Israel Next week Voyager

[CrushIt]

10 hours ago, kathy49 said:

It would be interesting to see how each cruise line has handled their cruises with ports in Israel and Egypt and sailing within the next month. I am only familiar with Regent and Celebrity's response. Some like NCL have taken these ports off for the rest of the year and ultimately the others will follow. They have to make business decisions quickly and probably jockey for new ports but most not going to take their passengers anywhere near an all out invasion that is going to happen in Israel (Gaza) and close to ports in Egypt. As long as the cruise line can keep the funds by giving a FCC (or even with a bit of a cancel fee )I think that would be the best thing for all of them to retain customer loyalty. I don't expect any to just refund unless you are in UK where apparently that is required. Personally I think this itinerary for Regent will have more changes.  Call me nervous in general but I would not want to be sitting anywhere in that area on a "luxury" ship known to have lots of Americans on board and don't blame those that are not comfortable. 

I agree. If they had just said that they are planning the same cruise next fall and would you like to transfer to that one, we would have said “Sure, sign is up. Thanks for the option.”

[shuguley]

Regent website is no longer showing this cruise going to Egypt.

[Golf Mad Girl]

2 minutes ago, shuguley said:

Regent website is no longer showing this cruise going to Egypt.

Our Regent website shows not only Egypt but Israel selling for Nov 10 departure!  HaHa

Relax

[shuguley]

4 minutes ago, Golf Mad Girl said:

Our Regent website shows not only Egypt but Israel selling for Nov 10 departure!  HaHa

Relax

I am looking at the Oct. 15th departure.

[Pcardad]

3 minutes ago, shuguley said:

I am looking at the Oct. 15th departure.

They pulled Egypt off yesterday morning I think. No NCLH cruises to Israel until Jan 1, 2024 at the earliest.

[PhD-iva]

5 hours ago, carMOM said:

I need to make this a long post. Please bear with me.

For the Navigator Nov 10 sailing from Istanbul which we are on, complete with pre cruise and post cruise tours booked as well as the overland packages in both Israel and Egypt, we cannot figure out how or where Regent can just substitute other ports and make it work.

The itinerary is 21 days finishing in Dubai.

Navigator has to get to Dubai on time because the next leg of the ship goes from Dubai to Singapore. 
Voyager's cruise on Oct 15 is different. It was supposed to repeat a set itinerary then do it again in reverse I think. Or something similar. It's not one leg of a longer itinerary.

For many passengers on Navigator, Istanbul to Dubai is just one leg of a grand voyage and they may have already been on board for weeks or months with more to go after Dubai.

Only this leg on Nov 10 puts the ship in danger. Once past Egypt or even Dubai ( if uprisings escalate), they're in the clear.

I don't know how many passengers join the cruise in Istanbul like us and how many are already onboard.
My point is Regent can't cancel the Nov 10 cruise. The ship has to get to Dubai. How do they minimize the risk and still provide a decent cruise while skipping the major and main stops on the itinerary? I don't think they can for the passengers embarking in Istanbul and disembarking in Dubai. Passengers already on the ship or staying on for the longer voyage might be ok with it.

Last year on a grand voyage on Explorer, the ship was turned around from New Zealand due to invasive barnacles on the hull and the whole New Zealand leg of that grand voyage was skipped while the ship added many sea days. I know passengers who were onboard  were offered cruise credits but I don't know how much. We joined that cruise after the debacle was over when it got to Bali. The passengers who had been on during the New Zealand experience and who were still on were generally ok with it because Regent stepped up with cruise credits. I don't know if any refunds were offered.

I'm not excited if Navigator ends up with almost 10 straight sea days with Israel and Egypt cancellations...possibly other ports cancelled if the Israeli conflict escalates.

If anyone has more experience dealing with these situations or if you're on Navigator on Nov 10. I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

I’ve been watching the rollcall for Oceania’s Nov 29 Riviera sailing, which I canceled a while ago. That itinerary was originally Istanbul to Dubai. The itinerary has been revised but they are still going to Dubai. The last time I looked, they still had an overnight in Luxor. R and O have the same corporate ownership, so your Navigator cruise will almost certainly cruise through Suez to Dubai (as you mentioned).

