Marella Discovery Itinerary Change. Colours of the Far East (Merged threads).

[brian1]

21 hours ago, Southendweather said:

😞

Hi Brian, Southend seafront never seems the same after travelling around the world 😉

I love the heat so not a problem for me, worked in Oman one August (Khasab) and it was 50c in the shade, but saying that, not the humidity that you get in the tropics which saps you. My Wife always has a go at me when I take her on a route march in the mid day sun 🌞 Thorpe Bay was where I grew up and still have relatives etc.

Btw, are you going on one of these Asia cruises soon Brian?

 

Okay back to the weather at the cruise locations:

 

Maximum missing from bufa/synop data for Ho Chi Minh City 😞

 

Keith (Southend)

Hi,we're looking at a Vietnam and Ankor Wat land package combined with a cruise including Indonesia.Hopefully will be available later this year.Last 2 years in Italy,July and August have  endured heatwaves that even the locals struggle with.I grin and bear it,lol.Hope all goes well with the Marella far east cruises.We think the newer ships are better than P&O in many aspects.Cheers,Brian.

Edited January 9, 2020 by brian1

[Southendweather]

2 hours ago, brian1 said:

Hi,we're looking at a Vietnam and Ankor Wat land package combined with a cruise including Indonesia.Hopefully will be available later this year.Last 2 years in Italy,July and August have  endured heatwaves that even the locals struggle with.I grin and bear it,lol.Hope all goes well with the Marella far east cruises.We think the newer ships are better than P&O in many aspects.Cheers,Brian.

Yes we've done about 7 P&O cruises, but atm Marella do a proper All Inclusive and don't add the tips on, althoug I beleive P&O have stopped the latter. I just like to try and avoid coming home to another bill. Hope you get your package.

 

Latest weather readings:

 

Keith (Southend)

[Chdg2]

Onboard for last week. Nothing been mentioned about problems. We did email TUI after being refused to cancel without losing money but sill not response!  Have also mentioned our reluctance to sail given problem and change to itinerary onboard but nobody has got back to us.  First Marella cruise and likely the last. Booked Premium AI and have found you can only get certain drinks in some bars!  Lots of things not available too. So have wasted money!  
 

We have enjoyed our port stops but are really annoyed at missing Koh Samui, Malacca and Langkawi.  Staff are brilliant!

[brian1]

21 hours ago, Southendweather said:

Yes we've done about 7 P&O cruises, but atm Marella do a proper All Inclusive and don't add the tips on, althoug I beleive P&O have stopped the latter. I just like to try and avoid coming home to another bill. Hope you get your package.

 

Latest weather readings:

 

Keith (Southend)

Cheers,if we do get to AW , I'll get to learn how to spell it,lol.

[ekco]

Thanks for the update Chdg2.  We were looking forward to the ports they have missed off the itinerary.  Also not happy that the stop overnight for Bangkok does not have excursions listed for the second day to book online.  We wanted to do a chill out at Pattaya beach on the second day, 4.5 hours, but it is only listed for the day before and we have booked Bangkok by night for that day.  That’s another wasted day. Please let us know if they have put any excursions on for the second day, leaving port at 15.00.  Have you had your refund yet?

[Southendweather]

33 minutes ago, ekco said:

Thanks for the update Chdg2.  We were looking forward to the ports they have missed off the itinerary.  Also not happy that the stop overnight for Bangkok does not have excursions listed for the second day to book online.  We wanted to do a chill out at Pattaya beach on the second day, 4.5 hours, but it is only listed for the day before and we have booked Bangkok by night for that day.  That’s another wasted day. Please let us know if they have put any excursions on for the second day, leaving port at 15.00.  Have you had your refund yet?

I was on an early this morning and noticed she had already left Port, so local time that would have been about 2pm.

 

Keith (Southend)

[Southendweather]

 

Keith (Southend)

[Southendweather]

1 hour ago, ekco said:

Thanks for the update Chdg2.  We were looking forward to the ports they have missed off the itinerary.  Also not happy that the stop overnight for Bangkok does not have excursions listed for the second day to book online.  We wanted to do a chill out at Pattaya beach on the second day, 4.5 hours, but it is only listed for the day before and we have booked Bangkok by night for that day.  That’s another wasted day. Please let us know if they have put any excursions on for the second day, leaving port at 15.00.  Have you had your refund yet?

