Istanbul removed from RCCL cruise itinerary(s) in May 2016

[adamdiane]

We have been advised that our cruise departing Venice on 23rd May 2016 will no longer be calling at Istanbul but will be stopping at Santorini and Ephesus instead.

RCCL have stated this is due to berth availability and ongoing work at the port.

 

Here is the full message we received:

 

Dear XXX,

Important changes to your booking on Rhapsody of the Seas - 5/23/2016

Your booking reference: XXX

I am sorry to let you know that we have had to change the itinerary for your sailing as above. We know that you will be disappointed and we only take this action when it is necessary. On this occasion, I’'m afraid we have had to alter the ship’s itinerary due to berth availability and port construction in Istanbul. We realise that this change may be unwelcome and we are sorry that this change will affect your holiday plans.

I have enclosed a new itinerary for you, showing any changes in bold.

Original Itinerary Revised Itinerary

Mon Venice, Italy 5:00 PM D Mon Venice, Italy 5:00 PM D

Tue Cruising C Tue Cruising C

Wed Katakolon, Greece 8:00 AM 5:00 PM D Wed Katakolon, Greece 8:00 AM 5:00 PM D

Thu Chania (Souda), Crete, Greece 8:00 AM 5:00 PM D Thu Chania (Souda), Crete, Greece 8:00 AM 5:00 PM D

Fri Mykonos, Greece 7:00 AM 3:00 PM T Fri Mykonos, Greece 7:00 AM 6:00 PM T

Sat Istanbul, Turkey 11:00 AM D Sat Santorini, Greece 7:00 AM 6:00 PM T

Sun Istanbul, Turkey 5:00 PM D Sun Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey 7:00 AM 6:00 PM D

Mon Cruising C Mon Cruising C

Tue Athens (Piraeus), Greece 6:00 AM 5:00 PM D Tue Athens (Piraeus), Greece 6:00 AM 5:00 PM D

Wed Cruising C Wed Cruising C

Thu Venice, Italy 3:00 PM D Thu Venice, Italy 3:00 PM D

Fri Venice, Italy DEBARK D Fri Venice, Italy DEBARK D

 

You’ll see that on the fifth day of sailing, the ship will depart from Mykonos, Greece at 6:00 PM. The ship will arrive in Santorini, Greece instead of Istanbul at 7:00 AM, and departs at 6:00 PM.

Afterwards the ship will arrive in Ephesus, Turkey at 7:00 AM, and depart at 6:00 PM.

You don’t have to take action as this letter is only to inform you. If you have any questions about thischange, then you can call us on 01932 834243, Monday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. My team will be pleased to help you.

Once again, please accept our apologies and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Leven

Managing Director, UK & Ireland

Building 3, The Heights, Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0NY.

Email – customerserviceuk@rccl.com

09th December 2015

Edited December 9, 2015 by adamdiane
Updated

[Keith1010]

Yes, some cruise lines are not stopping there.

 

Some made the decision simply because bookings are down.

 

Keith

[singlegrandma2]

If you have never been you will enjoy both of these ports. Santorini is probably my favorite.

[cruisemom42]

It has been posted and confirmed on the Celebrity boards by someone from Celebrity that several Celebrity cruises have also cancelled Istanbul due to port construction, and a Turkey travel planning website that is very trustworthy also confirms port work in the 2016 season. Apparently the port isn't closed but there is limited availability of berths.

 

I also think Istanbul is a port that some view as less safe now. Whether that is true can be debated, but the fact is that a lot of cruisers seem nervous about stopping there. This may or may not play into cruise lines' planning for the coming season as well....

[texancruzer]

As I posted on another thread….we were there last May (2015) and it was a mess then. Lots of construction and we had to berth wayyyyyy down from the port exit. Not going to repost the whole story but there were numerous issues both getting OUT and getting back in.

 

I can see how they would cancel some sailings…. hopefully they will resume when the port is in a better condition. It is one of our favorite ports - amazing place !

[Chairsin]

Istanbul is still our scheduled embarkation port for our June Seabourn cruise. We were just there in September and have no concerns about returning. As the ship only holds 450 passengers should not be as big an issue as with the Celebrity, RCCLand other big ships.

[dogs4fun]

I do hope that the construction issues are soon settled. I love Istanbul and the port visits to both Istanbul & Ephesus were the main reasons that we booked our Med cruise in 2014 - wanted my family to experience these fascinating places.

[MVPinBoynton]

I do hope that the construction issues are soon settled. I love Istanbul and the port visits to both Istanbul & Ephesus were the main reasons that we booked our Med cruise in 2014 - wanted my family to experience these fascinating places.

 

We will be leaving from Istanbul on the Celebrity Constellation in October. I am so glad that it wasn't cancelled or I would have cancelled the cruise. It is a port that we have wanted to visit for a long time.

 

The port construction is not to be completed until 2018, so I hope that they are able to open up some docks sooner to allow the big ships to return there.

[Jfultz81]

NCL just cancelled Istanbul on our cruise and that was where the cruise was supposed to end. The cruise had probably the best itinerary we've seen in a long time and now they've butchered it so I have a feeling we'll be cancelling and looking for something else.

[Hlitner]

While many might think all the cancellations are for political and safety reasons, it is really mostly about available pier space. Here is a link to some detailed info on the port and construction project:

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Transport/yolcu_salonu.html

 

Unfortunately, progress and modernization has its price. It does seem like many of the cancellations are the larger ships while smaller vessels like Seabourn's and HAL's Prinsendam still seem to be keeping to their original schedule.

