Industrial action in Cadiz - December cruise cancelled

[ferretktf]

16 minutes ago, Cliffholl55 said:

Not sure you dates add up. Unless cancelled ( and is still on sale ) the next Canary cruise departs 13/14 December so has over 2 weeks ro get there etc.

What you are seeing on the TUI/Marella Website is the Cruises currently "on sale"

The Canaries cruises were always intended to commence on Nov 29, which is why the Explorer went into Dry Dock at the start of November to prepare it for the winter season.

As Explorer will not be available for those first few sailings (due to the delay in Cadiz), they have taken these "off sale" as they do not wish to sell any more places given that they have diverted Explorer 2 to replace Explorer on those sailings. (and cancelled the EX 2 planned Spanish itineraries)

Assuming all ok now in Cadiz, the intention will be for the Explorer to resume this circuit from Dec 13, freeing up the EX 2 to return to the Spanish Itinerary for the cruise commencing Dec 16  (again a tight switchover)

While it might seem to make more sense to keep the EX2 on the Canaries sailings and send Explorer to Spain/Gibraltar, due to the Adults Only / Child Friendly differences, I think they will switch them again as it will cause a lot of "problems" on the Christmas cruises to have children on a boat with no permanent child facilities

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by ferretktf

[Cliffholl55]

9 minutes ago, ferretktf said:

What you are seeing on the TUI/Marella Website is the Cruises currently "on sale"

The Canaries cruises were always intended to commence on Nov 29, which is why the Explorer went into Dry Dock at the start of November to prepare it for the winter season.

As Explorer will not be available for those first few sailings (due to the delay in Cadiz), they have taken these "off sale" as they do not wish to sell any more places given that they have diverted Explorer 2 to replace Explorer on those sailings. (and cancelled the EX 2 planned Spanish itineraries)

Assuming all ok now in Cadiz, the intention will be for the Explorer to resume this circuit from Dec 13, freeing up the EX 2 to return to the Spanish Itinerary for the cruise commencing Dec 16  (again a tight switchover)

While it might seem to make more sense to keep the EX2 on the Canaries sailings and send Explorer to Spain/Gibraltar, due to the Adults Only / Child Friendly differences, I think they will switch them again as it will cause a lot of "problems" on the Christmas cruises to have children on a boat with no permanent child facilities

 

I refer you back to your post where you say the first Canary cruise is 29th December and Ex2 in Malaga today 25 November. That’s some 5 weeks to get the and get ready. I have family on the cruise 13th December and they not heard of any cancellation of their Canary cruise. 

[howmuch!]

Apart from lack of children's facilities on Ex2, I think they would need to switch them back as soon as they can, as it would involve a fair amount of effort to sort cabin bookings out, as although they are 'sister' ships, the cabin layouts aren't identical

[ferretktf]

19 minutes ago, Cliffholl55 said:

I refer you back to your post where you say the first Canary cruise is 29th December and Ex2 in Malaga today 25 November. That’s some 5 weeks to get the and get ready. I have family on the cruise 13th December and they not heard of any cancellation of their Canary cruise. 

The first Canary Cruise is 29th NOVEMBER - not 29th December!  (Big apologies for the typo in my initial post, which was corrected in my subsequent posts)

 

NONE of the Canary Crusies have been Cancelled!  Your Familiy's cruise is safe and hopefully will be on the Explorer which has permanent Child facilities (assuming your family contains U16s)

 

Marella EXPLORER was scheduled to cover ALL of the Canary Cruises but due to the delay in Dry Dock while it was prepared for the Winter Season, it is unable to cover the first two weeks (29th Nov, 6th Dec).

 

As a result, the less busy EXPLORER 2 has been diverted from it's current schedule of Spain/Gibraltar, to cover for EXPLORER for these two weeks.   Currently the EX2 is in Malaga, having just completed it's last itinerary.  Sadly the Spain/Gibraltar cruises that it was intended to operate - Nov 25th, Dec 2nd, Dec 9th, have been cancelled in order to allow EX2 to move to the Canaries to cover the Explorer's Cruises.

 

The next scheduled Spain/Gibraltar sailing is Dec 16th from Malaga - EX2 is expected to be able to resume the itinerary from then.

 

This means that EXPLORER will operate the CANARY cruises from Dec 13th onwards - including your family's.

 

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by ferretktf

[davecttr]

As the original ship in the Century class Ex2 is smaller than Explorer and her children,s facilities were aft starboard side on deck 4. The area is now part occupied by the photo studio and a mysterious white space. There was also a teens disco on deck 12 now occupied by indigo/casino

[ferretktf]

Further good news - one of the four "trapped" Cruise Ships has just left the Port of Cadiz  (and another one has arrived - Silversea's "Silver Spirit" - on a scheduled 2 day itinerary stop as it repositions to Fort Lauderdale for the Winter Season)

 

Wind Surf is free!!