Best wishes,

Edited October 14, 2023 by PhD-iva
Edit

[Golf Mad Girl]

54 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

I’ve been watching the rollcall for Oceania’s Nov 29 Riviera sailing, which I canceled a while ago. That itinerary was originally Istanbul to Dubai. The itinerary has been revised but they are still going to Dubai. The last time I looked, they still had an overnight in Luxor. R and O have the same corporate ownership, so your Navigator cruise will almost certainly cruise through Suez to Dubai (as you mentioned).

Best wishes,

TKS FOR THE INFO  FINGERS ARE ALL CROSSED

[CrushIt]

13 hours ago, kathy49 said:

The $2000 was some misunderstanding. I would not take that as any fact at all.

It may have been a bluff. But, I can assure you that there was no misunderstanding. I don’t have the exact number with me. It was something over $2k and it was to the penney. 

[CrushIt]

13 hours ago, cwn said:

All travel companies and insurance companies have T and C contracts which the customers agrees to when they purchase the companies service. 
You bought the service so it is assumed you read the contract. 
 

Insurance, who ever sells it, state what is covered. if it doesn’t meet your needs don’t buy it.

 

Regent is sailing they cruise on the 15th. Up front they stated that if you had custom air that charge would be refunded and you would be rebooked. They have changed the ports out of the troubled area per the TandCcontract you signed. You may not like what  the company did.  It is now your choice.to go or stay home, the company made theirs. It is also your choice to find another company to sail with in the future. And it is also a chance for disappointment to take a cruise because one or more ports is a must see port and the only reason that you take the cruise. You set yourself up for disappointment from the start because the port stop is not a guarantee.

. I read the contracts and I chose not to buy the insurance because it looked fairly worthless to begin with, as has been borne out by other posts. Just to be clear, I am not arguing legality. I am advocating for good customer service. I own a service business and I deal with customer cancellations and sometimes we have to postpone an appointment because employees get sick, etc. it’s a matter of moral and ethical character that I deal with every month. It works out in the long run because our customers trust that we will alway do right by them. 

[CrushIt]

14 hours ago, roninman said:

Good point, no refund for Regent customers!

 

Fortunately for customers of Celebrity and other lines, customers were offered refunds and credits immediately last weekend.  What a humane way for a cruise company to have actually worked with valued consumers.  And Celebrity's cruise didn't even require massive flight disruptions, simply missed ports in Israel!

 

 

I would bet that Celebrity’ contracts are every bit as iron clad and one-sided as RSS’s. And yet, they took care of their passengers. 

[cwn]

1 hour ago, CrushIt said:

I would bet that Celebrity’ contracts are every bit as iron clad and one-sided as RSS’s. And yet, they took care of their passengers. 

Probably the contract is similar. Hind sight is always 20/20. It is your choice who to sail with, past and future.

 

We have sailed with both lines. We have picked Regent over Celebrity for a number of years now. So far in our experience Regent is a better experience for the money when apples to apples are compared which is hard to really do between a line carrying 100’s of passenger compared to 1000’s.
 

Regent is sailing to all but 4 original ports on this cruise. They have replaced the missed ports with others. They are fulfilling the contract for this cruise. One can decide to go on the cruise Regent is now offering due to the conflict and have a great time on a great small ship with a great caring crew sailing in a beautiful area or go and be miserable or cancel lose the money and complain about how poorly Regent is treating one.

 

I do agree with you that it was nice when one always could count on the personal service as you describe. Unfortunately and sadly as businesses have gotten bigger personal service has become less and less.
 

We were on the WC mentioned earlier. We missed ports that couldn’t be replaced with another. We were confined to the ship in Bali the first day after the accident day, but we were let off the ship on the second day. We missed a World Heritage Site that many included me, wanted to see. Regent did offer a percentage of the fare paid for that segment of the world cruise as a FCC. Regent has done this before for missed ports that couldn’t be replaced by another port. But the situations are not actually apples to apples. The ports were replaced and the replacements are nice. Regent does take care their passengers .
 

