Port day shortened on the Silhouette?

[noggy1980]

We were on the June 10th cruise that lost quite a few hours in venice to, if it hadn't been an overnight in venice I'd have been gutted but since it was it wasn't a huge deal, it meant you got to enjoy the sail in too without getting up super early.

 

It's clearly the ship can't go quite as fast and so it only affects journeys where going quickly is needed.

[Smiles3usa]

It does not make much sense that the Silhouette would leave Haifa at 4:00 p.m. rather than 10:00 p.m. to save fuel inasmuch as there are 2 sea days immediately following leaving Haifa. Surely adequate fuel and time could be made up on 2 sea days rather than shorting a port for six (6) hours. Aha, who knows? Besides, it seems only a handful of travel agents know about the change. Celebrity still has not notified my travel agent.

[noggy1980]

It does not make much sense that the Silhouette would leave Haifa at 4:00 p.m. rather than 10:00 p.m. to save fuel inasmuch as there are 2 sea days immediately following leaving Haifa. Surely adequate fuel and time could be made up on 2 sea days rather than shorting a port for six (6) hours. Aha, who knows? Besides, it seems only a handful of travel agents know about the change. Celebrity still has not notified my travel agent.

 

The fact there is 2 sea days compounds the lack of speed and increases how early you have to leave.

 

if for instance normally she can sail at 30mph but can only sail at 25mph. Then a 200mile trip takes 8 hours rather than 6hours 40. Which doesn't matter at all in most cases. If you have to travel 1400miles then the journey takes 56 rather than 46hours 40 mins and now you need to leave early. all made up numbers of course.

 

I don't think this is about saving fuel, I do think there is some sort of fault.

Edited July 9, 2014 by noggy1980

[cle-guy]

My comment regarding saving fuel wasn't that they slowed IN ORDER to save fuel, but rather that it adds to the reason to NOT repair whatever issue is causing them to sail slower, the biggest reason is of course having to take the ship of line for some days losing revenue, by instead sailing slower, they get a side benefit of less fuel consumption in addition to no interruption to the revenue generation.

 

I imagine they don't have a lot of itineraries that have a long time at sea and most can simple me handled with 1 or 2 hour changes in port, it's only those journeys with multiple sea days that also require near max-speed sailing where bigger port time changes come into play.

 

They can likely adjust the caribbean itineraries easy enough, perhaps they already sail below whatever their new max speed is already and none are needed.

 

Then next seasons eurpoean sailings, maybe they adjust the port calls to hget thru to their p;panned 2016 dry dock.

[packercruising]

What they get is their full revenue, gas savings, and a lot of ticked off pax who booked the cruise mainly because of the 3 full days in Israel. Looks for all the world like they are laying low with the info until after final payment is due. We are on the Oct 4 sailing also and are just hoping for the best.

[pris993]

While I am hoping for the best for our future cruise and port visits in Israel, also realize the ship needs to get back to Rome on time because that would create problems for passengers meeting air flights. On the cruise we are on, the last port is Naples, they could shorten time in Naples. That would be more desirable from my view point.

[MissBreezy]

We are sailing on the 11nt September 12th cruise on the Silhouette. All of our port times remain the same with the exception of Venice. We arrive at 12:00pm instead of 10:00am coming in from Chania.

 

Doesn't hurt my feelings, we haven't booked an excursion and even if we did I wouldn't book with anyone who wouldn't accommodate delays or unforseen cancellation. I'm going on a cruise to relax and have a good time and I plan to stick to that :)

 

Late debarkation and flights are a different story but you would hope that they would try to avoid that as much as possible....

Edited July 9, 2014 by MissBreezy

[boscobeans]

As far as delays in Venice the following may have something to do with it:

 

"When a cruise ship passes by, enroute to the dock, it’s like Godzilla coming into town. Standing on the upper deck and looking down 13 – 18 floors is weird. Almost like you are peeking it their homes. The wake caused by these monster ships send wave ripples to the edge of the buildings and up the canals. Imagine 12 ships and the damage they can do to the brick supports down next to the water.,,

 

Cruise ship traffic in front of St Mark’s Square is down 20% and large vessels will be permanently banned starting November 2014."

 

Maybe they are now required to enter and leave any area within a good distance of Venice at NO-WAKE speed, which for a cruise ship is practically zero. ???????

