Israel traveling

[PhilRSchultz]

For Nov. 14th Cities of Antiquities & The Holy Land Viking departure: 

[PhilRSchultz]

Initial thoughts and reactions: (1) There might be (2) days of excursions in Cyprus and on Malta; (2) We visit Heraklion, Crete on a different day than was originally scheduled.  Question: On original itinerary, we only had (6) hours in port in Heraklion which REALLY restricted what you could do (no way previously to visit both Knossos & The Heraklion Archaeological Museum for example).  Might we have more time in port with this rescheduling?; (3) Malta’s a decent substitute; (4) The fact that they are avoiding Turkey probably means Viking intends to avoid all Muslim countries.  That said, was slightly surprised that they didn’t nix Cyprus, but actually added another day there despite its proximity to the conflict.  They nixed the sea day between Rhodes and Cyprus which sarcastically, but perhaps in reality, is Viking trying to make that sea crossing under cover of darkness 😀

[hurwitz5]

We are on the December 6 cruise.  Malta is an interesting port.  Not sure how I feel about Cyprus because it is close to Israel and Lebanon.  Also, is there much to see for 2 days in Cyprus.  I would appreciate comments and/or recommendations re: Cyprus.

[PhilRSchultz]

1 hour ago, hurwitz5 said:

We are on the December 6 cruise.  Malta is an interesting port.  Not sure how I feel about Cyprus because it is close to Israel and Lebanon.  Also, is there much to see for 2 days in Cyprus.  I would appreciate comments and/or recommendations re: Cyprus.

I initiated an online chat w/ Viking inquiring about “new” port times which they proceeded to email me.  Looks like we arrive Cyprus at noon on one day, then have the whole next day.  My guess is the shore excursion you already booked before the itinerary change will still occur that second full day.  The question is whether or not additional shore excursions will be offered for that first half-day.  If so, any excursion would have to be limited to a 4-hr excursion so my guess is it would be something in and around Limassol, probably something like The Crusader Kolossi Castle built by The Order of St. John.  If you hadn’t already booked an all-day excursion, while tastes vary, I was choosing between their Paphos excursion or Nicosia and chose Paphos, a town who’s history extends back into The Bronze Age, through the Greeks and Romans, while also featuring in Biblical history (see Paul).  If I hadn’t done that, I would’ve done Nicosia strictly for the national museum.  

[Mitten5]

We also are very disappointed in the response from Viking.  Today the  state department issued  an advisory against traveling overseas for all Americans.  You can google protests in Athens, Cyprus,Greece & Rome along with a planned pro-Palestinian rally for Naples,Italy Oct 13th.  As I figure it that is 9 days out of 14 were there is protests right now involving thousands of people. I can’t believe they have left us with zero information.  Especially now that so many of our ports are also protesting. I think anyone on that cruise should call everyday.  1877-668-4546  At least let us use the money paid for another cruise.  This would have been our 4th cruise with Viking.  Terrible customer service!!!😡

[Host Kat]

13 hours ago, Urasleep said:

We have booked and paid for an ocean cruise traveling to Israel in November 2023 (CITIES OF ANTIQUITY & THE HOLY LAND). We have sent multiple emails and made calls to Viking inquiring if it will be cancelled or changed. We have NOT received any messages from Viking, email nor phone call. The only Viking answer we get is that "we are monitoring the situation." We are positive that we are not the only travelers concerned about this horrible situation. We feel that this is extremely poor customer service. Viking needs to understand the frustration and anxiety their clientele is feeling about the uncertainty of sailing into an active war zone. Viking needs to do the right thing and contact us now. We have had two previous trips, a river and an ocean cruise with Viking. We really enjoyed both of our cruises in the past. That's why we were return customers. We are rethinking our choice now.

 

Hello @Urasleep and welcome to the Cruise Critic message board!

 

To help you out, your new topic/thread posted on an incorrect forum has been merged into an existing thread on the correct forum that pertains to your topic. 

 

And yes, you are not the only travelers concerned about this horrible situation. You need to locate and post on the specific Roll Call thread for your line, ship and sail date. You did not mention your November sail date so I cannot direct you to the specific Roll Call thread for your cruise. The Roll Call thread will be posts from your fellow Cruise Critic members sailing with you.

