Port day shortened on the Silhouette?

[Amerie]

We just had one of our port days shortened on the Silhouette by six hours. We had a special excursion planned for this port, and now it will be impossible due to lack of travel time.

 

When I called Celebrity to ask why the shortened day, and if there is any chance this change will be reversed, I was told that the ship has to leave port early as it cannot travel as fast as it usually does. I was also told that eight Silhouette itineraries have had similar changes. There seemed to be no expectation that the problem would be resolved in time for our cruise.

 

Our cruise is in the fall. I am surprised that, whatever the issue is, it wouldn't be fixed by the end of September. Perhaps the fix requires a dry dock, but the problem isn't severe enough to take the ship out of commission before the next scheduled dry dock.

 

Has anyone else had a port day shortened on the Silhouette recently, and if so, did Celebrity give you a reason?

[cle-guy]

Curious where are the itineraries at? Maybe water currents or something may be affecting it? Maybe fuel prices have skyrocketed or something, so need to conserve, maybe dock they port at has changed and requires a different approach and departure that adds a lot of time to the port call?

 

I believe about half the reasons X staff gives for changes like this. I think they hear rumors like we do and run with them. Like when staff told everyone Bistro on 5 was becoming a suite dining room.

 

Sillie isn't due for dry dock till 2016. So gonna be a lot of slow travels if that's the case.

[WestLakeGirl]

Which port?without knowing that we couldn't possible speculate or provide any explanation

[kathynorth]

Can you also tell us the original port arrival and departure times, as well as the new times?

[pris993]

We are booked on the Silhouette in October, leave Rome on Oct 4. Have not had any notice of changes in ports or times yet?

 

Cruise is Eastern Mediterranean with stops in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Israel. Watching the news on Israel, hoping this will get resolved and the situation will return to what is "normal" for Israel. Obvious this is an entirely different issue from what the OP is reporting.

 

Would like to know more ...

[TxnAquarian]

We were just on the June 22 sailing of Silhouette and on embarkation day, they put letters in our rooms that port times for the cruise had been shortened due to the fact that the ship wasn't able to travel as fast. The letter stated that the safety and security of the ship and its guests were in no way compromised. Originally, we were supposed to be in Dubrovnik from 12pm-8pm and they changed our departure to 6pm. And Civitavecchia was supposed to be 7am-7pm, but our arrival was changed to 8am. The changes weren't very drastic, so we didn't inquire any further.

 

 

 

Michael

[true45]

There was some sort of delay with reflection -- maybe they are being conservative in case they suspect a mechanical issue on solstice class recent builds?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cle-guy]

I've read that some tf the european river cruises are not able to proceed due to low water levels, any chance the ships sail in sea waters shallow enough that speed affects their level in the seas in places that they have to go more cautiously now to proceed safely?

[Amerie]

We were just on the June 22 sailing of Silhouette and on embarkation day, they put letters in our rooms that port times for the cruise had been shortened due to the fact that the ship wasn't able to travel as fast. The letter stated that the safety and security of the ship and its guests were in no way compromised. Originally, we were supposed to be in Dubrovnik from 12pm-8pm and they changed our departure to 6pm. And Civitavecchia was supposed to be 7am-7pm, but our arrival was changed to 8am. The changes weren't very drastic, so we didn't inquire any further.

 

Michael

 

Michael, thanks so much for posting. This is the type of information that I was looking for...posters that could corroborate what I was told by Celebrity.

 

I initially worded the post quite carefully, as I wanted to focus on the mechanical issue, and not the political issues that are making this cruise controversial at the moment.

 

The cruise is on the Silhouette, October 4th to 18th, 2015 and there are two ports that have had their times changed...Messina (Sicily) where the ship is arriving an hour later than originally planned, and Haifa, which is the port that has had its day shortened by six hours...departing at 4:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm. This is a very significant change, and is making our planned excursion impossible.

 

There are two sea days after Haifa, so I was a bit surprised that a slowing of ship speed would necessitate the ship leaving Haifa six hours early, when it has two days to get to Naples.

