2023 Northern Europe upcoming itinerary changes

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

 This morning we received an email indicating our option to book a Norwegian Fjords voyage on the Dawn for May 17-31, 2023 has been cancelled due to the ongoing conflict in Russia.  The email went on to further indicate Silversea would be "amending its overall 2023 Northern Europe deployment".  While this comes as no surprise to anyone that St. Petersburg will continue to be eliminated, this particular cruise was Southampton - Copenhagen and did not call on any ports east of Copenhagen.  They offered us a May 31-June 14 sailing from Southampton to Copenhagen, which currently does not exist.  The Northern Europe sailings on the Dawn will change, both with the itineraries and sail dates for 2023, but to what extent is currently unknown.  They have not amended the voyages on the website as of yet.

[A Tucson Guy]

I wonder why SS is changing 2023 Norwegian cruises but not the 2022 cruises? Does SS know something about the Russia situation that we don't know about?

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

Just now, A Tucson Guy said:

I wonder why SS is changing 2023 Norwegian cruises but not the 2022 cruises? Does SS know something about the Russia situation that we don't know about?

Tucson Guy, I was wondering the same thing.  For now, they are continuing to call on other ports in the Baltic, but if the situation escalates, Silversea may not have a choice but to amend those itineraries as well to keep their guests safe.  I don't think the Norwegian Fjords ports are at risk, but they are shifting things around to accommodate the continued elimination of St. Petersburg, which was the only port elimination specifically mentioned in the email.

[cruiseej]

I don't think it's concern about security in coastal Norway, but a larger adjustment of northern Europe cruises for next year. This year they scrambled to amend itineraries which had been scheduled to travel to Russia, but they likely looked at their planned 2023 season and decided it would make sense to make broader changes to itineraries. SS currently has Dawn, Moon, Wind and Cloud doing northern Europe itineraries in summer 2023; I wonder if they may have decided to reposition one of those ships elsewhere? St. Petersburg is a huge draw, and without it, they may be doing more than minor tweaks to the 2023 itineraries. 

[Dolcevita Diva]

5 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

I don't think it's concern about security in coastal Norway, but a larger adjustment of northern Europe cruises for next year. This year they scrambled to amend itineraries which had been scheduled to travel to Russia, but they likely looked at their planned 2023 season and decided it would make sense to make broader changes to itineraries. 

I think you're right.  And although they changed itineraries for this year, next year's voyages still showed St. Petersburg, which certainly limits potential bookings for 2023.  I had just looked at the northern Europe voyages for next year to see if they were planning similar itineraries to those scheduled on the Moon this year (trying to decide whether to book one this August or next year) and was surprised to see that they hadn't updated itineraries and pricing for next year yet. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Not just Silversea:

Princess cancels Regal's 2023 Baltic program and several Royal Asia-Pacific cruises

 

"Citing the ongoing war in Ukraine, Princess Cruises canceled the 2023 Baltic program from Copenhagen on Regal Princess."

[Dolcevita Diva]

23 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Not just Silversea:

Princess cancels Regal's 2023 Baltic program and several Royal Asia-Pacific cruises

 

"Citing the ongoing war in Ukraine, Princess Cruises canceled the 2023 Baltic program from Copenhagen on Regal Princess."

 

Hmmm. Wonder if the cancellations are due to soft bookings, safety concerns, notification from the cruise lines' insurer - or all of the above?

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

According to the email we received, the itinerary changes should be rolled out in the coming days.  Of course, days could turn into weeks, but we'll monitor their website and keep in touch with our Silversea Cruise Consultant.

 

[bethtex]

if safety considerations, would expect this years cruises to be cancelled or changed as well

so makes sense that demand may be down so they are moving a ship and redoing the itineraries.

headed to Baltic and Norwegian Fjords in Aug 2022, and hoping no more changes to our itinerary.

[Sisa]

Wow. We are booked for a 10 day Copenhagen-Copenhagen trip next July 2023, but have not received any information that our cruise has been affected. I really hope not.

[itchtocruz]

The $500 OBC per guest incentive to change to May 31 - Jun 14 is enticing us to accept the change. 

