St. Petersburg -potential substitutions?

[ditmar2007]

22 hours ago, Shiraus82 said:

We're doing a 7 night in June and have an overnight in St Petersburg. Personally I would pick anything over that and would gladly skip the stop. Not a fan of Russia. Our cruise stops at Kotka (Finland) instead of Helsinki due to port congestion. Also stopping at Visby (Sweden) which is what I'm excited about. Never been there.

Visby is a very nice, little medieval town. During the summer they close off for car traffic in the center (I think). Most of the medieval town walls are intact, and they have an insane amount of church ruins (left over from the hanseatic period)

 

[ditmar2007]

4 hours ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

If the visit to St Petersburg has to be cancelled, then it is not only the matter of Royal Caribbean. All cruise lines will be affected and many ships have to find substitution at the same time. It is really difficult to predict which other ports will be available since they already have busy traffic in the summer high season. It depends on how early Royal Caribbean can secure the berth.

 

As I remember, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki have more piers available for cruise ships. Tallinn can probably accommodate 4 ships only and Warnemunde has only 3-4 berths. Not sure about other lesser visited ports in Poland (Gydnia), Lithuania (Klaipėda), Latvia (Riga), etc...

Copenhagen has three terminals (Oceankaj) that can accommodate large cruise ships. A couple of smaller ones can berth at Langelinje.

[mugtech]

We cancelled our Baltic cruise because We do not want to do anything to benefit Russia in any way.  We were looking at a NCL transpacific, but since it stops in Russia on the way to Japan we will be passing on that cruise.

[dritan]

I'm also on that 10 night cruise from Stockholm to Copenhagen.  It already hits a lot of the alternative ports mentioned here - stopping at Talinn, Riga, Helsinki, Visby and that little island near Denmark, whose name escapes me.  Obviously, the 2 days in St Petersburg was a big draw so I wait to see what else is added.  A plus for me would be Gdansk, Lithuania port or even the Warnemunde port.  

 

I would definitely seek to cancel  if we just get overnights  in Stockholm or Copenhagen as I've already got extended pre and post visits there.

In the UK we have less "rights" around cancelling cruises on deposit and this is further complicated in that I am using a voucher from Cruising with Confidence already ( so have paid £900 toward the final price rather than the lower deposit).  Does anyone know what my rights would be if we wanted to cancel?  The previous conditions said that he had to have a booking before Sept 2022 so would want this extended at least?

 

Also worth noting that countries like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania have legitimate concerns about their security and RCI ( and other cruise lines) may just want out of the region completely.

[orville99]

Unless things settle out quickly, I fear the European cruise season is toast.

[Saab4444]

5 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Unless things settle out quickly, I fear the European cruise season is toast.

Have you ever been to Europe and are you aware of the geography?

[adam7392]

17 minutes ago, dritan said:

I would definitely seek to cancel  if we just get overnights  in Stockholm or Copenhagen as I've already got extended pre and post visits there.

In the UK we have less "rights" around cancelling cruises on deposit and this is further complicated in that I am using a voucher from Cruising with Confidence already ( so have paid £900 toward the final price rather than the lower deposit).  Does anyone know what my rights would be if we wanted to cancel?  

In same boat, literally as you, based in UK and booked 31 july on Voyager and have 2 nights in Stockholm pre cruise and 1 night in Copenhagen post cruise so any overnighting doesn't do me any favours.  I'm assuming as the cruise is sold as 'Scandanavia and Russia'  (and that is on my invoice) that dropping Russia is a significant change and RC would be bound by UK consumer law to refund on the basis that the goods are not as advertised and any T&C's allowing port changes would not be valid.  Had it been sold as just 'Baltic' then they would get away with it.  I'm not legally trained so just opinion but I might be tempted to raise a claim at the small claim court.  For the £300 deposit I have that only costs £35 to make an online claim rising to £115 if it gets to the full cruise cost.  Best part is I can't see RC turning up to the local county court to counter it so you'd get an automatic judgement in your favour.

[adam7392]

11 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

Have you ever been to Europe and are you aware of the geography?

Well said. Can't see any reason why cruises in the Med, Canaries, UK and Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Southern Baltic would be affected. 

[Fairsailing]

57 minutes ago, adam7392 said:

Well said. Can't see any reason why cruises in the Med, Canaries, UK and Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Southern Baltic would be affected. 

LOL.  
 

February 2020: “This thing is just a bad cold, we’ll be frolicking in the Med come summer.  
 

February 2022: “He’ll totally stop at Ukraine, we’ll be touring Tallinn come summer.”

[orville99]

1 hour ago, Saab4444 said:

Have you ever been to Europe and are you aware of the geography?

Yes, more times than I can count over the course of my career. The entirety of the eastern Mediterranean and the entirety of the north sea (primarily because of Nordstream two) are in harms way from a blockade or open hostility by one side or the other if the war escalates.

Edited February 24, 2022 by orville99

[Saab4444]

14 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Yes, more times than I can count over the course of my career. The entirety of the eastern Mediterranean and the entirety of the north sea (primarily because of Nordstream two) are in harms way from a blockade or open hostility by one side or the other if the war escalates.

