Equinox in Port of Istanbul

[Buffetcutter]

My reservation for the Equinox cruise 16.7.2016 - 23.7.2016 is confirmed. My third cruise with this excellent Cruise line. Cabin Category C3. For flights booking it might be better to wait until April/May? After the terror attack in Ankara and the troubles within Turkey ...... who knows whats happening....? And I do not know the conditions with choice air. Do they change flights to other ports without extra costs? Any helpful advice from this experienced forum would be great.

[Rosethorn40]

I am also booked on this cruise, but I am waiting until final payment due date (Early May) to make my final decision. I am strongly considering using Choice Air because if it works like similar air programs on other cruise lines, it offers a next port guarantee and I would think Celebrity would take care of re-routing you to the new port of embarking.

 

Right now, booking air on my own to Istanbul, and return from Rome is about $1400 pp. I need to see what choice air would be. If only a little more it might be worth the peace of mind.

[zoncom]

This is the year to use Celebrity air. They gotta get you there on their dime.

[MrsKNZ]

I'm booked on this cruise too, and booked my flights via NZ travel agent months ago. I took out travel insurance which should pay out if embarkation location changes. If not, I'm only out $600 NZD because we're visiting elsewhere in Europe beforehand and flying from there to Istanbul (via Athens, which seems to be the most likely replacement from what I've been seeing). Maybe turn it into an adventure by visiting somewhere else first as well?

Edited February 22, 2016 by MrsKNZ

[suec12]

Definitely checkout ChoiceAir - for our Oct. 2016 cruise we saved over $450 per person using ChoiceAir and got the exact same flights as if we had booked direct with the airline. So you may ending up saving $$$ and if there would be an itinerary change I'd believe the air rebookings would be handled better thru ChoiceAir.

[fantasy51]

I am looking at the next cruise, which ends in Istanbul, and have made the decision to let Celebrity organise my air fares if I go ahead. That way they are obligated to look after me and get me back to Heathrow. I would not want to have to queue at an unknown airport if there were a port change. The flight prices they have given me (BA flights) are very reasonable.

[liverpoollad]

I think Celebrity are not using Istanbul now(??), our cruise did include a stop there but has been cancelled & are also monitoring the situation for Kusadasi.

[MrsKNZ]

I think Celebrity are not using Istanbul now(??), our cruise did include a stop there but has been cancelled & are also monitoring the situation for Kusadasi.

 

 

That's for day stops. They're still embarking/disembarking from Istanbul.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Are ALL day stops in Istanbul gone then? I just got an invoice itinerary showing they're stopping there. :confused:

[MrsKNZ]

Are ALL day stops in Istanbul gone then? I just got an invoice itinerary showing they're stopping there. :confused:

 

 

Not sure. All I know is people have posted that their day stops have gone, but embarking/disembarking is still happening. This is NOT because of violence, but the port upgrades (which makes sense to me, yes they've been scheduled for a while, but the impact may not have been fully known/construction planning may be behind schedule).

[Swampduck]

I think we are feeling the same as everyone else... what a dilemma to be in! We have booked Greece and Turkey leaving 25th Aug, from Athens but then coming home from Istanbul. Now we were there August past and it was fine, but with the recent turn of events I am worried that Celeb will maybe change the final port. We haven;t booked our flights yet and we always book our own, now we don't know whether to book direct with Celeb this time. Does anyone know, it we book our flights with Celeb and they change last port, is it their responsibility as well as costs to change our flights? Also, our ship is more than half empty... will they sail with an empty ship?

Thanks

Debbie:confused:

[Buffetcutter]

Problems solved.

Choiceair is the choice.

 

I just booked my flights (my TA helped because direct booking with choiceair from europe is not possible) with choice air.

 

Turkish Airline from Berlin to Istanbul and AirBerlin from Rome to Berlin (242 €, about 50 € cheaper than direct Airlinebooking). And every change with the Embarkationport is in celebritys finance/organisation-responsibility.

[fantasy51]

I think we are feeling the same as everyone else... what a dilemma to be in! We have booked Greece and Turkey leaving 25th Aug, from Athens but then coming home from Istanbul. Now we were there August past and it was fine, but with the recent turn of events I am worried that Celeb will maybe change the final port. We haven;t booked our flights yet and we always book our own, now we don't know whether to book direct with Celeb this time. Does anyone know, it we book our flights with Celeb and they change last port, is it their responsibility as well as costs to change our flights? Also, our ship is more than half empty... will they sail with an empty ship?

Thanks

Debbie:confused:

 

Hi Debbie. I booked last night and asked that same question. If we book flights and transfers with Celebrity, it is their responsibility to arrange things if the ports change.

 

I was assured that the port is a secure area and we are sent in secure transport to the airport, which again is secure. This is why they have kept Istanbul for an embarkation/disembarkation port.

 

I phoned Celebrity direct and found a very helpful man. On the internet I could only book flights the day before the cruise, so had to stay in a hotel overnight. He could manually over-ride the system and book flights for the morning of the cruise. He pointed out that we overnight in Athens so it should not be a big problem if anything went wrong with flights.

[az_tchr]

This is the year to use Celebrity air. They gotta get you there on their dime.

 

Suggest you read the fine print. They will assist you. Only assist. Celebrity at this point is committed to having these cruises leave from Istanbul because they have thousands of passengers - 5000+ - that would be effected if they changed. There is really no big issue in Istanbul. It is not Ankara that is 300 miles away and the political center for Turkey. Would I travel to Ankara today? No. Istanbul? Absolutely. I would simply leave my American flag t shirt in my luggage.

[Swampduck]

Hi Debbie. I booked last night and asked that same question. If we book flights and transfers with Celebrity, it is their responsibility to arrange things if the ports change.

 

I was assured that the port is a secure area and we are sent in secure transport to the airport, which again is secure. This is why they have kept Istanbul for an embarkation/disembarkation port.

 

I phoned Celebrity direct and found a very helpful man. On the internet I could only book flights the day before the cruise, so had to stay in a hotel overnight. He could manually over-ride the system and book flights for the morning of the cruise. He pointed out that we overnight in Athens so it should not be a big problem if anything went wrong with flights.

 

Thanks for that... so they confirmed that it would be their responsibility to change our flights? I think i might just book ours with them then. Which date are you going on? Ours for the 25th Aug is half empty, but great savings to be had...

Debbie :)

[fantasy51]

Thanks for that... so they confirmed that it would be their responsibility to change our flights? I think i might just book ours with them then. Which date are you going on? Ours for the 25th Aug is half empty, but great savings to be had...

Debbie :)

 

Hi Debbie. I am booked on the 25th August too. Sorry I did not make that plain earlier. This will be my first cruise with Celebrity. I noticed this cruise had the lowest price of any of the August ones. I assume it is because of the Istanbul issue. I spoke to Karl again today to clear up mis-spellings and asked about the ship being half full, having read what you had said. He checked and was surprised to find more empty rooms than he had expected. What surprised me was that when I booked yesterday he could only give me a choice of 2 rooms at the grade I wanted, whereas I had seen about 20 in that category only about 4 days earlier.