Edited November 25, 2021 by ferretktf

[2BACRUISER]

Well i should be sat prosecco in hand on Ex2 now instead i've been mucking out pigs and will in a couple of days time be off to frozen Northumberland for a few days R&R. Not quite the same as a week on Ex2!!! 

Thanks @ferretktf for all your info, i am still very aggrieved with Marella and it will take me a long time to forgive them. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!!!

[Medeba]

Ferretktf.  Thanks for all your very informative posts.  I hadn't appreciated the subtle differences between the two Explorers.  I can fully appreciate why Marella would want to swap the ships back to their scheduled itineraries (assuming Explorer gets fixed in time).

[Medeba]

1 hour ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Well i should be sat prosecco in hand on Ex2 now instead i've been mucking out pigs and will in a couple of days time be off to frozen Northumberland for a few days R&R. Not quite the same as a week on Ex2!!! 

Thanks @ferretktf for all your info, i am still very aggrieved with Marella and it will take me a long time to forgive them. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!!!

I am so pleased that you are getting away for a few days.  I agree there is no comparison but I hope you enjoy Northumberland.

[Cardiff girl]

3 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Well i should be sat prosecco in hand on Ex2 now instead i've been mucking out pigs and will in a couple of days time be off to frozen Northumberland for a few days R&R. Not quite the same as a week on Ex2!!! 

Thanks @ferretktf for all your info, i am still very aggrieved with Marella and it will take me a long time to forgive them. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!!!

I know, can't get over them cancelling us at two days notice - still haven't finished unpacking from our cruise that wasn't. I was looking forward to meeting you both. Hope you're staying somewhere nice in Northumberland, with a drop or two of fizz 🍾🥂. Fingers crossed they sort it out for other travellers. 

[Cardiff girl]

"Well i should be sat prosecco in hand on Ex2 now instead i've been mucking out pigs" - 

I take it you weren't wearing the pink cocktail dress for that! 😂 My floaty number looks a bit woebegone & probably won't fit by the next time I get on a ship! 🤣

[Brummijam]

3 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Well i should be sat prosecco in hand on Ex2 now instead i've been mucking out pigs and will in a couple of days time be off to frozen Northumberland for a few days R&R. Not quite the same as a week on Ex2!!! 

Thanks @ferretktf for all your info, i am still very aggrieved with Marella and it will take me a long time to forgive them. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!!!

Nowt wrong with Northumberland in the winter😳

 

 

Seriously you must be absolutely p@@d off I know I would be.

Keep well.😉

[2BACRUISER]

2 hours ago, Cardiff girl said:

I was looking forward to meeting you both. Hope you're staying somewhere nice in Northumberland, with a drop or two of fizz 🍾🥂. Fingers crossed they sort it out for other travellers. 

Ah thanx @Cardiff girl us too. 

Yes I'm all unpacked took an hour and half to put it all back but at least the meds cupboard is full for xmas 😜😜 

Be nice to have some time out much as I love all my animals even RC our big boar pig I still need some non farm time lol. 

[Cliffholl55]

Ex2 still docked in Malaga. Think when it does leave and sails at 18/20 knots that’s 2 days sailing. That’s going to be tight to swap over what they need to do. Wondering why there not selling November 29/December 6th as they usually do sell last minute cruises. Any thoughts?

[ferretktf]

Likely to be a combination of factors.

 

with EX2 being smaller there might not be much spare capacity, given covid constraints meaning reduced capacity ( the EX cruises have  been on sale for a long time)

 

additionally, the other constraints around child facilities and other ship features missing. 
 

 

 

[terrier]

Have been able to move our current cruise to over the New Year, which feels like a bonus for the price we paid. Same cabin, same itinerary and after a few initial upsets, the Tui phone teams have been very good. Still feels like a shitty thing to do to people in the first place, but hoping for a post Christmas break that will renew our belief in them. Our first ever cruise was the old Thomson Topaz, such happy memories

[ferretktf]

23 hours ago, Cliffholl55 said:

Ex2 still docked in Malaga. Think when it does leave and sails at 18/20 knots that’s 2 days sailing. That’s going to be tight to swap over what they need to do. Wondering why there not selling November 29/December 6th as they usually do sell last minute cruises. Any thoughts?

Explorer 2 is now well on its way to Las Palmas, travelling at 17 knots.