We still haven't been told anything has changed yet and we fly to Langkawi on the 13th Feb 2020, just those flight time changes, later getting in, about 6 hours, but not a lot of change flying home.

Just checked again and this is what is shown for the 2nd day at Bangkok, also all them available, not booked up:

 

 

Keith (Southend)

[Southendweather]

ecko, do you fly in/out of Bangkok, that could be the reason they've axed your excursions?

We still have Ko Somui listed for excursion:

 

Keith (Southend)

[ekco]

We fly into Langkawi from Manchester.  I just had a look at the excursions and thought at first that they had put them back on for day 8 but they don’t match up with my revised itinerary insomuch as we are revised to leave at 15.00 on day 8 which obviously wouldn’t allow time for the 8 hour trips, even though it is still saying ship in port previous day - 17.00.  What to do?  Not sure.

[Southendweather]

13 hours ago, ekco said:

We fly into Langkawi from Manchester.  I just had a look at the excursions and thought at first that they had put them back on for day 8 but they don’t match up with my revised itinerary insomuch as we are revised to leave at 15.00 on day 8 which obviously wouldn’t allow time for the 8 hour trips, even though it is still saying ship in port previous day - 17.00.  What to do?  Not sure.

Ah the weekend:

 

Still mystified we've not heard anymore from TUI as we are under 5 weeks before departure. I think you said you were informed on the 20th December 2019 for your 31st January 2020 sailing (6 weeks).

 

Our Langkawi departure was originally 17:55 (27th Feb), then 18:10 and atm 17:25 (email 2nd January), so timewise not much difference. But looking at your revised itinerary compared to ours (as it stands atm) you miss Malacca:

 

14 Langkawi, Malaysia  18:00 23:59
15 Langkawi, Malaysia  00:00

 

This is taken from the email from TUI with revised flight time home sent on 2nd January 2020:

 

I notice some small time changes from my original itnerary, ironically originally we were leaving Malacca at 14:00 now it's 15:00 and arrive Langkawi 06:00 now 08:30.

We have reduced time at Sihanoukville/Cambodia was 07:00 - 21:00 now 09:30 - 19:00.

 

Oh well, still expecting bad news on this yet, but the later they leave it the more dissapointed I'll be.

 

Keith (Southend)

[ekco]

Not one word have we had since that email, apart from the e-ticket that had the original itinerary on.  My OH is phoning this morning about the trips on the second day and will try to remember to ask about our ‘friends” ( you) who are travelling later in February and if they are affected.

[Southendweather]

11 minutes ago, ekco said:

Not one word have we had since that email, apart from the e-ticket that had the original itinerary on.  My OH is phoning this morning about the trips on the second day and will try to remember to ask about our ‘friends” ( you) who are travelling later in February and if they are affected.

 

It's basically down to if/when they can fix the transformer out there, maybe it's in the balance still whether they can.

 

I'm just wondering if my luck continues as we were part of the Cuban Fusion debacle  the end of 2018, but ended up the only one that had full time and an overnight stop in Havana.

 

I hope for you they fix earlier than expected and you get back a bit more than you currently have been told.

 

Keith (Southend)

[Margaret Rees]

We are on board now ! All good so far . Left Laem Chabang at 4 pm and able to do the Pattaya on your own trip that day . Some people even did Bangkok trips on Day 2 but left ship at 6 am . New Captain ,great attitude. Announced situation is better and we may get to Langkawi at 11 am on day 1 so they are selling trips for that day .

Hope this cheers some of you up ! 

[ekco]

Customer service hopeless, half an hour on hold then told they don’t deal with cruises then another long hold to be met with a foreign person with poor English repeating a crib sheet mantra that the excursions online are the ones available.  All well and good but she couldn’t explain why there is an 8 hour trip on the second day in Bangkok when we are scheduled to leave at 15.00. Asked about passengers travelling mid-February to be told they will be informed if needed (when they get round to it then).  Like politicians, non-commital. Expect the worst and expect no help, they are passing the buck to the ship by which time we are captive prisoners. The trouble is that the link on the account page  for excursions just goes to the webpage which is not for cruises, going through an old link which we got off here might not be an up to date one. 