As a previous poster said …. If you plan on seeing the world on a cruise ship you have to be flexible…. Lots of things can go wrong. Unfortunately this is the worst case.

Edited October 14, 2023 by cwn

[roninman]

10 hours ago, CrushIt said:

They claim that they are loosing more than what we paid.

You are losing far more that what they said they would deliver.

 

Passengers that feel they must cancel are losing thousands, the company keeps their money.

 

Yet the company wants you to feel sorry for them.

 

While other posters jump in to wag their finger at you in defense of the company.  How dare you simply request some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement in light of geopolitical events beyond anyone's control?

 

[melbox4]

 Our flt was canceled out of our home airport. There are no flights that will get us to Istanbul on time. We have been told since 10:30 last night that  the after hour’s emergency team has been trying to contact the ship. The ship is not responding about allowing us to board in the port in Mykonos or Athens. Bozcaada does not have an airport. We have been waiting for a response since last night. This is very disappointing. It feels like RSSC is letting us skip through the cracks. 

[HotelSnob1]

My goodness … hope u make it.🤞

[zak477]

As I have stated in a prior comment, a Regent supervisor (Cruise Critic doesn't want names used) told me yesterday that the Israel ports of call have all been cancelled for the balance of 2023. Our November 10th sailing still shows Israel and he stated that Regent is currently working on the October sailing only. When those guests have all be rerouted, they will work on changing the itineraries for the November 10th sailing. He said by the end of the month all of us on the November sailing will be given the new itinerary. 

Sadly, we only booked this cruise because of the amazing ports of call, pre & post offerings and overland tours.  Let us hope that the itinerary is not just sea days !!

[kathy49]

2 minutes ago, zak477 said:

As I have stated in a prior comment, a Regent supervisor (Cruise Critic doesn't want names used) told me yesterday that the Israel ports of call have all been cancelled for the balance of 2023. Our November 10th sailing still shows Israel and he stated that Regent is currently working on the October sailing only. When those guests have all be rerouted, they will work on changing the itineraries for the November 10th sailing. He said by the end of the month all of us on the November sailing will be given the new itinerary. 

Sadly, we only booked this cruise because of the amazing ports of call, pre & post offerings and overland tours.  Let us hope that the itinerary is not just sea days !!

Consider yourself lucky to have a warning. Clearly your ship will not go to Israel and probably not Egypt.  You will just have to wait but expect more Turkey and Greece.

[Joanandjoe]

We are in Istanbul waiting to board the ship tomorrow.  Even that will be delayed because the route to the ship will be blocked until mid-afternoon by the finish of Turkey's equivalent of the Tour de France bike race.

 

Five new ports, 4 of which we've been to.  We've also been to 2 of the 4 unchanged ports.  They're offering a 25% future cruise credit, which is only useful if we decide not to cancel our one booked Regent cruise for next April.  Israel was the reason for the cruise, especially the pre-cruise.  Thank heaven we were not in Israel when the terror started; but we wouldn't have taken this cruise without Israel, and we certainly wouldn't have paid 75% of the fare for this cruise for the cruise on which we will be sailing.

 

10 days on Regent may or may not give us a reason to sail with them again.

 

One star minus rating for the Regent management people who wouldn't allow us to cancel and get a full refund; but five stars for the back office people who managed to get (almost) all of us to Istanbul and to come up with 5 ports, even "been there, done that" ports.  We are upset, though, that there are now no sea days.  We LOVE sea days, as long as there aren't too many of them.

 

 

[rcandkc]

10 minutes ago, Joanandjoe said:

We are in Istanbul waiting to board the ship tomorrow.  Even that will be delayed because the route to the ship will be blocked until mid-afternoon by the finish of Turkey's equivalent of the Tour de France bike race.

