Status of Black Sea itineraries

[FWFrog]

As an FYI, I phoned WIndstar yesterday to talk option.  The agent was very good but it was Saturday so he had limited ability to work with a supervisor.  The new 17-day itinerary is basically the 8 day itinerary twice, same ports.  I explained this and I was permitted to change to a new itinerary (Haifa) with the same perks in place.  He could not offer me the $500 ship board credit from cancellation of the Black Sea on the new itinerary.  My issue is that new itineraries are significantly more expensive than when I originally booked (so now paying a price increase) and I was not really offered a reasonable option (same cruise twice).  The agent elevated my request to a "Monday supervisor" -  -I hope to hear tomorrow that I will still be offered the $500 shipboard credit if I do not cancel but rebook on another (more expensive, shorter) cruise.  This shipboard credit will help offset the price increase.  

 

Will see what they say..

 

BkylnBorn47 - about the flights.  I travel often and finding good routes has been challenging because of the reduced flight schedules.  My flight next week to Seville, Spain has three legs when I typically an able to find a reasonable flight with two.  Hoping the airlines will soon bounce back.

Edited March 6, 2022 by FWFrog
clarity

[3kidslater]

Curious what everyone is going to do. We booked that cruise for the Black Sea ports. Since we have been to most of the ports now offered already, we canceled and decided to go in an entirely different direction. Will head to Iceland, Greenland, Canada and U.S. (25days in Sept.) Looks like we will probably lose $800. canceling flights with Turkish airlines. We recognize that this is insignificant in the grand scheme of things and are praying for the people of the Ukraine 

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, 3kidslater said:

Looks like we will probably lose $800. canceling flights with Turkish airlines.

 

Don't be so quick to dismiss this.  Turkish flies to more different countries than any other airline in the world, so there are a ton of options for using any flight credits you have on TK.  They're not just for going to Istanbul or the immediate region.

 

Turkish Airlines serves 48 domestic destinations and 241 international destinations in 122 countries.

 

Further, if your flight credits with Turkish allow for use on code-shares with a TK code, you could use them for United flights within the USA.  You just need to check the specifics of your credits and do rebooking through the TK website.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2022 by FlyerTalker

[3kidslater]

Yes, we have flown Turkish Airlines in the past with good experiences. We also have several thousand in travel credits from United that we have to use this year so will use those for the Iceland trip. Haven't yet decided to forfeit the $800. Checking to see if we can use the flight credit for a trip in 2023. 

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, 3kidslater said:

Haven't yet decided to forfeit the $800. Checking to see if we can use the flight credit for a trip in 2023. 

 

In general, credits are good for travel that is completed within one year of the original purchase date.

 

Of course, every ticket and every airline may have differing rules - especially if there's any kind of covid situation.  Some airlines have given more than one year.  Good luck.

[FWFrog]

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

In general, credits are good for travel that is completed within one year of the original purchase date.

 

Of course, every ticket and every airline may have differing rules - especially if there's any kind of covid situation.  Some airlines have given more than one year.  Good luck.

 

Will you be rebooking with WIndstar in September?  If so, have you asked that they honor the $500 pp offer of ship board credit if you change itineraries?  Windstar agreed to move our existing $200 pp perk over to a new itinerary.  We are waiting to see if they will honor the $500 pp that was offered to stay with the Star Legend for the same cruise dates.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, FWFrog said:

Will you be rebooking with WIndstar in September?  If so, have you asked that they honor the $500 pp offer of ship board credit if you change itineraries?  Windstar agreed to move our existing $200 pp perk over to a new itinerary.  We are waiting to see if they will honor the $500 pp that was offered to stay with the Star Legend for the same cruise dates.

 

Doesn't apply to me.

 

However, from what I have read, the $500 is for folks to stay on the same date sailing that they currently are booked on.  It's the incentive to not cancel, but to accept the revised itinerary.  Thus I cannot in any way see how someone can expect to both A) cancel and rebook their sailing and B) also collect the $500 incentive to NOT cancel/move.

 

Whatever $200 perk you have is completely unrelated to the $500, and I would never expect that because I got the one, I would get the other.

 

[BklynBorn47]

19 hours ago, FWFrog said:

BkylnBorn47 - about the flights.  I travel often and finding good routes has been challenging because of the reduced flight schedules.  My flight next week to Seville, Spain has three legs when I typically an able to find a reasonable flight with two.  Hoping the airlines will soon bounce back.

 

Flying out of Washington Dulles there are always a lot of reasonable options both in price and itinerary.  I have always disliked long flights to the point that my doctor gives me a xanax prescription to "take the edge off." We like to let the cruise line book our flights just to stay in their "bubble" the entire trip.  The only time that came in handy was in 2018 when our flight to Miami cancelled so that we would miss the boat even though we had planned to arrive a day early.  Thousands of people were scrambling for alternatives.  One call to RCL and we were automatically booked on a flight to Nassau with 1 night in a beachfront hotel to meet the ship the next morning (all paid by RCL). 
We only sail their mega-ships when taking teenage grandkids along.  

 

As for the Black Sea cruise, we are OK.  We still have 2 legs on Windstar and after docking in Istanbul, we will figure out something else to do on our own.  The only "problem" at this point is when WS cancelled leg 3 (Black Sea) cruise and excursions, they also cancelled all the excursions we had already booked on the 1st 2 legs.  That has to be a glitch due to all the changes their overworked staff is dealing with.  We will wait a bit until things settle down and call to fix that.  
 

[milepig]

We're on the Legend in September, departing Athens on 9/15 and arriving IST on the 23rd, ending with 3 nights in Istanbul as part of the WS itin.

 

With all the changes because of the situation in Ukraine combined with the continued problems with the Pride it is really hard to keep track of what's happening where. I'm starting to fear that WS might co-opt the Legend to pick up some parts of some of those Pride itins. Should we be worried at this point?

 

I even wonder if IST will become problematic once again.

Edited March 9, 2022 by milepig