Israel Stops Pulled Off Apex 7/31

[MaggieAtSea]

Disappointed… though not surprised.  Received email late this afternoon. If Israel stops were on an X itinerary for next summer, we’d look to reschedule but, alas.

Good comfort and counsel to be found on our roll call… at least there’s that!

[dani negreanu]

3 minutes ago, MaggieAtSea said:

If Israel stops were on an X itinerary for next summer, we’d look to reschedule but, alas.

 

But they are...

12 Days Greece/Turkey/Black Sea

Celebrity Cruises • Celebrity Apex

Rome/Civitavecchia, Limassol, Haifa, Ashdod, Kusadasi, Athens/Piraeus, Katakolon, Rome/Civitavecchia

1 departure dates: Sep 23 2022

 

Any reason given for the pull off??

 

[MaggieAtSea]

11 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

But they are...

12 Days Greece/Turkey/Black Sea

Celebrity Cruises • Celebrity Apex

Rome/Civitavecchia, Limassol, Haifa, Ashdod, Kusadasi, Athens/Piraeus, Katakolon, Rome/Civitavecchia

1 departure dates: Sep 23 2022

 

Any reason given for the pull off??

 

Thanks for that… I should have been clear we were looking for a summer sailing.  September won’t work for the work schedules.  
in terms of no Israel, the quote from the email is, "as we thoughtfully plan our return to service, we are evaluating all current itineraries and the status of travel conditions around the world. This means some of our sailing’s will need to be modified."

[dani negreanu]

1 minute ago, MaggieAtSea said:

the status of travel conditions around the world.

 

I'm so sorry for you (we were on the original Apex itinerary, which was changed to "your" itinerary) and therefore I can relate to the disappointment...

 

And I'm sorry for us, since we had a surge of positive cases, from 4 to 300 a day, due to the Delta variant.

 

It was decided to postpone, for the moment, all international travel entering to Israel from July 1st to August 1st.

 

It doesn't look good, even though we're the most vaxxed country in the world. Still, we're also a young country, meaning lots of kids and youngsters not vaxxed due to their age. It started in schools...

 

[Bruin Steve]

For us, this has been a crazy ride...

We started out booking in 2019 for early July 2020...B2B cruises.  We wanted to go to Europe and did Northern B2Bs in 2019--Baltic and British Isles...So, it was time to go back to the Med...Our two booking rules:  Ports new to us if we can find them as top priority, next ports we hadn't been to in a while...second rule--no repeat ports--or as few as possible--on B2Bs.  Since Israel wasn't on the board for summer, that was out...and Greece was our last choice since we've done it many times and recently.

So, we booked B2B Rome to Venice and back...because we found itineraries that had Zadar and Rijecka--where we've never been and had no repeat ports.

Then, Covid took that away...So, we rebooked for early July 2021...Apex Barcelona to Rome, Infinity Rome to Venice...gap of two days in between. Included stops in Valencia and Ibiza--new to us, Marseille--hadn't been in quite a while and La Spezia--the Cinque Terre was "on our list"...It worked...

THEN, they moved  Apex to Athens--messing up the connection...

We moved our Apex cruise to the July 31 date specifically to go to Israel--to which we hadn't been in several years.  We were actually fairly excited to be going back to Israel.  We were there on our honeymoon exactly 40 years ago...and again on a cruise twelve years ago.  But no clue with what would happen with Infinity, so we paid more to change it to a second Apex...even though it was Greece and repetitive on two ports...Just wanted to cruise again.

 

Then this!!

So, we have two very expensive B2B cruises with identical itineraries to the place in the Med that was last on our list for this year!  And, we are only 24 days from flying out...and really want to cruise...

So, we'll stick with it...and make the most of it...We'll do some fairly repetitive tours in port (we have LOADS of OBC we have to spend)...and we'll make it more about the ship than the itineraries...

[4774Papa]

13 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

But they are...

12 Days Greece/Turkey/Black Sea

Celebrity Cruises • Celebrity Apex

Rome/Civitavecchia, Limassol, Haifa, Ashdod, Kusadasi, Athens/Piraeus, Katakolon, Rome/Civitavecchia

1 departure dates: Sep 23 2022

 

Any reason given for the pull off??

 

Dani,

I visited Israel for four days in 1985 and loved it.   My wife hasn't be there, so we are planning a two week tour of Israel and Jordan for March 2022.   Hoping by then tourism will be open.

 

[dani negreanu]

1 minute ago, 4774Papa said:

Hoping by then tourism will be open.

 

Thanks, that makes at least 2 of us 👍 😁

[dani negreanu]

5 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

We were actually fairly excited to be going back to Israel. 

