No more Greece and Turkey

[Norm174]

for Disney - Could Celebrity be far behind?

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6718

:eek:

[Cruise Junky]

Disney only has one ship in the med. Celebrity needs variety.

[Hlitner]

While we respect Disney, they are a minor player in the cruise industry. Disney serves a relatively small group of potential cruisers who often are younger families traveling with their children. Many of these folks are relatively novices when it comes to international travel, and Disney is smart to play to their audience. On the other hand, you can look at other lines like Oceania, HAL, Azamara, etc. that are still going to many Greek Ports as well as the usual Turkish Ports (Istanbul, Kusadasi, etc). We just booked (yesterday) a spring HAL cruise that calls at many ports in Turkey and Greece...and we have no hesitation in going back to those countries. But the concerns of some Canadians/Americans about traveling to those parts of the world helped us snag a great price on our cruise. So we salute those who are reticent to travel :).

 

Hnak

[sylmack]

Mickey Mouse is a wuss.

[DebbieMacG]

$1000 obc as compensation for changing the itinerary! :eek:

[villauk]

They have also removed Malta, according to the article, and since when has that been in Greece or Turkey?

 

I can't see X following suit but if they did, I can see even more cancellations as many pax don't want the 'Classic Med' that Disney are now offering - been there and seen that a million times. Disney cater more to younger families where the 'ship' is the destination, even in the Med ;). Additionally, if they remove Greece and Turkey, it would result in many X ships calling at the same places on the same days, virtually doing the same itineraries. They would need to redeploy ships to other areas - can you imagine the costs associated with the logistics :eek:.

 

Now if they added some more unusual ports to our itinerary from the east coast of Italy or down that strait, I would be over the moon :D. The removal of Kusadasi and Athens from our next cruise wouldn't be a deal breaker for me personally - we have the 'been there, seen that a million times before' attitude :rolleyes:. On a side note, that $1000 would do nicely although Kusadasi is brilliant for fake designer 'tat' - excellent if you have children that buy presents for their many teen friends :D.

[Keith1010]

This all come down to demand.

 

Some cruise lines were cancelling ports because bookings we down.

 

Things change. They'll be back in time.

 

Keith

[elena7seas]

A friend received the following notification from Celebrity yesterday:

 

 

Celebrity Equinox Itinerary Modification

 

12 Night Eastern Mediterranean Voyage: May 19, 2016

 

• The overnight call to Istanbul, Turkey has been replaced with an overnight to the existing Athens (Piraeus), Greece single day call.

 

• The call port of Chania (Souda), Crete, Greece has been added and the call time is 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM.

 

• The port order was also revised.

 

• These changes were made at the request of brand leadership.

 

The Istanbul overnight was a mid-cruise port on the itinerary, not an embarkation or departure port.

Edited December 24, 2015 by elena7seas

[Wiltonian]

While we respect Disney, they are a minor player in the cruise industry

 

Hnak

 

I don't respect them at all! Either they're over-reacting by not simply avoiding certain places like Istanbul and one or two Greek islands most affected by the refugee crisis, or else they're being disingenuous by trying to cover up the fact that their cruise wasn't selling, which wouldn't be surprising given that the demographic for the ancient wonders of civilisation in Greece and Turkey is not coterminous with Disney's usual demographic.

 

Stuart

[upwarduk]

A friend received the following notification from Celebrity yesterday:

 

 

Celebrity Equinox Itinerary Modification

 

12 Night Eastern Mediterranean Voyage: May 19, 2016

 

• The overnight call to Istanbul, Turkey has been replaced with an overnight to the existing Athens (Piraeus), Greece single day call.

 

• The call port of Chania (Souda), Crete, Greece has been added and the call time is 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM.

 

• The port order was also revised.

 

• These changes were made at the request of brand leadership.

 

The Istanbul overnight was a mid-cruise port on the itinerary, not an embarkation or departure port.

 

Repeat of October 2015 on Silly.