 

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[edward77]

We are scheduled for the Nov 22 cities of antiquities and the Holy Land. Just heard from Viking with the revised itinerary. First of all, with the Headliner port of call in the holy land officially gone it is no longer a bucket list cruise. But more importantly, Cyprys for 2 days should be a deal breaker. Why would any company want to sail into Cyprys, about 150 miles from Beirut and Haifa with 2 of the worlds largest aircraft carriers there on high alert. Also soldiers from Germany and Netherlands have been deployed to Cyprys  to be on standby, with likely other countries to follow using Cyprys as a launch point  if necessary.

This is about our safety and Viking is seriously putting their reputation in Jeopardy with this itinerary. I wrote to them this morning asking for a full refund as I am sure that sailing through a war zone will neither be safe and definitely not rleaxing and enjoyable as acruise should be. This cruise should definitely be cancelled.

[Goosebear Mum]

I am in the UK, I would have no issue with Cyprus at the moment, it’s well enough away from Israel and Gaza.  Personally I wouldn’t have been going to Israel for years now. Obviously it’s escalated on a massive scale, but honestly Cyprus is nothing to be concerned about. It's not yet WW3….  If anything changes, Viking will be the first to put your safety as priority.  

[edward77]

33 minutes ago, Goosebear Mum said:

I am in the UK, I would have no issue with Cyprus at the moment, it’s well enough away from Israel and Gaza.  Personally I wouldn’t have been going to Israel for years now. Obviously it’s escalated on a massive scale, but honestly Cyprus is nothing to be concerned about. It's not yet WW3….  If anything changes, Viking will be the first to put your safety as priority.  

150 miles with troops on the ground is not safe for anyone. Far too close to a pending war with Iran. Cyptys will be used as a staging area. Not my idea ofa safe place but maybe safer than the UK right now

[Alison48]

1 hour ago, edward77 said:

We are scheduled for the Nov 22 cities of antiquities and the Holy Land. Just heard from Viking with the revised itinerary. First of all, with the Headliner port of call in the holy land officially gone it is no longer a bucket list cruise. But more importantly, Cyprys for 2 days should be a deal breaker. Why would any company want to sail into Cyprys, about 150 miles from Beirut and Haifa with 2 of the worlds largest aircraft carriers there on high alert. Also soldiers from Germany and Netherlands have been deployed to Cyprys  to be on standby, with likely other countries to follow using Cyprys as a launch point  if necessary.

This is about our safety and Viking is seriously putting their reputation in Jeopardy with this itinerary. I wrote to them this morning asking for a full refund as I am sure that sailing through a war zone will neither be safe and definitely not rleaxing and enjoyable as acruise should be. This cruise should definitely be cancelled.

I agree with you. At least offer an FCC if they do sail. Going to Cypress makes nonsense. Their reputation for excellent customer service will be tarnished forever if Viking gets sucked into something that they could have been avoided.

[Hockeyump]

2 hours ago, edward77 said:

150 miles with troops on the ground is not safe for anyone. Far too close to a pending war with Iran. Cyptys will be used as a staging area. Not my idea ofa safe place but maybe safer than the UK right now

 As a UK resident please explain why Cyprus (note spelling) is safer than where I am.

[edward77]

Very simple answer but this is not the propper forum for this discussion. You brought up the safety of Cyprus ( note corrected spelling ). It would also depend on where you are in the UK.

[Goosebear Mum]

Honestly calm down everyone. This is currently Israel and Gaza, just as elsewhere there is Yemen, Russia, Ukraine, etc.  Israel and Gaza have had frequent bombings, this time it’s far far worse, but so far there is no sign of it about escalate outside of those countries. The UK (honestly, some people listen to wind up media too much) and Cyprus are currently safe.  Viking will not send you somewhere unsafe, if anything changes so will the cruise. If Cyprus is ever unsafe, the whole Mediterranean and cruising will be unsafe as NATO will then be involved. . 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Goosebear Mum

[Mitten5]

The US embassy in Cyprus just issued a warning to Americans there and ask that they enroll in the STEP program and stay away from all crowds.  Doesn’t sound to relaxing especially with two aircraft carriers floating around in the Eastern Mediterranean. We are canceling!!!

[edward77]

15 minutes ago, Mitten5 said:

The US embassy in Cyprus just issued a warning to Americans there and ask that they enroll in the STEP program and stay away from all crowds.  Doesn’t sound to relaxing especially with two aircraft carriers floating around in the Eastern Mediterranean. We are canceling!!!