 

You were the first I've been thinking when Israel was pulled off....

 

Like Moses and the promised land.... keeps appearing, only to disappear again.

 

I'm so sorry for you disappointment.

 

[ian441672]

7 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

Then this!!

So, we have two very expensive B2B cruises with identical itineraries to the place in the Med that was last on our list for this year!  And, we are only 24 days from flying out...and really want to cruise...

So, we'll stick with it...and make the most of it...We'll do some fairly repetitive tours in port (we have LOADS of OBC we have to spend)...and we'll make it more about the ship than the itineraries...

We are the same!  Sky Suite for 2 B2B cruises end of this month, and now Israel is out of the picture, they are more or less the same, so a bit disappointed, but understand why.  More time to enjoy the lovely ship and drinks  package I guess! Plus a refund for our 2 tours to spend - we already have tours booked for the islands in the previous week and nothing else really appeals. Still, it will be nice to relax a bit more I guess.

[cruisemom42]

8 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

...even though it was Greece and repetitive on two ports...Just wanted to cruise again.

 

Sorry to hear about the additional change. Keeping a positive attitude can be tough with so many punches, but you gotta roll with them if you want to cruise right now.

 

It was my understanding that for the ports in Greece you could make your own plans in port. Is that not the case? There are so many things that one can do in Greece. If you dig even a little (pun intended) you will find many rich opportunities that may not be offered on the ship excursions which tend to focus only on the "top" site or sites. 

 

I could cruise around the Med -- especially Greece, Italy, Turkey -- for years on end and still find different things to do.  (In fact my Constellation cruise next October -- if it happens -- will be my 13th Med cruise in 15 years). So far I'm always able to find a new port or two, but also find new things to do in ports visited many times.

 

 

 

[Bruin Steve]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

It was my understanding that for the ports in Greece you could make your own plans in port. Is that not the case? There are so many things that one can do in Greece. If you dig even a little (pun intended) you will find many rich opportunities that may not be offered on the ship excursions which tend to focus only on the "top" site or sites. 

The thing is that we have traveled a lot...and, most often of late, we have either hired private guides or just "done our own thing".  For example, in our many visits to Santorini, we've not only visited Oia a few times...and visited the ruins at Akrotiri...and the museum with the ancient artifacts from the dig...and the wineries...We have also rented cars and driven up to and explored Ancient Thira...and visited the beaches on the far side of the island...and more.  And so on.

 

But here's the thing with THIS trip and shorexes:  During the twists and turns of getting here, this happened:  We initially booked under the old "two perks" deal, choosing drinks...and, because they are only 7-nighters and the OBC exceeded the gratuities, we chose OBC as our second perk, intending to use it for gratuities with a little left over for T-shirts or incidentals, maybe a specialty restaurant.  Then, over the more than two years, they offered some deals where they were giving away OBC for some things...and we called and got it applied...Then, because a couple of things went a little wrong here and there, they added some more OBC as a good will gesture.  Then, this last time, when we had to switch the second cruise to the Apex, we also upgraded to Sky Suites...and, as is part of the Sky Suite deal, they gave us even more OBC...but agreed not to take away any of the existing OBC...and, at this point, we had a staggering $3000 in NONREFUNDABLE OBC!!

 

You would think that should be easy to just send on the ship...BUT,  our gratuities are now included...We now have the PREMIUM Drink Package...We now have unlimited streaming WiFi...Specialty restaurants now have little appeal to us since we can dine in Luminae...Laundry is covered by our Elite Plus status.  Aside from Shore Excursions, there is very little to spend $3000 on.  we don't gamble and don't have a lot of interest in spending time in the spa.  That leaves Shore Excursions and the gift shops.  Even buying some of the most expensive shorexes in 8 ports, we will still be left with over $800 in NONREFUNDABLE OBC for the gift shops.

 

And a little story on that:  Same thing happened to us on one of our B2B Reflection cruises in 2019.  Try though we might, we were left with over $400 in OBC on our British Isles leg.  No problem, we thought, we'd head to the Apple Store onboard and buy my wife a new updated iPad as hers was a few generations old.  The entire first leg to the Baltic, we kept passing the Apple Store and they had lots of iPads...but all that extra OBC was on the second leg.  So, first day of the second leg, we head up to the Apple Store...and the display case is EMPTY!  There is a sign taped to the window "Due to regulations of the republic of Ireland, we regret that we will be unable to sell any electronics products during this cruise".  I checked with the front desk:  "Just while we're in Ireland, right?"  "No, the ENTIRE cruise--no Apple products, no cameras, etc." Plan B????

