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Istanbul removed from 2016/17 cruises?

harz99

By harz99,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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harz99

harz99

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have just booked here in the UK with my usual TA for the 12th April 2017 cruise on Spirit.

 

Despite what the NCL website and most TA websites are advertising, the cruise I have booked does not finish at, nor visit, Istanbul. It's now Venice round trip and without the overnight Venice at the start.

 

The word from my TA is that until all those booked on affected cruises are notified, the website will remain unchanged.

 

Itinerary now Venice, sea, Heraklion, sea, Haifa overnight, Limassol, Alanya, Rhodes, sea, Split, Venice. 11 days/12 nights.

 

My TA here in the UK is offering inside/OV/Balcony all on GTY only at present with prices at GBP 849/899/989, including flights from LGW + transfers + Premium Drinks + (for December bookings only) £99pp deposit + one from three offers of, Speciality Dining (5 meals pp)/$100OBC/250 mins internet.

 

Only extra to pay is hold baggage on the flights at £30 per bag.

 

Great itinerary for us, but we've already been to Istanbul and Venice a few times.

Edited by harz99
Wrong ship oops.
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KeithJenner "Live from...." Rare

KeithJenner

Posted
Posted

New itinerary:

 

Wed: leave Venice 5pm

Thurs: sea

Fri: Iraklion 2pm-8pm

Sat: Sea

Sun: Arrive Haifa 6am

Mon: Leave Haifa 5pm

Tues: Limassol 8am-5pm

Wed: Alanya 8am-5pm

Thurs: Rhodes 8am-3pm

Fri: Sea

Sat: Split 9am-5pm

Sun: Arrive Venice 7am

 

Other than now needing to fly out a day earlier if we want to go into Venice, I think it looked quite good. I'd already done Istanbul too, and Venice airport is easier to get to than Istanbul.

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dub237

dub237

Posted
Posted
New itinerary:

 

Wed: leave Venice 5pm

Thurs: sea

Fri: Iraklion 2pm-8pm

Sat: Sea

Sun: Arrive Haifa 6am

Mon: Leave Haifa 5pm

Tues: Limassol 8am-5pm

Wed: Alanya 8am-5pm

Thurs: Rhodes 8am-3pm

Fri: Sea

Sat: Split 9am-5pm

Sun: Arrive Venice 7am

 

Other than now needing to fly out a day earlier if we want to go into Venice, I think it looked quite good. I'd already done Istanbul too, and Venice airport is easier to get to than Istanbul.

 

 

This is a better itnerary Than the former one , i Will book this one

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All-ready2cruise Holiday Sharing Rare

All-ready2cruise

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So then, this removal of Istanbul from itineraries would be the reason why some of the Star's cruises for Oct. 2016 have been removed. Guess they'll need to rework those departure cities, think she was doing a couple of sailings from Istanbul on her voyage to down-under...

 

Oh well, we decided we'd prefer to stay out of that area for now anyway, maybe NCL feels the risk is too high? or there could be some other reason ... I'm sure some will be disappointed but safety first seems to be the order of the day.

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dub237

dub237

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So then, this removal of Istanbul from itineraries would be the reason why some of the Star's cruises for Oct. 2016 have been removed. Guess they'll need to rework those departure cities, think she was doing a couple of sailings from Istanbul on her voyage to down-under...

 

 

 

Oh well, we decided we'd prefer to stay out of that area for now anyway, maybe NCL feels the risk is too high? or there could be some other reason ... I'm sure some will be disappointed but safety first seems to be the order of the day.

 

 

I saw maybe Its because of the work in the futur gala port célébrity also canceled instanbul in 2016..

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Desert_ Dweller

Desert_ Dweller

Posted
Posted
So then, this removal of Istanbul from itineraries would be the reason why some of the Star's cruises for Oct. 2016 have been removed. Guess they'll need to rework those departure cities, think she was doing a couple of sailings from Istanbul on her voyage to down-under...

 

Oh well, we decided we'd prefer to stay out of that area for now anyway, maybe NCL feels the risk is too high? or there could be some other reason ... I'm sure some will be disappointed but safety first seems to be the order of the day.

