Peru closed for cruise ships!

[SSCAF001]

I have just been informed by my SS travel advisor that my cruise from FLL to Callao Lima Peru will now terminate in Guayaquil since Peru is now closed for cruise ship. I hope that it is not going to be a domino story where other countries will close one after another. My cruise is in 14 days but I am not really optimistic.

[Randyk47]

1 hour ago, SSCAF001 said:

I have just been informed by my SS travel advisor that my cruise from FLL to Callao Lima Peru will now terminate in Guayaquil since Peru is now closed for cruise ship. I hope that it is not going to be a domino story where other countries will close one after another. My cruise is in 14 days but I am not really optimistic.

Barbara Muckermann posted on Facebook that actually Peru has been closed to cruise ships and that Silversea had hoped that the restriction would be lifted.  She said the upcoming 2 December cruise had to be rerouted as they felt it was too close pending Peru’s decision.   Sounds like Silversea is taking it one cruise at a time.   As an aside I don’t know about Peru’s Covid situation but the morning news there was a brief mention without details that there has been a surge in Covid cases worldwide.  They did say in the US new cases were up 11% in the last week.   

[SSCAF001]

So far no idea what the new itinerary will be. We terminate in Guayaquil on December 18 although we were supposed to call there on December 14 according to the original itinerary. Are we going to have 4 sea days? Are we going to have a 4-night stay in the port of Guayaquil? We shall know soon I guess. 

[geekgirl23]

Keeping an eye on this since we're on the sailing after yours. Our flights are booked to Lima for embarkation. As of now, I haven't heard of any change. 

[SSCAF001]

My return flights have already been amended by SS departing Guayaquil on December 18

[zqtchas]

Just checked with our TA in FLL and she has not heard anything about that. The return air was supposed to be from Chili and was changed to Equator ? Delta has been having problems. 

[WesW]

Hope this cruise works for all of you.  Thankful that a little birdie told me a month ago, there may be challenges. So we switched our booking to the Cloud Holiday voyage in Antarctica.  

[SSCAF001]

7 hours ago, zqtchas said:

Just checked with our TA in FLL and she has not heard anything about that. The return air was supposed to be from Chili and was changed to Equator ? Delta has been having problems. 

The termination of the cruise in Guayaquil instead of Lima has been confirmed by Barbara Muckerman on FaceBook. Since I had booked my flights through SS (Air France and KLM), SS has already proposed a return flight from Guayaquil instead of Lima. At the moment I can see both bookings on MySilversea. But by tonight, I guess SS will cancel the return from Lima, leaving only the return from Guayaquil. The question now is what will be the new itinerary for the last 4 days of the cruise. I guess we should know soon. At least, I hope so.

[SSCAF001]

I have been ticketed my new inbound flight from Guayaquil. SS TA told me this morning that we should have one more port of call in Costa Rica and one more in Ecuador.

[zqtchas]

This is what my TA says about that voyage for us. We are on that leg plus the next one.

 

I have not received any notification regarding changes to your cruise and Silversea Reservations does not have any specifics either.

 

To answer the question re requirements for Peru, foreign nationals are permitted to enter Peru. Fully vaccinated travelers must present proof of vaccination and will not be required to have a COVID-19 pre-departure test.  All travelers must complete the health attestation found here .

[SSCAF001]

5 hours ago, zqtchas said:

 

This is what my TA says about that voyage for us. We are on that leg plus the next one.

 

I have not received any notification regarding changes to your cruise and Silversea Reservations does not have any specifics either.

 

 

 

I am so sorry that your TA is not yet aware of this change. I am in direct contact with Silversea London and once again the change has been confirmed by Barbara Muckermann herself on Facebook. The website is not updated yet since SS wants to finalize the new itinerary before. Should be the case beginning of next week. I would suggest that you have a direct contact with SS to get more reliable information. My air ticket has been updated with a return from Guayaquil. If you have the opportunity to go to Silversea passenger page on Facebook you will see that there are many interactions on this change. 

[les37b]

I had been made aware of the Peru challenge on Saturday from the posts you have described on Facebook via a friend. (I don't use Facebook and really think it's not the correct place to do so. 

 

Hopefully you will post an update of what you find out. I see the SS website is still showing Lima and all the Peru stops which is no real shock. My.silvetsea is still showing Peru  for my 3 Jan FFL departure, which is understandable.