 

I would try to find private guides or rent cars in these  Greek ports, but we would still have trouble figuring out what to do on some, we would spend lots of extra money on top of it...AND we would have to figure out what to do with $3000 of OBC!  BTW, I have family in the jewelry business, so, for that and other reasons, I don't buy expensive jewelry in cruise ship gift shops... 

 

[ipeeinthepool]

Sounds like Steve will be spending some time in the art auctions 😉 Can you spend this OBC in the Casino?  Maybe go to the roulette wheel and keep betting on red.  I think you get to keep your winnings.  I'm sure someone can explain how to use the OBC in the Casino.

[cruisemom42]

6 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

The thing is that we have traveled a lot...and, most often of late, we have either hired private guides or just "done our own thing".  For example, in our many visits to Santorini, we've not only visited Oia a few times...and visited the ruins at Akrotiri...and the museum with the ancient artifacts from the dig...and the wineries...We have also rented cars and driven up to and explored Ancient Thira...and visited the beaches on the far side of the island...and more.  And so on.

 

But here's the thing with THIS trip and shorexes:  During the twists and turns of getting here, this happened:  We initially booked under the old "two perks" deal, choosing drinks...and, because they are only 7-nighters and the OBC exceeded the gratuities, we chose OBC as our second perk, intending to use it for gratuities with a little left over for T-shirts or incidentals, maybe a specialty restaurant.  Then, over the more than two years, they offered some deals where they were giving away OBC for some things...and we called and got it applied...Then, because a couple of things went a little wrong here and there, they added some more OBC as a good will gesture.  Then, this last time, when we had to switch the second cruise to the Apex, we also upgraded to Sky Suites...and, as is part of the Sky Suite deal, they gave us even more OBC...but agreed not to take away any of the existing OBC...and, at this point, we had a staggering $3000 in NONREFUNDABLE OBC!!

 

You would think that should be easy to just send on the ship...BUT,  our gratuities are now included...We now have the PREMIUM Drink Package...We now have unlimited streaming WiFi...Specialty restaurants now have little appeal to us since we can dine in Luminae...Laundry is covered by our Elite Plus status.  Aside from Shore Excursions, there is very little to spend $3000 on.  we don't gamble and don't have a lot of interest in spending time in the spa.  That leaves Shore Excursions and the gift shops.  Even buying some of the most expensive shorexes in 8 ports, we will still be left with over $800 in NONREFUNDABLE OBC for the gift shops.

 

And a little story on that:  Same thing happened to us on one of our B2B Reflection cruises in 2019.  Try though we might, we were left with over $400 in OBC on our British Isles leg.  No problem, we thought, we'd head to the Apple Store onboard and buy my wife a new updated iPad as hers was a few generations old.  The entire first leg to the Baltic, we kept passing the Apple Store and they had lots of iPads...but all that extra OBC was on the second leg.  So, first day of the second leg, we head up to the Apple Store...and the display case is EMPTY!  There is a sign taped to the window "Due to regulations of the republic of Ireland, we regret that we will be unable to sell any electronics products during this cruise".  I checked with the front desk:  "Just while we're in Ireland, right?"  "No, the ENTIRE cruise--no Apple products, no cameras, etc." Plan B????

 

I would try to find private guides or rent cars in these  Greek ports, but we would still have trouble figuring out what to do on some, we would spend lots of extra money on top of it...AND we would have to figure out what to do with $3000 of OBC!  BTW, I have family in the jewelry business, so, for that and other reasons, I don't buy expensive jewelry in cruise ship gift shops... 

 

 

Honestly, I know, I know. We've all been there. I had two BTB Med cruises booked in 2018 for 2019 that switched ships twice (due to Celebrity changes, not mine), changed itineraries twice (Celebrity changes, not mine) and was "lifted and shifted" once during COVID. During the course of all that I ended up (a solo traveler) with about $2000 of OBC.

 

But I guess I am just a traveler at heart. If I can't spend the OBC then I just can't. My touring takes precedence. I want to see and do what I want to see and do. I don't want the cruise line to make that choice for me and limit me to THEIR options (cruise excursions)....

 

[4774Papa]

9 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

The thing is that we have traveled a lot...and, most often of late, we have either hired private guides or just "done our own thing".  For example, in our many visits to Santorini, we've not only visited Oia a few times...and visited the ruins at Akrotiri...and the museum with the ancient artifacts from the dig...and the wineries...We have also rented cars and driven up to and explored Ancient Thira...and visited the beaches on the far side of the island...and more.  And so on.