 

As to a passenger ship sailing with any sort of KNOWN mechanical problems I would think RCCL would be exposing themselves up to a giant legal problem if anything major happened due to their delay in making proper repairs.

 

OMO

 

bosco

[DebbieMacG]

There are two later arrivals for the July 27th cruise, Santorini and Kotor both arrivals one hr later than planned, my daughter was notified by email.

[Christine Frances]

Wonder if this has anything to do with it? http://crew-center.com/rocket-shrapnel-hits-cruise-ship-israel

 

This thread has reports from people on shore during the attack as well

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2068022

Edited July 9, 2014 by Christine Frances

[boscobeans]

There are two later arrivals for the July 27th cruise, Santorini and Kotor both arrivals one hr later than planned, my daughter was notified by email.

 

That cruise leaves from Venice. Any delays from there could change the schedule until the ship catches up.

 

OMO

 

bosco

[rbuenger]

DW and I are scheduled for the Aug 17 out of Venice. I have not gotten any emails with schedule changes but I logged on to compare what it shows now compared to the schedule I printed a few weeks ago and there are been some small changes:

 

For Dubrovnik: Originally scheduled 12pm-8pm now 1pm-8pm

For Ephesus: Originally scheduled 10am-8pm now 10:30-9pm

For Corfu: Originally scheduled 1:30pm-8:30pm now 2pm-9pm

[cruisegirl1]

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 ...

 

Check the roll call - lots of info there. I am booked on this cruise also. We received an email last week ( through my travel agent) that we were leaving Haifa at 4PM, rather than 10PM , and also arriving is Sicily an hour late. They gave some reason about it being a request from the "Marine team"

 

In my opinion, it is likely that Celebrity will alter the itinerary and we will NOT have the Jerusalem or Haifa stops. Not sure what, if anything will be substituted. Would be nice if Celebrity made any projected changes prior to final payment. We don't have air tickets yet and may decide to cancel.

 

 

M

[barbeaujo]

We are sailing next monday, july 15th on Silhouette out of Rome, 12 night to Venice.

 

Someone mention on our roll call that itinerary was changed. No more Chania, Souda, Crete but now Katakolon would be our port of call. Arriving at 9h am instead of 7h like we were supposed to in Chania.

 

I have yet to received anything from Celebrity in writing confirming that. I have made independent excursion in Chania and don't want to cancel if it is just a meter of what the call centre says … and not really what the ship will do in reality. Do Celebroty usually send emails to advise customer? We are 2 families and none received anything.

 

I have called Captain's Club and regular reservation number and both time i was told that in deed , the port were changed due to the speed now that the ship was sailing, it could not reach Chania in time … but not to worry.

 

Wich makes me a little nervous … does that mean that there is a problem with an engine ? I don't mind going slow between port but, hope no kids reads these post, lol, but i aways tell myself that in case of emergency, i want to ship to be ABLE to go fast… So i haven't slept good since i called Celebrity a few days ago. I will never refrain myself from flying or cruising BUT , i am scared and own it :-)

 

if anyone could reassure me, i would owe you ;)

[Amerie]

Thanks very much to everyone that has posted, and especially to those that were able to confirm that the information that they have received from Celebrity, is similar to what I was told. It does indeed appear that a number of Silhouette itineraries have been altered.

[barbeaujo]

Just called back X.

 

They emailed me my reservation and now it is showing Kataklon instead of Chania at the bottom, where the itinerary is showing. So i guess it is more official , i can really cancelled the Chania excursion.

 

Also, now on the website if you were to make a new booking today for that sailing, Chania is no longer there as a port of call.

 

Thank you Cruise Critic user, without you, we would have not know before boarding about that change. xox Josee.

[MissBreezy]

 

Wich makes me a little nervous … does that mean that there is a problem with an engine ? I don't mind going slow between port but, hope no kids reads these post, lol, but i aways tell myself that in case of emergency, i want to ship to be ABLE to go fast… So i haven't slept good since i called Celebrity a few days ago. I will never refrain myself from flying or cruising BUT , i am scared and own it :-)

 

if anyone could reassure me, i would owe you ;)

 

I don't know enough about ships to speculate on the reason why the ship is not making ports at the right time. However, my degree is in health and safety and the chances are that if it is a mechanical issue it's one that they have more than likely thoroughly assessed and determined that it is safe to continue on with its scheduled sailings. Especially in light of the Costa Concordia disaster and Carnival's famed Poop Cruise I would doubt they would take the risk of a PR disaster, above anything else.