 

I did take a peak on Skyscanner to check flights back from Guayaquil and there are none on 19th Jan. In fact there are zero flights showing from the 12th to 24th Jan. Of course this can all change, but it's a little unnerving. I suppose I shouldn't have got too excited that this 3 times cancelled booking would actually happen to plan.

 

Edit.... On another air site, I have found flights shown for my departure date, so not sure what's going on with Skyscanner!!

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by les37b

[Silver Spectre]

That’s annoying Les. There is a German couple on here who are staying on for the next leg and who are aware that Peru is closed, otherwise SS has left them completely in the dark about getting home.

[les37b]

8 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

That’s annoying Les. There is a German couple on here who are staying on for the next leg and who are aware that Peru is closed, otherwise SS has left them completely in the dark about getting home.

 

Indeed... Very annoying is an understatement..... Though of course the Peruvian Gov are the ones with the trump cards and SS and all CL need to Jump to their tune. There is still time for things to change for our 19 Jan scheduled disembarkation, but positive thoughts are dampened by negative clouds of infection rates inside the US and Europe on the increase and potential reversal of opening up!

 

We shall see.

 

Your fellow guests though, won't (it would appear) be travelling to Lima.  Hope the intention won't be 4 additional sea days and there is certainly time enough between now and then (I would think) to do something more palatable.  Some Southern Caribbean islands before Panama wouldn't go amis! Wishful thinking no doubt.

[les37b]

1 hour ago, Silver Spectre said:

That’s annoying Les. There is a German couple on here who are staying on for the next  and who are aware that Peru is closed, otherwise SS has left them completely in the dark about getting home.

 

 

Who'd want to be a scheduler right now. Must be soul destroying!

Edited November 22, 2021 by les37b

[SSCAF001]

2 hours ago, les37b said:

I did take a peak on Skyscanner to check flights back from Guayaquil and there are none on 19th Jan. In fact there are zero flights showing from the 12th to 24th Jan.

KLM operates direct flights from Guayaquil to AMS. There is one on January 19 KL 755 departing GYE at 20:10 and arriving at 13:25 the next day. As far as I am concerned, SS took care of us and rebooked us on KL flight from GYE to AMS for our December 18 flight. It seems that they will add 1 port of call in Costa Rica and maybe 1 more overnight stay in Panama City. We should know soon I guess

[jollyjones]

3 hours ago, les37b said:

 

  Some Southern Caribbean islands before Panama wouldn't go amis! Wishful thinking no doubt.

 

 

I believe that once you've booked your Panama Canal date/time slot, you don't change it, so almost certainly wishful thinking Les.

 

I think that (hopefully) when, rather than if, you make your cruise, you'll have the whole of the SS boards cheering you on. Fingers crossed. 

 

Good luck.

 

[SSCAF001]

New itinerary available now on MySilversea. 

[lesliedrew]

As of this morning My Silversea is pretty much updated.  Itinerary now shows

12 - Golfito

13 - Puerto Quepos

14 - Puntarenas

15 - sea

16 - sea

17 - Manta

18 - Guayaquil

I had done a little research myself on flights out of Guayaquil and it looked really grim.  Was pleased to see that Silver Air had found reasonable Business flights 

GYE /MIA/ATL/SEA.  Not great.  I don't like two stops but departing at 7:30 AM and arriving at 8:14 PM isn't too bad.  I usually book my own flights but decided to use Silver Air just for this type of situation and I'm glad I did!

[les37b]

On 11/22/2021 at 11:07 AM, SSCAF001 said:

KLM operates direct flights from Guayaquil to AMS. There is one on January 19 KL 755 departing GYE at 20:10 and arriving at 13:25 the next day. As far as I am concerned, SS took care of us and rebooked us on KL flight from GYE to AMS for our December 18 flight. It seems that they will add 1 port of call in Costa Rica and maybe 1 more overnight stay in Panama City. We should know soon I guess

 

Yes, I'd spotted in another search engine that KLM had flights. Not sure why skyscanner didn't. Happy enough with that alternative and fortunate I hadn't booked and paid for my seats, which I had intended to do at the weekend with Iberia.

 

On 11/22/2021 at 12:15 PM, jollyjones said:

 

I believe that once you've booked your Panama Canal date/time slot, you don't change it, so almost certainly wishful thinking Les.