[Southendweather]

4 minutes ago, Margaret Rees said:

We are on board now ! All good so far . Left Laem Chabang at 4 pm and able to do the Pattaya on your own trip that day . Some people even did Bangkok trips on Day 2 but left ship at 6 am . New Captain ,great attitude. Announced situation is better and we may get to Langkawi at 11 am on day 1 so they are selling trips for that day .

Hope this cheers some of you up ! 

Thank you Margaret for taking the time for updating, always good to get information from the 'bridge' so to speak. I assume you joined at Bangkok so your first week.

 

Keith (Southend)

[Southendweather]

8 minutes ago, ekco said:

Customer service hopeless, half an hour on hold then told they don’t deal with cruises then another long hold to be met with a foreign person with poor English repeating a crib sheet mantra that the excursions online are the ones available.  All well and good but she couldn’t explain why there is an 8 hour trip on the second day in Bangkok when we are scheduled to leave at 15.00. Asked about passengers travelling mid-February to be told they will be informed if needed (when they get round to it then).  Like politicians, non-commital. Expect the worst and expect no help, they are passing the buck to the ship by which time we are captive prisoners. The trouble is that the link on the account page  for excursions just goes to the webpage which is not for cruises, going through an old link which we got off here might not be an up to date one. 

Yes, I never use the link on the account page just have this bookmarked:

https://www.marellaexcursionspassenger.tui.co.uk/login

 

I think it's a mix of the left hand doesn't know what the right hands doing, plus they hope they can fix problem but it's not completely in their control as to when they will have the parts to do it. Reading Margaret you may find you are being told the worse case scenario and once on board a few more options, sort of reverse psychology. Fingers crossed.

 

Keith (Southend)

[Southendweather]

15 minutes ago, Margaret Rees said:

We are on board now ! All good so far . Left Laem Chabang at 4 pm and able to do the Pattaya on your own trip that day . Some people even did Bangkok trips on Day 2 but left ship at 6 am . New Captain ,great attitude. Announced situation is better and we may get to Langkawi at 11 am on day 1 so they are selling trips for that day .

Hope this cheers some of you up ! 

Quick question Margaret. Are you using the ships Internet and if so how much is it now for two weeks, last time I went it was £90.

 

Thanks

 

Keith (Southend)

[ekco]

Right, phoned again and got someone with some sense telling the truth.  At the moment this problem is ongoing until March so expect changes.  The excursions are not available to book online through the usual channels, if you haven’t booked earlier don’t bother, especially with a old link as they are not available.  He said it’s been horrendous and they are having problems contacting the ship for information.  Expect to do our revised itinerary and anything better is a bonus.

[ekco]

Glad to hear Margaret’s experience, we’ll just have to wait until we are onboard to book other trips.  It’s the lack of communication that’s annoying, just tell the truth and we’ll deal with it.

[Southendweather]

22 minutes ago, ekco said:

Glad to hear Margaret’s experience, we’ll just have to wait until we are onboard to book other trips.  It’s the lack of communication that’s annoying, just tell the truth and we’ll deal with it.

I was just thinking that myself. I'll let you know if/when I get an email from TUI.

 

Keith (Southend)

[Southendweather]

I put together a little spreadsheet, just for interest, to get an idea of what difference the speed the ship goes, as to how long it would take to cover the distances required. Just an estimate, but a few knots faster can make a lot of difference:

 

Data obtained using:

http://www.shiptraffic.net/2001/05/sea-distances-calculator.html

 

Keith (Southend)

[ekco]

Very interesting.  16 knots it is then.

[Southendweather]

40 minutes ago, ekco said:

Very interesting.  16 knots it is then.

I've added another column that is based on the time in my itinerary they leave port and dock at the next port, (SCHEDULED TIME), please check my calculations, but what is there problem, as I have seen them doing 19 knots some days over the last week?

Is it a case that by avoiding Ko Samui the don't have the work of using the Tenders! It's only the run back to Malacca that looks a bit tight.

 

Keith (Southend)

Edited January 11, 2020 by Southendweather

[Pensioncruiser]

Keith I hope you don't mind me saying but you are really into this at the moment, I do understand its very important but it's out of your hands, unfortunately, I am just hoping that it will not spoil what will be an amazing cruise, even though its not the one you booked. Please don't take this as a negative post as I am with you and all the cruisers on board as we have some friends on this week who are happy at the moment. 

Hopefully all goes well. 🤞