harz99 Posted December 19, 2015 #1 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (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 December 19, 2015 by harz99 Wrong ship oops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare KeithJenner Posted December 19, 2015 #2 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I assume you mean the Spirit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreestyleNovice Posted December 19, 2015 #3 Share Posted December 19, 2015 The Jewel in Europe? Meant Star? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare KeithJenner Posted December 19, 2015 #4 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I'm booked on that cruise (it is the Spirit), and looking at myncl, the new ports are listed as above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreestyleNovice Posted December 19, 2015 #5 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I assume you mean the Spirit. Even more possible. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harz99 Posted December 19, 2015 Author #6 Share Posted December 19, 2015 The Jewel in Europe? Meant Star? I'm booked on that cruise (it is the Spirit), and looking at myncl, the new ports are listed as above. Yep, just changed - senior moment:o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare KeithJenner Posted December 19, 2015 #7 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harz99 Posted December 19, 2015 Author #8 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I'm booked on that cruise (it is the Spirit), and looking at myncl, the new ports are listed as above. Did you already know the revised itinerary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare KeithJenner Posted December 19, 2015 #9 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Did you already know the revised itinerary? No. Your post was the first is heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dub237 Posted December 19, 2015 #10 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare All-ready2cruise Posted December 19, 2015 #11 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dub237 Posted December 19, 2015 #12 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert_ Dweller Posted December 19, 2015 #13 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare All-ready2cruise Posted December 19, 2015 #14 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlelulu01 Posted December 19, 2015 #15 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare KeithJenner Posted December 19, 2015 #16 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Booking flights for this cruise isn't an option for me for another few months. There is plenty of time before these changes will cause any practical problems for me. Edited December 19, 2015 by KeithJenner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harz99 Posted December 19, 2015 Author #17 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlelulu01 Posted December 19, 2015 #18 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusin6 Posted December 19, 2015 #19 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (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 December 19, 2015 by Crusin6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqvol Posted December 19, 2015 #20 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Another example of the bad guys winning. What a shame to take such a beautiful, rich city off an itinerary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreestyleNovice Posted December 19, 2015 #21 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare All-ready2cruise Posted December 19, 2015 #22 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (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 December 19, 2015 by All-ready2cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harz99 Posted December 19, 2015 Author #23 Share Posted December 19, 2015 One year ago today I was sitting in the grounds of the Topkapi Palace enjoying the crisp sunny day. Jade was my floating hotel over Christmas and New Year. What a difference a year makes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casofilia Posted December 19, 2015 #24 Share Posted December 19, 2015 We were booked on the Star; Istanbul-Singapore starting on Oct 31 2016. We are now booked for Rome- Singapore starting Oct 30 2016 with quite a change in the itinerary. No Istanbul and no reasons given for the change. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njsonja Posted December 19, 2015 #25 Share Posted December 19, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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