[Orator]

Michael, thanks so much for posting. This is the type of information that I was looking for...posters that could corroborate what I was told by Celebrity.

 

I initially worded the post quite carefully, as I wanted to focus on the mechanical issue, and not the political issues that are making this cruise controversial at the moment.

 

The cruise is on the Silhouette, October 4th to 18th, 2015 and there are two ports that have had their times changed...Messina (Sicily) where the ship is arriving an hour later than originally planned, and Haifa, which is the port that has had its day shortened by six hours...departing at 4:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm. This is a very significant change, and is making our planned excursion impossible.

 

There are two sea days after Haifa, so I was a bit surprised that a slowing of ship speed would necessitate the ship leaving Haifa six hours early, when it has two days to get to Naples.

 

I hope that you don't miss Haifa entirely as we did. Ports were under attack at the time. Some thought that we should have docked anyway since they took the cruise to go to Israel. The overwhelming majority supported the decision. Istanbul was substituted. Hope that the current difficulties are in the past when you are scheduled to visit.

[Amerie]

Can you also tell us the original port arrival and departure times, as well as the new times?

 

Original times:

 

Messina: Arrives at 9:00 AM Departs at 6:00 PM

 

Haifa: Arrives at 7:00 AM Departs at 10:00 PM

 

New times:

 

Messina: Arrives at 10:00 AM Departs at 6:00 PM

 

Haifa: Arrives at 7:00 AM Departs at 4:00 PM

[cle-guy]

Any chance maybe Haifa is planning some sort of curfew after dark or something? Parts of Egypt I've traveled in require all foreigners to be out of certain territories by sunset, Luxor and the valley of the Kings is one example, foreigners need to be on the other side of the river where the hotels are once it gets dark.

 

Or maybe on your specific itinerary it's some sort of holiday that starts at sundown, so they won't have port workers available after dark that explains the BIG change as opposed to just a little change?

Edited July 9, 2014 by cle-guy

[Amerie]

We are booked on the Silhouette in October, leave Rome on Oct 4. Have not had any notice of changes in ports or times yet?

 

Cruise is Eastern Mediterranean with stops in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Israel. Watching the news on Israel, hoping this will get resolved and the situation will return to what is "normal" for Israel. Obvious this is an entirely different issue from what the OP is reporting.

 

Would like to know more ...

 

This is the same cruise. We received an email from Celebrity. It only addresses the changes to the port times, as I posted above.

[WestLakeGirl]

Have you checked into your Roll Call? Maybe others you will be sailing with have some insight into this

[Orator]

The local Port Authority is responsible for establishing the ultimate arrival and departure times. They try to honor the times requested by the cruise lines, but that is sometimes impossible. We can speculate why a change in times, but will not really know unless Celebrity says something. These situations provide a rich soil for rumors and blame.

[TxnAquarian]

The local Port Authority is responsible for establishing the ultimate arrival and departure times. They try to honor the times requested by the cruise lines, but that is sometimes impossible. We can speculate why a change in times, but will not really know unless Celebrity says something. These situations provide a rich soil for rumors and blame.

 

 

 

You are completely correct. However, I don't think this applies to the situation we are talking about. As mentioned in my earlier post, the letters put in our staterooms about the shortened port times stated that the ship wasn't able to travel as quickly, but that no one's safety was being compromised. This sounds like something to do with the ship itself, otherwise our letters would've said the port times had been changed due to port authorities. Like you said, this is only causing rumors and speculation.

 

 

 

Michael

[Orator]

You are completely correct. However, I don't think this applies to the situation we are talking about. As mentioned in my earlier post, the letters put in our staterooms about the shortened port times stated that the ship wasn't able to travel as quickly, but that no one's safety was being compromised. This sounds like something to do with the ship itself, otherwise our letters would've said the port times had been changed due to port authorities. Like you said, this is only causing rumors and speculation.