 

Try not to worry about it!

[barbeaujo]

I don't know enough about ships to speculate on the reason why the ship is not making ports at the right time. However, my degree is in health and safety and the chances are that if it is a mechanical issue it's one that they have more than likely thoroughly assessed and determined that it is safe to continue on with its scheduled sailings. Especially in light of the Costa Concordia disaster and Carnival's famed Poop Cruise I would doubt they would take the risk of a PR disaster, above anything else.

 

Try not to worry about it!

 

Thank you !!! There is noting like reading it from someone else to make you believe it . I also saw another thread that started not to long ago " mechanical problem silhouette " , and from what i can read, nobody know really what the problem is but, it all should be fine with no security threat for us . Flying saturday, can't wait, and was able to find fun things to do in Kataklon:cool: Life is good !

[chamima]

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

 

What day are you supposed to be in Haifa?

There are some major holidays in October of 2014 and it's possible the dock workers will be off early if a holiday starts (Jewish holidays start at sundown).

As sad as the current situation is, I highly doubt Celebrity would be changing it's fall schedule because of that. Things will probably (and hopefully !!! ) have calmed down by then.

 

Also, the ship that was hit was in Ashdod, which is near the Gaza strip - which is where the rockets are being launched from.

Currently, at least, they don't have any missiles that are long-range enough to hit Haifa.

Edited July 9, 2014 by chamima

[Celebrity Cruises]

Hi all,

 

Celebrity Silhouette is currently experiencing a slight restriction on its top speed, which has required us to make modifications to nine upcoming sailings.

 

It is important for us to assure our guests that this small restriction on the ship’s top speed does not impact, in any way, the maneuverability of the ship or the safety of our guests and crew.

 

Celebrity will contact travel partners and guests should additional modifications need to be made to future itineraries. We apologize for any inconvenience these changes may cause to our guests.

[Oxo]

FYI Celebrity Silhouette - I just received a text message and phone call from celebrity regarding our arrival in Venice on the 22nd of September instead of getting in at 10 a.m. We will not arrive until 12 noon this is provided for your information. Has anyone else receive this text or phone call?

 

I have posted this on the Sep 12, 2014 Roll Call, too.

[Jadagem]

Are you referring to the cruise that leaves October 4th and returns October 18th in 2014?

It is noted 2015. I am on this cruise and the shortened day in Haifa is a real issue.

[packercruising]

Jadagem, join our roll call. We have lots of info on there.

[cruzemaven]

FYI Celebrity Silhouette - I just received a text message and phone call from celebrity regarding our arrival in Venice on the 22nd of September instead of getting in at 10 a.m. We will not arrive until 12 noon this is provided for your information. Has anyone else receive this text or phone call?

 

 

 

I have posted this on the Sep 12, 2014 Roll Call, too.

 

 

 

Celebrity did not contact us and we are on next week's cruise leaving from Rome to Venice. We are suppose to arrive in Venice at 9 am and have plans to disembark with special permission granted from the emergency team at 11:30 am. Our cruise on the Silhouette begins in less than six days. We have not received any notification from Celebrity that we will be delayed in arriving in Venice...does this mean that the ship will be docking on time? Hoping that our arrangements will not get messed up. It would make it a lot easier, if we were told about a time change before we leave so we could rearrange our travel connections.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Oxo]

Celebrity did not contact us and we are on next week's cruise leaving from Rome to Venice. We are suppose to arrive in Venice at 9 am and have plans to disembark with special permission granted from the emergency team at 11:30 am. Our cruise on the Silhouette begins in less than six days. We have not received any notification from Celebrity that we will be delayed in arriving in Venice...does this mean that the ship will be docking on time? Hoping that our arrangements will not get messed up. It would make it a lot easier, if we were told about a time change before we leave so we could rearrange our travel connections.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Sorry that I cannot tell you anything. Only suggestion I have for you is to call your Travel Agent or Celebrity direct to get an answer. Wish you Good Luck on finding the answer. Enjoy your cruise!