Sigh! ... Israel and Egypt gone from our Oct 2021 itinerary

[new_cruiser]

I guess it's not unexpected but it is disappointing. The Israel and Egypt stops are gone from our October itinerary due to COVID restrictions. I was so looking forward to seeing the Pyramids for the first time and while I've been to Israel multiple times before, I'd never gotten up to Haifa. The new stops are Rhodes, Agios Nikolaos Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, Monemvasia and Nafplio. We've been to Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos before but at least three of the stops are new. 

 

With this change, both parts of our Star Collector have lost something called out in the cruise name (Greece, Israel and Egypt: Footsteps of the Faith in the Holy Land has no Israel and Egypt while a Piece of Greece, a Slice of Sicily and the Corinth Canal lost the Corinth Canal due to it's closure). I've toyed with cancelling and rebooking just the Nov 4 Athens to Barcelona portion and extending our land stay in Athens 10 days but my husband wants to stick with the cruise. It is 15 years since we've been to Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos so revisiting them wouldn't be bad. 

 

If we stick with the cruise, they are giving us $500 non-refundable shipboard credit ($250 per person) and $250 pp Future cruise credit - but that's only good for cruises departing before the end of March 2022 (which seems pretty stingy - not even a year - just 6 months validity). I'm booked solo on a cruise before the end of March but my husband isn't likely to cruise again in that timeframe. I haven't inquired yet whether his half of the Future Cruise Credit can be applied to my cruise. I guess they didn't have to give us anything so I can't complain too much.

 

FYI for anyone in a similar situation who has purchased excursions on-line before a port change: I had to call to get the excursions cancelled for the ports we aren't going to. They don't do that automatically until you board and until they do you can't see the excursions for the new ports which would "conflict" with the excursions that aren't happening. The Windstar agent claimed that that didn't matter because the cruise was so close that the excursions for the new ports wouldn't have been uploaded. I knew that wasn't true because I could see some for days we hadn't booked excursions on the old itinerary. I told him some of the excursions we had booked were expensive so I preferred to have them cancelled now (there was an overnight in Cairo). So he cancelled the excursions and the new excursions populated on MyWindstar. 

[Redtravel]

Having been on a Windstar cruise that changed several ports, it is so disappointing.  In spring 2018, we had a drastic change of ports.  We had to stay docked in Oporto for 3 days due to a storm.  That completely changed the cruise.  Skipped ports, changed days and times, and arrived in Amsterdam very late.  Many people missed planes. It was a mess. Windstar did help sort things out.  We got OBC, FCC, and more entertainment.  Windstar was really helpful.  FCC was good for future bookings made a year from that trip.  Ask for an extension on the fcc.

[3kidslater]

We were scheduled for this same cruise but cancelled a few months ago due not only to COVID but also the bombings in Israel.  I have been to Egypt twice, so was really more interested in Israel and the tour to Petra. Hope to do this trip in the future. Meanwhile we are booked for a Northern Europe cruise next May. 

[wesport]

We are on the 8 night Barcelona to Athens Corinth Canal. We purchased the cruise because of the Corinth Canal and the stop in Delphi Greece. Corinth Canal collapsed , itinerary changed. It was a major change. Corfu(have never been there), and Delphi(have never been there), were dropped. We got Katakolon and Chania. We have been to both of these ports. We got nothing. 

[3kidslater]

Planning to take the 18 day cruise next Sept. "Athens to Istanbul" which includes the Corinth Canal, Delphi, and several ports that are a first for WS. Crossing our fingers that the canal will be open by then and COVID under control.

[btoohill]

On 9/22/2021 at 4:35 PM, new_cruiser said:

I guess it's not unexpected but it is disappointing. The Israel and Egypt stops are gone from our October itinerary due to COVID restrictions. I was so looking forward to seeing the Pyramids for the first time and while I've been to Israel multiple times before, I'd never gotten up to Haifa. The new stops are Rhodes, Agios Nikolaos Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, Monemvasia and Nafplio. We've been to Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos before but at least three of the stops are new. 

 

With this change, both parts of our Star Collector have lost something called out in the cruise name (Greece, Israel and Egypt: Footsteps of the Faith in the Holy Land has no Israel and Egypt while a Piece of Greece, a Slice of Sicily and the Corinth Canal lost the Corinth Canal due to it's closure). I've toyed with cancelling and rebooking just the Nov 4 Athens to Barcelona portion and extending our land stay in Athens 10 days but my husband wants to stick with the cruise. It is 15 years since we've been to Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos so revisiting them wouldn't be bad. 

 

If we stick with the cruise, they are giving us $500 non-refundable shipboard credit ($250 per person) and $250 pp Future cruise credit - but that's only good for cruises departing before the end of March 2022 (which seems pretty stingy - not even a year - just 6 months validity). I'm booked solo on a cruise before the end of March but my husband isn't likely to cruise again in that timeframe. I haven't inquired yet whether his half of the Future Cruise Credit can be applied to my cruise. I guess they didn't have to give us anything so I can't complain too much.

 

FYI for anyone in a similar situation who has purchased excursions on-line before a port change: I had to call to get the excursions cancelled for the ports we aren't going to. They don't do that automatically until you board and until they do you can't see the excursions for the new ports which would "conflict" with the excursions that aren't happening. The Windstar agent claimed that that didn't matter because the cruise was so close that the excursions for the new ports wouldn't have been uploaded. I knew that wasn't true because I could see some for days we hadn't booked excursions on the old itinerary. I told him some of the excursions we had booked were expensive so I preferred to have them cancelled now (there was an overnight in Cairo). So he cancelled the excursions and the new excursions populated on MyWindstar. 

We are on both this cruise and the one before it which was supposed to go to Turkey and the Corinth Canal.  Those ports were cancelled and that new itinerary is exactly the same as the itinerary which is replacing Haifa and Alexandria.  So we are now taking the same cruise itinerary back to back.  We are obviously very disappointed but there isn’t much we can do about it at this point.  I will call and get our excursions canceled.  Thanks for the information.

[new_cruiser]

On 9/26/2021 at 3:57 AM, btoohill said:

We are on both this cruise and the one before it which was supposed to go to Turkey and the Corinth Canal.  Those ports were cancelled and that new itinerary is exactly the same as the itinerary which is replacing Haifa and Alexandria.  So we are now taking the same cruise itinerary back to back.  We are obviously very disappointed but there isn’t much we can do about it at this point.  I will call and get our excursions canceled.  Thanks for the information.

I saw someone posting that Turkey is back so your Turkey stops should be back.