Departed Malaga at 22:30 last night
Due to dock in Las Palmas at 22:00 tomorrow

[ferretktf]

Monday Update:
Marella Explorer 2 has reached Gran Canaria for the cruise commencing today (although it is currently moored offshore having briefly docked at 23:00 last night - as is P&O's Ventura - guess they are waiting for berths)
 

Marella Explorer is still in Dry Dock in Cadiz

I can see a Saudi Arabian vessel (Aljubail) waiting to go into dry dock - was scheduled for today, now moved to tomorrow.

Not sure if that means Explorer will be leaving dry dock tomorrow (hurrah!) or whether this new vessel will move alongside her (it's one of the largests dry docks in the world) - hoping its the former and that it means the work is complete and (virus permitting) BOTH sets of itineraties will resume on their correct ships from Dec 13th / Dec 16th

[Cliffholl55]

59 minutes ago, ferretktf said:

Monday Update:
Marella Explorer 2 has reached Gran Canaria for the cruise commencing today (although it is currently moored offshore having briefly docked at 23:00 last night - as is P&O's Ventura - guess they are waiting for berths)
 

Marella Explorer is still in Dry Dock in Cadiz

I can see a Saudi Arabian vessel (Aljubail) waiting to go into dry dock - was scheduled for today, now moved to tomorrow.

Not sure if that means Explorer will be leaving dry dock tomorrow (hurrah!) or whether this new vessel will move alongside her (it's one of the largests dry docks in the world) - hoping its the former and that it means the work is complete and (virus permitting) BOTH sets of itineraties will resume on their correct ships from Dec 13th / Dec 16th

We been watching too with interest. Just hoping that if Christmas and New Year Med goes ahead that they swap ships back as been on Ex 1 already in summer so would like a change of entertainment etc

[colint17]

When Marella cancelled our Med cruise for 9th December I moved this a week later to depart on the 16th. But now with the new requirement to take a PCR test on return and self isolate, it looks like this will mess up Christmas.

 

Following the UK Government announcement, we are aware of the changes to post travel testing requirements. All travellers returning to the UK will now need to take a PCR day two test and self-isolate until they receive a negative test result.

 

This change will come into effect at 04:00am on Tuesday 30 November 2021. Any customers who do not wish to travel and are due to travel up to and including 19 December can amend their holiday free of charge. Unfortunately, we’re not able to offer refund credit notes to our customers.

Holiday changes can be made by calling us on 0203 451 2688.

 

Return to UK on the 23rd, take test and post same day, little chance of sample getting to labs before Christmas, therefore result not available till 27th at earliest. Looks like we will be shut in all Christmas with no family/visitors !

 

Customer cancellation with no refund or credit note offered seems like a very poor deal if the only option is the book a new cruise now, with the price of new cruises on offer.

[howmuch!]

Are you able to utilise the £300 Black Friday code if you change again? (expires at midnight tonight)

[Pensioncruiser]

2 hours ago, colint17 said:

Return to UK on the 23rd, take test and post same day, little chance of sample getting to labs before Christmas, therefore result not available till 27th at earliest. Looks like we will be shut in all Christmas with no family/visitors !

Fingers crossed for you all that the restrictions are lifted if and when they find out about the severity of this latest mutation. 🤞

[ferretktf]

Tuesday Update

• Marella Explorer remains in Dry Dock
• 16th December "Meditteranean Moments" has been taken off sale
• 23rd December "Meditteranean Christmas" remains on sale

Hoping the second bullet point does not mean it's cancelled but instead it's just a case of TUI not wishing to sell any more cabins.

 

However, I am not massively optimistic on this point. think it was a week ago that they cancelled 9th December itinerary, so logically, if things have not progressed in the interim, today is when they cancel the 16th.

 

Guess it is a case of waiting to see if an email arrives 😞

[colint17]

From a personal point of view, I'm hoping that the 16th December cruise is cancelled by Marella.

 

This would mean that we don't have to self isolate over Christmas, due to no postal service 25-28 Dec  for PCR tests to be returned to labs.

 

And since TUI are cancelling more flexible options should be offered: refunds, alternate cruises at same price, or future cruise credits.

 

Of course I would be sorry for others that wish the cruise to go ahead, as I say it's just my preference !

[ferretktf]

Wednesday Update - Groundhog Day

• Marella Explorer remains in Dry Dock
• 16th December "Meditteranean Moments" remains off sale

No emails received so assumption (currently) is that the sailing remains "as planned"

 

@colint17's observation is a very valid one - unless the new constraints are lifted on 20th, passengers on the cruise will potentially need to self-isolate over Christmas.

 

Given that the new rules state "You can take the test any time after you arrive and before the end of day 2 at the latest" there is still be the opportunity to take the test on 23rd and get results on 24th - although those tests could be pricey