 

Five new ports, 4 of which we've been to.  We've also been to 2 of the 4 unchanged ports.  They're offering a 25% future cruise credit, which is only useful if we decide not to cancel our one booked Regent cruise for next April.  Israel was the reason for the cruise, especially the pre-cruise.  Thank heaven we were not in Israel when the terror started; but we wouldn't have taken this cruise without Israel, and we certainly wouldn't have paid 75% of the fare for this cruise for the cruise on which we will be sailing.

 

10 days on Regent may or may not give us a reason to sail with them again.

 

One star minus rating for the Regent management people who wouldn't allow us to cancel and get a full refund; but five stars for the back office people who managed to get (almost) all of us to Istanbul and to come up with 5 ports, even "been there, done that" ports.  We are upset, though, that there are now no sea days.  We LOVE sea days, as long as there aren't too many of them.

 

 

Make a port day into a “sea” day….especially one you have already visited. 

[HotelSnob1]

We, too, are in Istanbul waiting to board tomorrow after the race ends.  Like many on this cruise, we have been to many of the ports already and we booked this especially for Israel & Egypt, having been to the former already.  We were suppose to leave Newark a week ago, and we were fortunate that UA canceled it for us.  Had zero problem booking a new flight to IST

but we are independent. Love sea days equally, but may turn them into port days, especially if the weather stays this nice.

We have several future cruises with Regent booked, also.  No doubt, once we are all onboard, there will be a lot of stories to tell.  Hope everyone who wanted to makes this cruise, does make it.  We plan to enjoy it! 

[Sunprince]

3 hours ago, melbox4 said:

 Our flt was canceled out of our home airport. There are no flights that will get us to Istanbul on time. We have been told since 10:30 last night that  the after hour’s emergency team has been trying to contact the ship. The ship is not responding about allowing us to board in the port in Mykonos or Athens. Bozcaada does not have an airport. We have been waiting for a response since last night. This is very disappointing. It feels like RSSC is letting us skip through the cracks. 

If you used Regent air and they cannot get you to the port of embarkation on time, then are they offering you a cancellation/refund option? What does the contract say for this circumstance? I would think if they can’t fly you into Istanbul on time, then a refund should be offered.  I would not join the cruise at a secondary port…too complicated and you are losing your cruising time!

[olga1900]

Joan and joe

we cancelled because we are over 80 and couldn’t face changing like you did.

I an sending your post to our TA. sorry we couldn’t meet. Several fraternity brothers from Teaneck. Wife from Hackensack 

[olga1900]

We cancelled because we couldn’t face changes and cancellations as you have. We are both mid 80s and paid for direct comfortable flights. Now we lose everything.

Larry

[jjs217]

21 hours ago, roninman said:

Consumers are weird, in that they tend to apprehend this as one sided.

 

I think you mean "comprehend", not "apprehend", but then I'm a weird consumer.

[kathy49]

14 minutes ago, olga1900 said:

We cancelled because we couldn’t face changes and cancellations as you have. We are both mid 80s and paid for direct comfortable flights. Now we lose everything.

Larry

Sorry but understandable on your part. Sad no  concessions from Regent...would put me off from ever booking them. Again I fully understand they are within the contract.

[melbox4]

37 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

If you used Regent air and they cannot get you to the port of embarkation on time, then are they offering you a cancellation/refund option? What does the contract say for this circumstance? I would think if they can’t fly you into Istanbul on time, then a refund should be offered.  I would not join the cruise at a secondary port…too complicated and you are losing your cruising time!

The after hours air department is not really helping. They just gave me the number for Lufthansa and asked me to call Lufthansa. I called that number and it is for a closed office till Monday. My flts were booked with Lufthansa. Lufthansa has now canceled my return flt from Rome. I am told by Lufthansa I can fly to Istanbul and then to Athens to catch the ship. But I must pay for the flt from Istanbul to Athens. They say because Athens is more than 250 miles Lufthansa won’t pay for it. Isn’t Haifa more than 250 mile from Istanbul where my original flt was to start.  That makes no sense.