 

I think that (hopefully) when, rather than if, you make your cruise, you'll have the whole of the SS boards cheering you on. Fingers crossed. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

Yes, that makes complete sense and if SS can fiddle something to lessen the hassle, I guess they can't be blamed. This booking started its life on the Wind in March 2018! Seems so long ago! 😁

 

20 hours ago, lesliedrew said:

As of this morning My Silversea is pretty much updated.  Itinerary now shows

12 - Golfito

13 - Puerto Quepos

14 - Puntarenas

15 - sea

16 - sea

17 - Manta

18 - Guayaquil

I had done a little research myself on flights out of Guayaquil and it looked really grim.  Was pleased to see that Silver Air had found reasonable Business flights 

GYE /MIA/ATL/SEA.  Not great.  I don't like two stops but departing at 7:30 AM and arriving at 8:14 PM isn't too bad.  I usually book my own flights but decided to use Silver Air just for this type of situation and I'm glad I did!

 

Thank you for posting the info. So as JJ suggested, the changes are all post Panama. Rather odd with the removal of one of the Ecuador stops. I guess it wasn't available maybe. So 4 Stops in Costa Rica now (including the Atlantic coast one)?

 

Completely agree with you on flights. It would be madness trying to sort yourself - even for short haul journeys. My flights home were only changed from being KLM to Iberia 2 weeks ago - though maybe it still will be (Jan 19th)

 

 

 

 

[les37b]

SS website now also updated.

 

The 3 Jan and 19th Jan still shown as Lima, so SS obviously are still hopeful. (As am I - Of all the countries we were/are visiting - Panama transit aside, Peru was the one I was most looking forward to.)

 

[Silver Spectre]

Golfito and Puerto Quepos are both great places to visit, probably too late for the whales though.

[lesliedrew]

Dec 2 FLL - GYE

I was feeling pretty good about getting Business flights from GYE to SEA through SilverSky.  That all changed when I got an URGENT NOTIFICATION from them saying they have no business inventory and giving me three options that basically said we'll book you in economy or book your own.  Yesterday I printed the confirmed flights from the American Airlines website and today the return flights had disappeared.  Called AA and they said my travel agent (SilverSky) had cancelled them.  What's going on?  It's now in the hands of my TA.  

[Randyk47]

1 hour ago, lesliedrew said:

Dec 2 FLL - GYE

I was feeling pretty good about getting Business flights from GYE to SEA through SilverSky.  That all changed when I got an URGENT NOTIFICATION from them saying they have no business inventory and giving me three options that basically said we'll book you in economy or book your own.  Yesterday I printed the confirmed flights from the American Airlines website and today the return flights had disappeared.  Called AA and they said my travel agent (SilverSky) had cancelled them.  What's going on?  It's now in the hands of my TA.  

Without specifically addressing this situation the whole on-then-off-again-then-on-again-then-off-again situation makes us very nervous.   We don’t have total flexibility with my wife still working as a senior manager in her organization so it takes planning and a certain amount of assurance that just isn’t available right now.  Granted it’s our problem but it is what it is right now.  It sucks.   

Edited November 24, 2021 by Randyk47

[les37b]

Unfortunately the alternative is just to call it quits and go home. The situation is so fluid and not for the feint hearted and I guess very much on a on your POV, things all depend on your personal situation and tolerance to late change, which is almost a daily expectation. Not good I know.

 

Looking at the return leg of the first sailing back from Guayaquil, it seems there is a stop in Costa Rica added and overnights in Cozumel and Belize. At least it looks good to go.

 

As mentioned, the 3 Jan starter from FLL still sits as a Lima finish and expect no decision will be made until they can wait no longer. I expect we all imagine that if it sails it will replicate the 2 Dec sailing (or close to it.) But it just dawned on me that the next leg is then heading to Buenos Aires, so maybe we wont hang about in Costa Rica and Equador, but head on down to Chile instead..... And we already know hoops have to be jumped there. Flying home from the first stop in Chile, Arica, is a non starter I think. Would take far too long to return home. Coquimbo, doesn't appear to be an option and I doubt there is too much chance of reaching Valparaiso, so guess Guayaquil it will be..... if it sails and Peru still shut. Magical mystery tour anyone?

 

I'm fortunate that my employer would be understanding and Iwould be able to add a few days if it  couldn't be helped. My wife's hairdressing customers might not be so understanding, though at least she won't have to ask the boss! lol