[DonRobertoSanJuan]

I am glad we visited Istanbul and Kusadasi a few years ago, because I would not go back to that country for anything. Turkey, under Erdogan, has become a fascist country with close ties to Daesh (ISIS). They allow Jihadists to travel back and forth to Syria and they systematically kill the Kurds, the only group successfully fighting Daesh. They don't deserve my money, neither does Russia (St. Petersburg/Leningrad), China and a few others.:mad:

[Wiltonian]

Don't feed the troll!

[pete_coach]

I am glad we visited Istanbul and Kusadasi a few years ago, because I would not go back to that country for anything. Turkey, under Erdogan, has become a fascist country with close ties to Daesh (ISIS). They allow Jihadists to travel back and forth to Syria and they systematically kill the Kurds, the only group successfully fighting Daesh. They don't deserve my money, neither does Russia (St. Petersburg/Leningrad), China and a few others.:mad:

 

I agree. While I am not mad, I do not feel these countries deserve my dollar or my visit.

 

As for Disney, like someone already said, the ship is the destination, not the ports. I could just imagine a Disney ship half full of children getting off at Santorini...with the funicular or a donkey ride the only way to the top... :)

[Hlitner]

I am glad we visited Istanbul and Kusadasi a few years ago, because I would not go back to that country for anything. Turkey, under Erdogan, has become a fascist country with close ties to Daesh (ISIS). They allow Jihadists to travel back and forth to Syria and they systematically kill the Kurds, the only group successfully fighting Daesh. They don't deserve my money, neither does Russia (St. Petersburg/Leningrad), China and a few others.:mad:

 

Personally, I have more of a problem giving my money to Disney. It is a complete outrage that this company continues to exploit a mouse! It is time for the proletariat to stand up to these abusers of mice.

 

Hank

[BubMunkeyBles]

Ridiculous in my opinion. We're Disney people but I'd never cruise them in Europe anyways. It's just not their market.

[Ruthk]

I am glad we visited Istanbul and Kusadasi a few years ago, because I would not go back to that country for anything. Turkey, under Erdogan, has become a fascist country with close ties to Daesh (ISIS). They allow Jihadists to travel back and forth to Syria and they systematically kill the Kurds, the only group successfully fighting Daesh. They don't deserve my money, neither does Russia (St. Petersburg/Leningrad), China and a few others.:mad:

 

I couldn't have said it any better - totally agree!!!!

[sayaguru]

We just booked (yesterday) a spring HAL cruise that calls at many ports in Turkey and Greece...and we have no hesitation in going back to those countries. But the concerns of some Canadians/Americans about traveling to those parts of the world helped us snag a great price on our cruise. So we salute those who are reticent to travel :).

 

Hnak

 

We just booked (yesterday too) an AMAZING deal on Celebrity in October going to Turkey and Greece. Istanbul was removed and therefore people dropped out. :D

[Hlitner]

We just booked (yesterday too) an AMAZING deal on Celebrity in October going to Turkey and Greece. Istanbul was removed and therefore people dropped out. :D

 

Regarding Istanbul (this has also been discussed in another thread) folks might want to consider that there is a major port reconstruction project that is finally starting and will not be completed until around 2017! Although this project (which will temporarily close many of the piers) has been scheduled for a few years, the cruise lines continued to do their normal scheduling until they were certain of the closure dates. But now that it is happening, many cruises (especially those on larger ships) are cancelling that port. Other ships/lines such as the HAL Prinsendam and some Seabourn vessels will continue to call at Istanbul...allthough the docking area will be a bit more inconvenient for passengers.

 

Hank

[ShawninFL]

Our Equinox cruise next August also had the itinerary changed. We were supposed to overnight in Istanbul at the end of the cruise. The Istanbul overnight was cancelled and we now overnight in Athens on the first night of the cruise. We do still disembark in Istanbul.... at least for now. We're waiting to decide what we do in Istanbul. I would like to stay at least one night before heading out to Barcelona, but current events much closer to visiting will determine what we do.