 

Hank

[littlelulu01]

NCL just cancelled Istanbul on our cruise and that was where the cruise was supposed to end. The cruise had probably the best itinerary we've seen in a long time and now they've butchered it so I have a feeling we'll be cancelling and looking for something else.

 

What is perplexing about this is the fact that NCL didn't create these new Spirit itineraries until late August, 2015. The Epic was originally scheduled to sail the Med and embark/debark in Barcelona or Rome. When they did the mass cancelation and replaced the Epic with the Spirit the port construction and berth problems were already an ongoing issue in Istanbul yet they created a new cruise with Istanbul as an embarkation/debarkation and overnight. Whoever planned that was either purposefully creating a schedule that would not come to fruition or had no knowledge of the huge and ongoing port construction issues in Istanbul.

 

What a waste to mess with all those thousands of booked passengers in order to create these itineraries only to turn right around and alter them. In the case of the November, 2016 Spirit sailing, the embarkation and debarkation ports were changed after airfare available for purchase. NCL gave a whopping $50/$100 obc to rebook those original epic sailings if you wanted the same dates on the much higher priced Spirit replacement sailings. It all seems so odd to go about all that creation of dissatisfied jilted passengers when in the end the new product you want to deliver is nothing like it was originally sold as. I did not book the Istanbul embarkation and debarkation port sailings due to all the issues I've seen in the past year with the construction. I'm sure im not alone in that and bookings for this sailing were probably not as brisk as the dream team who went about scheduling them.

[Jfultz81]

I know. I saw the press release in August about how exciting it was to be offering Turkey as an embarkation/debarkation city and that they hadn't done it in years. It truly was the perfect itinerary for us.. and now they've lost our business. I am sad to see the UDP and SDP that we had booked go bye bye... but it's not worth the money they want for a much less exciting itinerary. We would have considered staying if they had just returned to Venice and left the rest in place. Oh well, we've started looking at other things and I think we're doing a land vacation instead to Israel/Jordan/Turkey.

[MVPinBoynton]

I know. I saw the press release in August about how exciting it was to be offering Turkey as an embarkation/debarkation city and that they hadn't done it in years. It truly was the perfect itinerary for us.. and now they've lost our business. I am sad to see the UDP and SDP that we had booked go bye bye... but it's not worth the money they want for a much less exciting itinerary. We would have considered staying if they had just returned to Venice and left the rest in place. Oh well, we've started looking at other things and I think we're doing a land vacation instead to Israel/Jordan/Turkey.

 

The Celebrity Constellation is still starting in Istanbul and going to Israel. That is why we booked it. :)

[littlelulu01]

I know. I saw the press release in August about how exciting it was to be offering Turkey as an embarkation/debarkation city and that they hadn't done it in years. It truly was the perfect itinerary for us.. and now they've lost our business. I am sad to see the UDP and SDP that we had booked go bye bye... but it's not worth the money they want for a much less exciting itinerary. We would have considered staying if they had just returned to Venice and left the rest in place. Oh well, we've started looking at other things and I think we're doing a land vacation instead to Israel/Jordan/Turkey.

 

Sorry about the hassle. After NCL canceled my Epic sailing the day after I purchased it and then offered me no price protection to sail on the new Spirit replacement sailing I realized that cruise lines have every right, according to their contracts, to pretty much do anything they want at any time including canceling sailings, embarkation/debarkation, taking away the price, perks.... NCL really takes the cake on the industry leader in this practice.

 

I have tried to insulate myself to some degree by booking my next med sailings on dates with three other alternatives if one line changes or cancels on me. Early Spring and Fall/winter cruises don't fit that bill so I've rebooked in September. There is a Celebrity, HAL, NCL and RCL sailings that will fit into my flight booking window. At this point for me its more about being able to get on a ship in the port and dates I need and take some semblance of the trip I want. After the NCL mass redeployment debacle in August and how terribly they treated most of the passengers I don't trust them or any of the lines any more. I put down three deposits on three lines and purchased cruise insurance with an independent company. Crazy that is what cruising has come down to for med sailings... especially with NCL.

[Jfultz81]

The Celebrity Constellation is still starting in Istanbul and going to Israel. That is why we booked it. :)

We saw the Constellation sailing but it's too early on Nov for us, we have to go around Thanksgiving to have enough vacation time. We also hesitate to book anything beginning or ending in Istanbul because if they change the itinerary after we book airfare, there's a good chance we'll have to eat the change fee and I don't want that hassle or expense. Sad to say, but as much as I love cruising, their at whim policies are forcing us to land only. Airlines are bad, but at least they get you to where you are going eventually!

[MVPinBoynton]

We saw the Constellation sailing but it's too early on Nov for us, we have to go around Thanksgiving to have enough vacation time. We also hesitate to book anything beginning or ending in Istanbul because if they change the itinerary after we book airfare, there's a good chance we'll have to eat the change fee and I don't want that hassle or expense. Sad to say, but as much as I love cruising, their at whim policies are forcing us to land only. Airlines are bad, but at least they get you to where you are going eventually!

 

We booked our air through Celebrity's Choice Air to prevent penalties if they make the change. Since they cancelled all their other ships Istanbul stops; but kept this one, I feel pretty good about it not changing.

Edited December 21, 2015 by MVPinBoynton