Lisbon Itinerary Changes?

[blueexpedition29]

Does anybody have more info on reported itinerary changes for the Encore ?  I understand that the Canary Islands were CANCELLED and replaced for TODAYS sailing, so looking for the new ports scheduled. 

 

I am on the 3/22 sailing so want to do some "contingency planning" JIC similar changes are made. 

 

THX

 

[English Tim]

Extra night in Lisbon, followed by day at sea and then Malaga Cartagena Valencia Alicante Almeira and Gibraltar.

 

I doubt that future cruises will be affected, as this is an unusual weather event

[margbem]

The weather forecast is pretty dire for the next week. Better to be safe than seasick.

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, English Tim said:

Extra night in Lisbon, followed by day at sea and then Malaga Cartagena Valencia Alicante Almeira and Gibraltar.

 

Wow! It's not unusual to miss a port stop or have one port changed for another. But to book a cruise to the Canary Islands and then have the cruise changed to not visit the Canary Islands at all seems pretty extreme. While some travelers are doublers just happy to be aboard and cruising anywhere, I imagine others must be pretty disappointed to have the entire cruise changed. 

[hampshirelad]

I thought that his Cruise had been block booked by a UK  T/A who has a lot of imagination .  They then offered an entertainment package with  Katherine Jenkins and Russell Watson which was the draw. I expect neither stars would be keen to try and give of their all,  being bounced around in the Atlantic. Hence the change.

[margbem]

10 minutes ago, hampshirelad said:

I thought that his Cruise had been block booked by a UK  T/A who has a lot of imagination .  They then offered an entertainment package with  Katherine Jenkins and Russell Watson which was the draw. I expect neither stars would be keen to try and give of their all,  being bounced around in the Atlantic. Hence the change.

Well, Hampshirelad, I really hope you enjoy your cruise, even though it's so different to what you were expecting. My understanding is that Sir Michael Parkinson is one of the guest speakers. Is Russell Watson also scheduled? I agree - they wouldn't want to be bounced around in the Atlantic! Has Seabourn offered any extra perks to compensate for the massive change? 

[margbem]

AEMET ACTIVATES MORE WEATHER WARNINGS THIS WEEKEND IN THE CANARY ISLANDS

 3/11/22, 1:51 PM  Written by Canarian Weekly  National

The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has reported that they are activating warnings for adverse sea conditions affecting the whole of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, and El Hierro, as well as the North of Tenerife and Gran Canaria tomorrow.

[margbem]

This coming Monday AEMET will activate three warnings. The first being a yellow COASTAL warning which will become active from 12.00 noon on Monday and will change to an orange warning from 6pm until midnight. Expect to see waves of up to 6 or 7 metres.

The second warning will be a yellow WIND warning which will be active from 9am and will remain active until midnight. Expect wind speeds of up to 70km/h.

In addition to these three warnings, AEMET still forecast a 95% chance of rain on Monday, as well as a 90% chance on Tuesday, 90% chance on Wednesday, 65% chance on Thursday and 45% chance on Friday.

[bohaiboy]

WindyWaves.com shows 20_ ft seas thru Friday.  Would not be pleasant.  And I am sure some serious winds to go with that.

 

That being said over on the FB group, there are reports of Covid outbreak amongst the crew.

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by bohaiboy
Added

[hampshirelad]

Thanks margbem . In fact I decided to stay clear of this one , as it was a day shorter and the flights were not that attractive  and I have seen KJ and RW before.

 

As shown by your fact finding it s a good job they changed it. It will be for others to let us know the outcome, or if mutiny was declared, the bridge over run, and the ship steered back on its original course

[blueexpedition29]

2 hours ago, English Tim said:

Extra night in Lisbon, followed by day at sea and then Malaga Cartagena Valencia Alicante Almeira and Gibraltar.

 

I doubt that future cruises will be affected, as this is an unusual weather event

English  Tim - Thanks and much appreciated.  

[Covepointcruiser]

I am happy that Seabourn has put safety first as the Encore is not the QM2 and would not easily weather this storm.    Weather events have often totally redirected cruises.   Do you remember when there were several hurricanes in the Caribbean and ships ended up cruising to New England and Canada?   At least your packed clothing is still appropriate.

[mancunian]

I have to say that I personally am not over happy.    because of the way cancelled cruise replacements have fallen we are going on Silver Spirit on the 31st on a cruise Lisbon to Barcelona with three ports the same.   We thought the two cruises were completely different when booked.  

 

It is also a lovely day here in Lisbon, a sunny day, blue skies and a very light breeze with no movement on the river.   I wonder why we could not have sailed today on whichever of the two itineraries we were on.  Most of us are on our third day here.

 

For those interested there are approx 480 passengers.

 

If it is true there are crew members with co i’d 

[mancunian]

Sorry very bright on balcony and pressed wrong key, if there are many crew covid cases I wonder if they think the small islands will not accept us.

