Silversea stop at Kusadasi

[wren2]

I am booked on a November Silversea cruise which calls at Kusadasi.  As Turkey is currently on the U.K. red list, I would like to know if I would have to quarantine in a hotel on my return to the U.K.  My TA has suggested that if I remain on the ship in this port, I would be OK but I have my doubts. Can anyone clarify the situation?

 

 

[Lois R]

Good morning....or afternoon for those in The UK🙂 I agree with the previous post and I doubt anyone on here (or even at SS) has definitive answers on what things will be like in November. I have a cruise booked for October out of Lisbon and hoping that will go as scheduled. It will all just be "wait and see".

[TLCOhio]

10 minutes ago, Lois R said:

 I doubt anyone on here (or even at SS) has definitive answers on what things will be like in November. I have a cruise booked for October out of Lisbon and hoping that will go as scheduled. It will all just be "wait and see".

 

Super agree with Lois and TheRampantSnail that trying to predict ahead to November is almost "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE".  Especially with these various countries involved.  Right now as I just posted on the "SS Future Re-Open" thread, things are more and more getting shut down in such areas as Australia and Vietnam.  Too many countries also have low, LOW vaccination rates, etc.  Unfortunately, this ride is going to get much more "rocky" during the weeks ahead.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Barcelona/Med: June 2011, with stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Great visuals with key highlights, tips, etc. Live/blog now at 253,624 views.

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[wren2]

Further to my earlier post, my problem is that Silversea require 31 days notice of cancellation if I want to switch to another cruise I.e. Barcelona to Lisbon for the same time period, as it is my birthday. My TA asked the Silversea office when I enquired if the Kusadasi stop might be cancelled and was told it depended on the nationalities of the passengers on board. As I am on the October sailing Lisbon to Lisbon, am reluctant to make a switch now on the November cruise, as Barcelona to Lisbon will be a bit repetitive.

[Silver Spectre]

2 hours ago, wren2 said:

Further to my earlier post, my problem is that Silversea require 31 days notice of cancellation if I want to switch to another cruise I.e. Barcelona to Lisbon for the same time period, as it is my birthday. My TA asked the Silversea office when I enquired if the Kusadasi stop might be cancelled and was told it depended on the nationalities of the passengers on board. As I am on the October sailing Lisbon to Lisbon, am reluctant to make a switch now on the November cruise, as Barcelona to Lisbon will be a bit repetitive.

That's an interesting comment from SS. We are on the Shadow Black Sea cruise that is due to call at Kusadasi just before we come home. We plan to stay on the ship even if it calls there and that should avoid the problem. You could wait and see what happens on our cruise at the beginning of October. Of course its entirely possible that:

Turkey may go amber before then.

SS may cancel the cruise.

The UK Gov may ban us from travelling to Greece etc...

The EU could ban us from travelling etc...

[wren2]

I would be most interested to see how you get on with your Kusadasi stop, even if you stay on board. I must say I find the U.K. plf difficult whereas the Greek plf  is easy. You are quite right - there are so many ifs and decisions can be made so rapidly. I was on the initial sailing of the Moon in June but that was just Greece and Cyprus, so no problems.

[les37b]

On 7/24/2021 at 8:11 PM, Silver Spectre said:

That's an interesting comment from SS. We are on the Shadow Black Sea cruise that is due to call at Kusadasi just before we come home. We plan to stay on the ship even if it calls there and that should avoid the problem. You could wait and see what happens on our cruise at the beginning of October. Of course its entirely possible that:

Turkey may go amber before then.

SS may cancel the cruise.

The UK Gov may ban us from travelling to Greece etc...

The EU could ban us from travelling etc...

 

Agree there are too many variables to predict, but the OP and your own dilemma if Turkey (or anywhere else) were still red, you would still have to fill out the locator form and declare you had visited regardless of getting off the ship or not. I had a similar question for Montenegro and a Viking sailing (i should be on day 3 right now!) as it was amber - and at the time was amber so quarantine needed.) I asked the same question and told, you need to declare it and it wouldn't matter if you stayed on the ship or not. Which kinda does make sense - even if OTOH doesn't since youve not mixed with any locals - but your cruise mates will have!

 

It reminds me of a couple of years ago with Indian Visa's and the crazy costs. People suggested they would forfeit going ashore to save the Visa cost - and was rejected. They were on the ship and didnt matter if they got off or not - similar scenario.

 

Annoyingly, the sailing I should be on right now on Viking Venus - sailed on Saturday with just 136 guests on board! Thats more than 3 crew to each guest! I had to cancel because of the cruising advisory and booked on a similar sailing on the same ship in September. Out of the frying pan and into the fire if Greece goes "Amber plus".  I'm going to see if I can get it amended back to Adriatic now Croatia is green.

[wren2]

Thanks so much for your input. Will wait and see what happens to the earlier cruises. I would accept if Turkey was changed to amber plus, like France, as I can isolate at home but what I cannot do is isolate in a hotel room, as I am claustrophobic. Will actually be on Silversea in October so if Turkey stayed red, I could make the change then.

 

[Silver Spectre]

At least the insurance issue has gone away today with U.K. Gov lifting the advice not to cruise in International waters. 

[Mocamps]

We were on a Windstar cruise in June with Kusadasi as a scheduled stop. We were advised it wouldn't be possible in the week before the cruise. Instead Windstar organised a stop at a little known Greek island (Syros), arranged a free excursion on Patmos and gave us all $100 OBC in compensation. 

 

My husband and I were delighted as we'd been to Kusadasi twice before and probably wouldn't have got off the ship!! But there were people who were very disappointed.

 

If the situation remains the same in October, I would very much doubt that Kusadasi will remain on the itinerary.

[Silver Spectre]

11 minutes ago, Mocamps said:

We were on a Windstar cruise in June with Kusadasi as a scheduled stop. We were advised it wouldn't be possible in the week before the cruise. Instead Windstar organised a stop at a little known Greek island (Syros), arranged a free excursion on Patmos and gave us all $100 OBC in compensation. 

 

My husband and I were delighted as we'd been to Kusadasi twice before and probably wouldn't have got off the ship!! But there were people who were very disappointed.

 

If the situation remains the same in October, I would very much doubt that Kusadasi will remain on the itinerary.

Thanks for the information. We wouldn’t be getting off either as we have also been there before. My preference would be that SS drop all the stops in Turkey from our cruise, but dropping Kusadasi would allow to meet the 10 day rule.

[wren2]

Although my cruise is in November, I have been using the September 20 Silversea sailing as a monitor. It starts in Istanbul, calls into another Turkish port and also Batumi in Georgia which is now red. I called Silversea today and was told so far there have been no itinerary changes.

[Silver Spectre]

3 hours ago, wren2 said:

Although my cruise is in November, I have been using the September 20 Silversea sailing as a monitor. It starts in Istanbul, calls into another Turkish port and also Batumi in Georgia which is now red. I called Silversea today and was told so far there have been no itinerary changes.

I’m not sure what they are waiting for as there is unlikely to be any improvement in the next 3-4 weeks.

[Emtbsam]

My guess is that the logistics people are working overtime trying to find the best solutions to the myriad of problems they are now facing.  We still do not know if we will be sailing out of Venice, Ravenna, Trieste or somewhere else!