 

But here's the thing with THIS trip and shorexes:  During the twists and turns of getting here, this happened:  We initially booked under the old "two perks" deal, choosing drinks...and, because they are only 7-nighters and the OBC exceeded the gratuities, we chose OBC as our second perk, intending to use it for gratuities with a little left over for T-shirts or incidentals, maybe a specialty restaurant.  Then, over the more than two years, they offered some deals where they were giving away OBC for some things...and we called and got it applied...Then, because a couple of things went a little wrong here and there, they added some more OBC as a good will gesture.  Then, this last time, when we had to switch the second cruise to the Apex, we also upgraded to Sky Suites...and, as is part of the Sky Suite deal, they gave us even more OBC...but agreed not to take away any of the existing OBC...and, at this point, we had a staggering $3000 in NONREFUNDABLE OBC!!

 

You would think that should be easy to just send on the ship...BUT,  our gratuities are now included...We now have the PREMIUM Drink Package...We now have unlimited streaming WiFi...Specialty restaurants now have little appeal to us since we can dine in Luminae...Laundry is covered by our Elite Plus status.  Aside from Shore Excursions, there is very little to spend $3000 on.  we don't gamble and don't have a lot of interest in spending time in the spa.  That leaves Shore Excursions and the gift shops.  Even buying some of the most expensive shorexes in 8 ports, we will still be left with over $800 in NONREFUNDABLE OBC for the gift shops.

 

And a little story on that:  Same thing happened to us on one of our B2B Reflection cruises in 2019.  Try though we might, we were left with over $400 in OBC on our British Isles leg.  No problem, we thought, we'd head to the Apple Store onboard and buy my wife a new updated iPad as hers was a few generations old.  The entire first leg to the Baltic, we kept passing the Apple Store and they had lots of iPads...but all that extra OBC was on the second leg.  So, first day of the second leg, we head up to the Apple Store...and the display case is EMPTY!  There is a sign taped to the window "Due to regulations of the republic of Ireland, we regret that we will be unable to sell any electronics products during this cruise".  I checked with the front desk:  "Just while we're in Ireland, right?"  "No, the ENTIRE cruise--no Apple products, no cameras, etc." Plan B????

 

I would try to find private guides or rent cars in these  Greek ports, but we would still have trouble figuring out what to do on some, we would spend lots of extra money on top of it...AND we would have to figure out what to do with $3000 of OBC!  BTW, I have family in the jewelry business, so, for that and other reasons, I don't buy expensive jewelry in cruise ship gift shops... 

 

Greek Ports:

Mykonos, you can do it on your own, unless you go to Delos (if you love ancient history, do this tour).

Santorini, we did a tour that covered most of the island it was great.

 

[Shadow9612]

21 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

For us, this has been a crazy ride...

We started out booking in 2019 for early July 2020...B2B cruises.  We wanted to go to Europe and did Northern B2Bs in 2019--Baltic and British Isles...So, it was time to go back to the Med...Our two booking rules:  Ports new to us if we can find them as top priority, next ports we hadn't been to in a while...second rule--no repeat ports--or as few as possible--on B2Bs.  Since Israel wasn't on the board for summer, that was out...and Greece was our last choice since we've done it many times and recently.

So, we booked B2B Rome to Venice and back...because we found itineraries that had Zadar and Rijecka--where we've never been and had no repeat ports.

Then, Covid took that away...So, we rebooked for early July 2021...Apex Barcelona to Rome, Infinity Rome to Venice...gap of two days in between. Included stops in Valencia and Ibiza--new to us, Marseille--hadn't been in quite a while and La Spezia--the Cinque Terre was "on our list"...It worked...

THEN, they moved  Apex to Athens--messing up the connection...

We moved our Apex cruise to the July 31 date specifically to go to Israel--to which we hadn't been in several years.  We were actually fairly excited to be going back to Israel.  We were there on our honeymoon exactly 40 years ago...and again on a cruise twelve years ago.  But no clue with what would happen with Infinity, so we paid more to change it to a second Apex...even though it was Greece and repetitive on two ports...Just wanted to cruise again.

 

Then this!!

So, we have two very expensive B2B cruises with identical itineraries to the place in the Med that was last on our list for this year!  And, we are only 24 days from flying out...and really want to cruise...

So, we'll stick with it...and make the most of it...We'll do some fairly repetitive tours in port (we have LOADS of OBC we have to spend)...and we'll make it more about the ship than the itineraries...

So sorry to hear about the drama..... Hopefully the reduced onboard capacity will make the ship even more enjoyable, AND hopefully excursions won't be as busy if you do go.  Best wishes for an enjoyable experience.