Not surprised. I think a lot of the others thinking that everything is safe are delusional. Viking should do the right thing and cancel for the sake of safety and their reputation

[SJD117]

8 minutes ago, edward77 said:

Not surprised. I think a lot of the others thinking that everything is safe are delusional. Viking should do the right thing and cancel for the sake of safety and their reputation

 

If you truly believe that the revised cruise itinerary is unsafe, and that people arguing otherwise are “delusional,” then you might consider taking the initiative and canceling your own booking rather than waiting for Viking to cancel the entire cruise. Presumably you have insurance to cover any cancelation cost. And even if you have to absorb a financial hit, isn’t that a small price to pay in return for peace of mind?

[Mitten5]

It’s worth the $18,000 hit.  We have travel insurance up to $20,000 and it covers for terrorist attack but not declared War. Go figure any insurance person out there think we can fight this?  We always just thought we would need to cancel in case of sickness and we would be covered.  Any thoughts? We have been paying $550 a year for this at least 12 years for this coverage.  

[edward77]

13 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

 

If you truly believe that the revised cruise itinerary is unsafe, and that people arguing otherwise are “delusional,” then you might consider taking the initiative and canceling your own booking rather than waiting for Viking to cancel the entire cruise. Presumably you have insurance to cover any cancelation cost. And even if you have to absorb a financial hit, isn’t that a small price to pay in return for peace of mind?

Long done. Just voicing concerns as Viking has had their share of serious mishaps. You can not expect others to look out for you, you are in charge of that.

[Twitchly]

On 10/18/2023 at 3:52 PM, Thankfully1 said:

When you canceled did you say why?
 

Israel is the only reason I am on the cruise, set to said 11/28. I want to cancel. I have Vikings “cancel for any reason” travel policy. Did you get a credit when you cancelled ? I am thinking unless I am sick or injured it will be a credit to be used within a year. 

I don’t think we had to give a reason back then. Viking was still operating under pandemic rules, which have likely changed. We got vouchers that had to be used within a period of time.

[edward77]

2 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

I don’t think we had to give a reason back then. Viking was still operating under pandemic rules, which have likely changed. We got vouchers that had to be used within a period of time.

They should take charge and refund fully, no vouchers. We will see how Viking handles this. If they understand the lifetime value of a customer, they will refund!

[SJD117]

4 minutes ago, edward77 said:

Long done. Just voicing concerns as Viking has had their share of serious mishaps. You can not expect others to look out for you, you are in charge of that.

Your post #107, made a few hours ago, suggested you were still booked on the November 22 cruise rather than “long done.” You wrote that you asked Viking for a full refund, not that you had canceled.

[Mitten5]

We get ZERO back from them!! They wouldn’t even let us transfer monies to another cruise, which would have been $4000 more. We did not have there insurance we had a different  insurance that didn’t cover for declared war! This would have been our 3rd cruise THIS YEAR with Viking.  We were trying to catch up on our travel because of 2 years no Covid travel.

[edward77]

7 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

Your post #107, made a few hours ago, suggested you were still booked on the November 22 cruise rather than “long done.” You wrote that you asked Viking for a full refund, not that you had canceled.

asked for refound 2 weeks ago, cancelled today. If they sail there will not be many on the ship

[Alison48]

17 minutes ago, Mitten5 said:

It’s worth the $18,000 hit.  We have travel insurance up to $20,000 and it covers for terrorist attack but not declared War. Go figure any insurance person out there think we can fight this?  We always just thought we would need to cancel in case of sickness and we would be covered.  Any thoughts? We have been paying $550 a year for this at least 12 years for this coverag e.

 

Yes, we would lose our money, too.  Terrorism covered, but not WAR??? Obviously, a policy designed by a man, ROFLOL. 

[millybess]

10 minutes ago, edward77 said:

They should take charge and refund fully, no vouchers. We will see how Viking handles this. If they understand the lifetime value of a customer, they will refund!

If they refunded everyone who perceived x, y & z about their upcoming cruise, they wouldn't be in business.  

 

For example, we are going on an Amazon cruise.  The Amazon is experiencing a major drought right now that might well have an effect on our cruise.  If we had known that would happen, we probably wouldn't have booked it.  Do we expect a refund if they can't get to the Amazon -- NO!  Do we expect them to cancel the Amazon cruise if they can't get to the Amazon -- NO!  Re-read the Terms & Conditions .

 

In our case, we're happy to embark and see what alternate plans they have made for us, if that is necessary.  All of this is just part of the experience of travelling, and your perception of the "danger" or of not being able to knock an item off your "bucket list", is very different from someone else's.  So you are calling for them to cancel a cruise that others want to take.