[SLSD]

4 hours ago, mancunian said:

Sorry very bright on balcony and pressed wrong key, if there are many crew covid cases I wonder if they think the small islands will not accept us.

According to a post above, there are severe weather alerts--and that is why the itinerary has changed.  Do you remember the Viking cruise line emergency due to bad weather a few years ago?  The passengers had to be taken off the ship by helicopter.  I'm sure that is a bad memory for Viking and an important lesson for all cruise lines.  Safety  is more important than a specific itinerary.  

[janecambridge]

Quite a few passengers staying on from March 12th have got off at Lisbon.

 

[margbem]

22 minutes ago, janecambridge said:

Quite a few passengers staying on from March 12th have got off at Lisbon.

 

Were they offered a refund for the second leg if they chose not to sail?

[Emdee]

1 hour ago, janecambridge said:

Quite a few passengers staying on from March 12th have got off at Lisbon.

 

We’re they positive?

How was service of board?

So indecisive whether to cruise or cancel. We are booked March 22 nd.

Thanks for your help …it has been invaluable.

 

[margbem]

57 minutes ago, Emdee said:

We’re they positive?

How was service of board?

So indecisive whether to cruise or cancel. We are booked March 22 nd.

Thanks for your help …it has been invaluable.

 

It’s weather related. Odds are the weather will have improved by the time you sail.

[Emdee]

14 minutes ago, margbem said:

It’s weather related. Odds are the weather will have improved by the time you sail.

The change of itinerary is weather related but people could have decided not to sail also because of the number of Covid patients or because they tested positive.

 

Further I would love to know how the service was. I understand from the fb page that a number of staff tested positive as well. 

[janecambridge]

We were unaware of more than a couple of cases of covid. I am sure that it is because of weather that the itinerary was changed. 
I came home yesterday and proved positive today. I was appalled at peoples lack of hygiene and sanitising. We continually hand sanitised and even had our own sanitiser at the table. As stated before, we were the only people not to directly touch the serving utensils. But what we saw was disappointing. I expect it’s the same in all cruise ships.

Service was very good on board. Food not so. Don’t understand the Keller  concept in colannade. We had a great Indian buffet and  amazing food and service in E&O. That restaurant in the evening was the most popular. But not so good in TK grill. Raw, bleeding chicken, which carver told us was the bone as it was cooked for 36hrs. 
 

[Emdee]

1 hour ago, janecambridge said:

We were unaware of more than a couple of cases of covid. I am sure that it is because of weather that the itinerary was changed. 
I came home yesterday and proved positive today. I was appalled at peoples lack of hygiene and sanitising. We continually hand sanitised and even had our own sanitiser at the table. As stated before, we were the only people not to directly touch the serving utensils. But what we saw was disappointing. I expect it’s the same in all cruise ships.

Service was very good on board. Food not so. Don’t understand the Keller  concept in colannade. We had a great Indian buffet and  amazing food and service in E&O. That restaurant in the evening was the most popular. But not so good in TK grill. Raw, bleeding chicken, which carver told us was the bone as it was cooked for 36hrs. 
 

Thanks so much for all your input. It is very concerning and helpful so we can make a decision. 

We were on Silversea last august and the protocols were very stringent. Almost everyone was very respectful and wore masks on excursions and there was social distancing on the buses.

We were on Regent Explorer during the holidays and again people wore their masks on board and on most excursions other than open air jeeps. 

I know that Omicron is more transmissible …

Will decide to go or not to go tomorrow in concert with our travel agent. 
 

Thanks again. 

[marazul]

14 hours ago, Emdee said:

Thanks so much for all your input. It is very concerning and helpful so we can make a decision. 

We were on Silversea last august and the protocols were very stringent. Almost everyone was very respectful and wore masks on excursions and there was social distancing on the buses.

We were on Regent Explorer during the holidays and again people wore their masks on board and on most excursions other than open air jeeps. 

I know that Omicron is more transmissible …

Will decide to go or not to go tomorrow in concert with our travel agent. 
 

Thanks again. 

It was just as strict on Seabourn last August and September.  I think it could be slipping all across the cruise lines.

[John117]

On 3/12/2022 at 4:13 PM, English Tim said:

Extra night in Lisbon, followed by day at sea and then Malaga Cartagena Valencia Alicante Almeira and Gibraltar.

 

I doubt that future cruises will be affected, as this is an unusual weather event

I hope the cruise is going well and that some of the issues on previous cruises have been addressed. 

 

Looks like you have also had 2 days in Cartagena now too? Was that part of the original revised itinerary?

[mancunian]

  No this cruise has not gone well.  We have had virtually continuous rain on this cruise until this morning plus the Sahara sandstorm.  Two rough nights particularly last night.  We were in  Cartagena for two days because Valencia closed their port.  So wish we could have made it to the. canaries where the weather seems to  have been better

 

I am going ashore today for the first time on day 7.    Disabled and walking slowly with rollator not good in wind and rain.  Actually looking round I think many others have stayed onboard most of the time.