chap in Horizons said it was his FOURTH attempt to get to Beirut and he still hasn't got there.

As it turned out we got to Haifa instead of one of the days in Ashdod, which was interesting. You don't know what a 'manicured' means until you've seen the Bahai gardens in Haifa: simply stunning.

Hmmmm! Could be worse!

Got a knock down deal on AI for the cruise next month hence I'm doing some homework!

Thanks!

Jerusalem / Bethlehem is worth doing.

Masada / Dead Sea is worth it if you are in to history and ruins (Masada), although the extraordinary experience of a dip in the Dead Sea makes putting up with ruins all worth it.

Make sure you've a GPS app (with altitude) for your phone before you go to the Dead Sea. Then you can watch as your bus ventures down to 1200 feet BELOW sea level. Daft, I know, but a bit of fun!

The current prices of the Thomson trips seem to be somewhat more than I remember from a couple of years back. Might be worth looking at alternatives these days, as others have suggested.

Anybody know what the AI draught lager is on Spirit at the moment?

Off doing Myths & Legends on Spirit next month.

Anybody know if the organised trip to Tel Aviv has to have the shopping, as that's our idea of hell-on-earth?

We would like to see some of the more interesting areas of the city, like the Bauhaus Centre, and take in the city as an interesting Capital city rather than a huge shopping centre next to a beach!

Before anybody says it, we did the Jerusalem / Bethlehem and Masada / Dead Sea trips last time we were there on Majesty a couple of years ago! They were pricey but I would have recommended them - looking at the prices now I'm a little less sure!