 

 

 

Michael

 

I can understand that there may have been a propulsion, or some mechanical problem for your cruise and that would explain the letter. However, the OPs cruise isn't until October. They would have ample time to correct a mechanical problem by then. It's all speculation and we'll know when we know.

[cle-guy]

You are completely correct. However, I don't think this applies to the situation we are talking about. As mentioned in my earlier post, the letters put in our staterooms about the shortened port times stated that the ship wasn't able to travel as quickly, but that no one's safety was being compromised. This sounds like something to do with the ship itself, otherwise our letters would've said the port times had been changed due to port authorities. Like you said, this is only causing rumors and speculation.

 

 

 

Michael

 

The difference between yours and OP's is yours had a 1 and 2 hour modification, OP has a 6 hour modification, on a departure with 2 full sea days to make up time. The 6 hours variance is the weirdest part. I was on a connie sailing that went 6 hours out turned around for a medivac, 5 hours back then around again, and we still made it to key west on time with only 1 sea day, after adding 11 hours sailing time.

 

OH, now I get it...DUH, 2 days at slower speed means leaving port earlier, versus mine was only 1 day and we went faster. STUPID..... DOH!

 

hmm weird indeed....does in fact seem to be more mechanical than anything.

[dodger1964]

I can understand that there may have been a propulsion, or some mechanical problem for your cruise and that would explain the letter. However, the OPs cruise isn't until October. They would have ample time to correct a mechanical problem by then. It's all speculation and we'll know when we know.

 

The OP says it is October 2015!!

 

I can't imagine what kind of a mechanical problem they would let go that long without fixing.

[cle-guy]

The OP says it is October 2015!!

 

I can't imagine what kind of a mechanical problem they would let go that long without fixing.

 

It seems to clearly be workable....if they adjusted so many cruses. Drydock is May 2016 at this point. http://cruises.reviewed.com/features/cruise-ship-renovations-the-complete-schedule

 

To put a ship out of service to dry dock costs hundreds of thousands if not millions in lost revenues, modifying ship speed and port times costs nothing, AND saves fuel....

[rachgrace2005]

I know its not the same thing, but our eastern med cruise on the Silhouette departing this Tuesday (7/12) had a random last minute port change. Last week someone on our roll call notified us that we are no longer stopping in Chania, Greece and are now stopping in Katakolon, Greece instead. We have no explanation as to why and I wouldn't even know about it if it wasn't for Cruise Critic. A couple of us have gotten emails to tell us of the change but I have yet to receive one and all of my paperwork still says Chania. I don't know if this is for a similar reason the OP mentioned or if it is completely unrelated. I'm glad I didn't have a private excursion booked!

[Amerie]

The OP says it is October 2015!!

 

I can't imagine what kind of a mechanical problem they would let go that long without fixing.

 

Sorry, that was totally a typo. I meant October 4-18, 2014.

[pris993]

Sorry, that was totally a typo. I meant October 4-18, 2014.

 

Thanks for clarifying, I did not see where the reference was to 2015.

 

Regardless, the Silhouette has a similar cruise and itinerary for October 2015. It will be interesting to see if the port times change for that cruise in 2015 too, with drydock not scheduled til 2016.

[nekzaadvakil]

We just got off a cruise on the Silhouette (Rome to Venice 10-22 June 2014) and we too face a similar delay. Our original arrival time into Venice on the 21st was 9AM, however on the day of embarkation in Rome (10th June), we were informed that there would be a 3 hour delay getting into Venice. No other ports had any change in timings.

 

The ship finally docked in Venice at around 1 PM and by the time we could get off (after all procedures) it was around 1:30 PM.

 

We had been to Venice before, so it wasn't such an issue for us, however many people may have felt upset for loosing out on half a day's worth of sightseeing in Venice. This was the only glitch in an otherwise FANTASTIC Med cruise on the Silhouette.

[morbihan]

We were on that cruise too. I thought we were supposed to arrive in Venice at 7.00am?

 

Still we were late. I felt sorry for the people who had booked tours. We were ok as we have just got back! Worn out!

 

Going slower to save fuel. Saving the waves.