Nordstream 2 goes through the Baltic Sea and not through the North Sea. The project is on hold now, that‘s it. Beside ports in Russia, the east part of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea it will have no impact on Europe for now. However, If the war escalates we would have World War 3 and indeed other worries than cruising, and the US would be in the boat…. What might happen is that some US Cruise Lines relocate their big ships out of the Baltic. Voyager is poorly booked anyway and rates are very low.

[orville99]

12 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

Nordstream 2 goes through the Baltic Sea and not through the North Sea.

True, but if you have any understanding of the area, you would know that it is very easy to blockade traffic. Remember, the only way out of the Baltic sea to open water is through Denmark to the Norwegian sea and the North Sea, and that access is a very small series of channels. 

 

And the only way out of the Black Sea is through the eastern Mediterranean.

Edited February 24, 2022 by orville99

[gumshoe958]

2 hours ago, adam7392 said:

In same boat, literally as you, based in UK and booked 31 july on Voyager and have 2 nights in Stockholm pre cruise and 1 night in Copenhagen post cruise so any overnighting doesn't do me any favours.  I'm assuming as the cruise is sold as 'Scandanavia and Russia'  (and that is on my invoice) that dropping Russia is a significant change and RC would be bound by UK consumer law to refund on the basis that the goods are not as advertised and any T&C's allowing port changes would not be valid.  Had it been sold as just 'Baltic' then they would get away with it.  I'm not legally trained so just opinion but I might be tempted to raise a claim at the small claim court.  For the £300 deposit I have that only costs £35 to make an online claim rising to £115 if it gets to the full cruise cost.  Best part is I can't see RC turning up to the local county court to counter it so you'd get an automatic judgement in your favour.

Not a chance. This is the very definition of force majeure.

[Cruise Wonderland]

NCL, Oceania and Regent just announce to cancel all visits in 2022 to Russia (St Petersburg in Baltic Sea) and Ukraine (Odessa in Black Sea).

 

Apparently other cruise lines will also make the decision very soon.

[dritan]

I  recall that RCI were quite quick to cancel their Haifa based cruises last summer following a spat of rocket attacks.  At the time it felt like an over reaction as it was done months in advance and everything settled down after a week or two.  But I suspect that if that was their reaction to that event, it is more likely that the Baltic season will go - out of an "abundance of caution".  

[xxHadleyxx]

4 hours ago, mugtech said:

We cancelled our Baltic cruise because We do not want to do anything to benefit Russia in any way.  We were looking at a NCL transpacific, but since it stops in Russia on the way to Japan we will be passing on that cruise.

we're holding out in the belief that RCI will cancel Russian ports and we can still take the cruise...but I fully support your reasoning for cancelling and appreciate you taking a stand.

[ludde]

All cruises in Northern Europe with Voyager have disappeared from Royal's website. Strangely the sailings with Wonder from Barcelona are also gone, so could just be some bug.

 

Edit: They're still there if I filter by ship name Voyager but not if I filter by departure port.

Edited February 24, 2022 by ludde

[mugtech]

NCL eliminated the Russian port on their 2022 TransPacific in October, now they have 8 days at sea between Alaska and Japan on the Sun, a boring ship.

[miraflores]

There is no substitute for St. Petersburg. That city is one-of-a-kind. Real shame.

[flamingos]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

NCL eliminated the Russian port on their 2022 TransPacific in October, now they have 8 days at sea between Alaska and Japan on the Sun, a boring ship.

It's still there when I searched by ship.

[JHU]

4 hours ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

NCL, Oceania and Regent just announce to cancel all visits in 2022 to Russia (St Petersburg in Baltic Sea) and Ukraine (Odessa in Black Sea).

 

Apparently other cruise lines will also make the decision very soon.

I would like to suggest that the cruise lines and major tour companies permanently cease visiting any Russian city/port.  We should  never forget the horror being suffered by the Ukraines.  Russia should not be rewarded because we have short memories.  

[xxHadleyxx]

23 minutes ago, JHU said:

I would like to suggest that the cruise lines and major tour companies permanently cease visiting any Russian city/port.  We should  never forget the horror being suffered by the Ukraines.  Russia should not be rewarded because we have short memories.  

I try to keep in mind that the current Russian government is not representative of its people at all.  The large numbers of protestors bravely out tonight in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities clearly show that.  

With that in mind, I sincerely hope they when the Russians are eventually able to change who's in charge, that the rest of us don't hold the sins of brutal rulers against those who were under their control and instead help them become stable under new leadership by bringing in our tourist dollars then, getting to know and appreciate the people and culture, etc.  

Edited February 24, 2022 by xxHadleyxx

[jacobtsf]

Just got this from RCI about our August cruise

[pcur]

If past history is any indication, I'm with Onecruiser.  When the violence and drug wars were making Mexico unsafe, RCCL pulled out for at least 10 years, I think. 

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

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Edited February 24, 2022 by Ourusualbeach