 

Hey Connie,

Can you imagine the failure of the Azipods in Istanbul....yikes:eek:

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All-ready2cruise Holiday Sharing Rare

All-ready2cruise

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Posted
Hey Connie,

Can you imagine the failure of the Azipods in Istanbul....yikes:eek:

 

Hey Joan, yeah, I hear ya. Not sure what they're going to do with the Star as far as the AZipods go, seems crazy to be sending her into an area that is a relative unknown when it's quite possible there'll be problems.

 

Hopefully they'll have made all the repairs necessary... or perhaps they already have... who knows. :rolleyes:

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littlelulu01

littlelulu01

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Hopefully booked passengers will find out about these changes soon. Airfare is bookable on both these sailings now. For those wanting to book with miles in order to snag the first or business class seats flights may already be locked in. I'm sure many passengers who are already booked were on the cancelled Epic which they replaced with the spirit. wonder if it has something to do with the port construction that caused celebrity to cancel Istanbul overnights a couple months ago. Another poster has a post yesterday about the changes but I think their ports are different than what you are reporting.

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harz99

harz99

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  • Author
Posted
Hopefully booked passengers will find out about these changes soon. Airfare is bookable on both these sailings now. For those wanting to book with miles in order to snag the first or business class seats flights may already be locked in. I'm sure many passengers who are already booked were on the cancelled Epic which they replaced with the spirit. wonder if it has something to do with the port construction that caused celebrity to cancel Istanbul overnights a couple months ago. Another poster has a post yesterday about the changes but I think their ports are different than what you are reporting.

 

Most airlines don't book further out than 330 days, which will be next May for the April 2017 sailings. Seriously doubt many will have been able to book that far out.

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littlelulu01

littlelulu01

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Posted

Sorry. I was thinking about the November and December, 2016 sailings on the Spirit. I know that the first class tickets are already no longer available for Avios because people have already grabbed them. Currently booking is available through December 9th, 2016. The first class mileage bookings are notoriously difficult to get, especially the nonstop SEA to LHR. A couple business class seats are still available with Avios on British Airways.

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Crusin6

Crusin6

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hopefully booked passengers will find out about these changes soon. Airfare is bookable on both these sailings now. For those wanting to book with miles in order to snag the first or business class seats flights may already be locked in. I'm sure many passengers who are already booked were on the cancelled Epic which they replaced with the spirit. wonder if it has something to do with the port construction that caused celebrity to cancel Istanbul overnights a couple months ago. Another poster has a post yesterday about the changes but I think their ports are different than what you are reporting.[/

 

....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited by Crusin6
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All-ready2cruise Holiday Sharing Rare

All-ready2cruise

Posted
Posted (edited)
Russians with RPG's on their shoulders crossing the Bosporus, Russian and Turkish ship involved in warning fire.. Not the place to send a cruiseship full of US citizens. ;)

 

The Star also had some calls at Istanbul after her Asia tour right, somewhere in the fall?

 

Very true, and we have no way of knowing what will be happening in the fall when the Star is scheduled to traverse those waters.

 

The Star had some cruises (2, I think) that were actually return cruises out of Istanbul, as she makes her way down to Asia and Australia.

 

On her return in Feb/Mar. 2017 I thought she was also scheduled to stop in Istanbul, but I could be wrong since I wasn't too interested in the return cruises.

Edited by All-ready2cruise
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njsonja

njsonja

Posted
Posted

the dates are the same

 

this is the revised itinerary....

 

mon nov 28 venice italy

tues nov 29 zadar, crotia

wed nov 30, day at sea

thursday athens, greece

friday kusadasi, turkey

sat at sea

sun haifa, israel

mon haifa, israel

tues at sea

wed olympia, greece

thursday at sea

friday, dec 9 venice italy

 

 

next cruise:

friday, dec 9 venice, italy

sat, dec 10 at sea

sun dec 11 dubrovnik, croatia

mon at sea

tuesday athens, greece

wed kusadasi, turkey

thursday santorini, greece

friday at sea

sat rome, italy

sun florence/pisa, italy

monday marseille, france

tuesday barcelona, spain

 

 

and there you have it...some will be missing istanbul; rhodes, greece; naples/pompeii; monte carlo, and palma majorca

 

i know this is a first world problem, but this is the second time this has happened to me under the same reservation...originally the SPIRIT was doing the Caribbean; then NCL cancelled all the itineraries through April as they were bringing the Spirit to the MidEast; now they are changing many of the ports I was looking forward to.

 

Hope this helps folks.

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