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

12 hours ago, itchtocruz said:

The $500 OBC per guest incentive to change to May 31 - Jun 14 is enticing us to accept the change. 

We aren't eligible for the credit because we didn't put a deposit on the voyage yet.  We simply had a hold on a suite.  I guess we received the email because holds actually have a booking number assigned to them. We were hoping to combine this voyage with the one prior to it coming up from Lisbon - Southampton, but now we aren't sure where the Dawn will be from May 17-31.  If you are flexible, $500 pp OBC is very attractive.

[Bill in Miami]

Just a few weeks ago, we were able to book a Silversea Baltic cruise at the end of August 2022 for an extremely low price (€2.250 pp, Classic Veranda, Port to Port). I'm pretty sure that the lack of St. Petersburg on the itinerary has dramatically affected sales and thus all the cruise lines are rethinking next summer's Northern Europe plans. We were extremely happy to finally find a cruise that stops in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, ports often ignored on Baltic cruises, in favour of more time in Russia.

[Dolcevita Diva]

7 hours ago, Bill in Miami said:

Just a few weeks ago, we were able to book a Silversea Baltic cruise at the end of August 2022 for an extremely low price (€2.250 pp, Classic Veranda, Port to Port). I'm pretty sure that the lack of St. Petersburg on the itinerary has dramatically affected sales and thus all the cruise lines are rethinking next summer's Northern Europe plans. We were extremely happy to finally find a cruise that stops in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, ports often ignored on Baltic cruises, in favour of more time in Russia.

I was eying that voyage because the alternate ports they added were interesting. 
It appears that many including yourself felt the same because that voyage is close to sold out now.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Dolcevita Diva

[les37b]

On 6/16/2022 at 11:23 AM, Bill in Miami said:

Just a few weeks ago, we were able to book a Silversea Baltic cruise at the end of August 2022 for an extremely low price (€2.250 pp, Classic Veranda, Port to Port). I'm pretty sure that the lack of St. Petersburg on the itinerary has dramatically affected sales and thus all the cruise lines are rethinking next summer's Northern Europe plans. We were extremely happy to finally find a cruise that stops in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, ports often ignored on Baltic cruises, in favour of more time in Russia.

 

Bingo.

 

I suspect this is the reason and whilst conflict related, ultimately is sales driven.

 

I saw those offers too and gutted I was unable to take advantage as I'd made a June booking already (currently in Stockholm), but definitely would have taken one of those.

 

I wonder if my Osaka to Seward will be amended (other than just a avoiding Kamchatsky.) That's a rather large area of Russian waters it's sailing in!

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

What concerns me about Silversea's email to us of their intention to cancel the May 17-31 Southampton - Copenhagen voyage is they didn't offer an alternative voyage during the same time period.  The offer was for a similar sailing out of Southampton starting May 31, which currently does not exist on their website.  I completely understand their reason to modify the 2023 Northern Europe schedule to remove St. Petersburg, but they've done that already in 2022 by adding additional ports to those particular voyages in which St. Pete was eliminated.  Once the Dawn arrives into Southampton May 17, will it just sit there for 14 days?  We asked our Silversea Rep this question and he didn't have an answer.  Until we see specific changes to their voyages on the website, we won't know whether this particular voyage cancellation is truly a schedule adjustment due to the conflict or if the Dawn will be used for a charter.  

 

As les37b pointed out, there are other voyages in 2023 that sail thru Russian waters.  The Wind also calls on several ports in Russia during its expedition sail thru the Artic in September 2023.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

This morning, Silversea updated their website with changes to their 2023 Northern Europe voyages on the Dawn to remove St. Petersburg.  They kept other Baltic countries on some of the itineraries.  Our cancelled voyage on the Dawn from May 17-31 (Southampton-Copenhagen) was replaced with a circumnavigation of Great Britain (Southampton-Southampton) and calls on a couple of ports that are more typical of an expedition cruise.  As far as I could tell, the other ships that sail in Russian waters next year (Whisper, Muse, Spirit and Wind) haven't had their itineraries updated, but its just a matter of time.