Istanbul cancelled, substituted with...Haifa?

We just got a call from our TA regarding our July '16 Navigator sailing from Barcelona to Istanbul. He told us that our itinerary had been 'significantly' modified. Wow, was THAT an understatement...

Ports and dates on the front half of the cruise were moved around a bit, but the entire second half of the trip was changed completely...

It was originally sailing from:

Barcelona to

Marseille to

Monte Carlo to

Livorno to

Rome to

Amalfi to

Taormina to sea day to

Santorini to

Volos to

Thessaloniki to

Istanbul.

Now it's:

Barcelona to

Palma de Mallorca to sea day to

Rome to

Sorrento to

Taormina to

Valletta to sea day to

Heraklion to

Rhodes to

Limassol to

Jerusalem (2 days).

I mean, it's an entirely different cruise. My first thought was that fears of violence in Turkey were driving this, but there are still a lot of cruises going to Istanbul. I haven't had a chance to call my TA yet, but has anyone had any experience with a schedule change this drastic? My wife and I are still interested in going; it looks like a great itinerary as well, but we ARE missing a few things we really wanted to do in the original itinerary. I just thought it was interesting that we'd pass on Istanbul and substitute Haifa...I don't really see where one is any more dangerous than the other...

Thoughts?

I saw this yesterday while on the RSSC web site. We are boarding the Voyager in a few weeks and were planning to book that cruise and now are glad we learned of the changes before we had done so. I'm not sure why the huge change but I know we are not interested in the new itinerary and are happy that we had not booked because for us one of the highlights was to be able to spend a few days in Istanbul at the end of the cruise.

gnomie :)

Gnomie,

We were also looking forward to spending a few days post-cruise in Istanbul; it's one of my wife's favorite cities. Another huge plus was one of the excursions in Rome, the Papal Visit, which fell on our anniversary. Not too crazy about the changes, but visiting Jerusalem is definitely on our bucket list, so...

But looking a bit deeper, I don't think it's a fear of terrorism or anything - Regent has numerous cruises after this one still visiting Istanbul. Not sure what drove this change.

Weird.

IMO these are both good itineraries. My concern about Haifa is the distance from there to almost anywhere the excursions visit. Most excursions are 10-12 hours. You mentioned two days in Haifa..... does that mean one full day and you depart the ship the next or two full days prior the end of the cruise?

Another thing to consider is the airport that you will be flying out of. The airport in Jerusalem is approximately 100 miles from Haifa while the airport in Tel Aviv is around 60 miles. In my opinion, it is a good idea to use Regent Air so that it will include transportation to the airport.

Agree with you that security was probably not an issue in changing this itinerary. This reminds me of a Baltic cruise that was completely changed around for no obvious reason.

TC2, not 100% sure yet - the Regent website shows us arriving in Haifa at 6:00 AM on Sunday July 24th and also shows us in port on Monday the 25th. We had arranged for an additional day in Istanbul on our original booking so I'll need to see how it matches up now.

I like the way they say "Jerusalem (Haifa)" the same way they say "Rome (Civitavecchia)" like they're the same place. :)

We usually use Regent air, so transfers shouldn't be a problem. We need to work out where we'd be staying/flying out of before we make any final decisions, but so far I think I can live with these changes. Not thrilled about them, mind you, but it ain't the end of the world. :p

Wow, that is a very major change. I hope they are giving full refunds of deposits (without penalty) to anyone who wants to cancel with that much of a change.

Wow, that is a very major change. I hope they are giving full refunds of deposits (without penalty) to anyone who wants to cancel with that much of a change.

Haven't called Regent yet, have been playing phone-tag with my TA...not sure what the options are at this point.

TC is right, sometimes they change for no discernable reason. A Baltic cruise we were anxious to take turned into the British Isles. The rest of the summer Baltics were not changed. Didn't matter health reasons canceled the trip anyway:(

 

Another thing to consider is the airport that you will be flying out of. The airport in Jerusalem is approximately 100 miles from Haifa while the airport in Tel Aviv is around 60 miles. In my opinion, it is a good idea to use Regent Air so that it will include transportation to the airport.

 

.

There is no airport in Jerusalem - the major international airport for Israel is the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv where the majority of international flights arrive and depart Israel. There is a small airport in Haifa for puddle jumpers but I doubt that Regent will use it for transfer to Tel Aviv, in all probability they will use a coach to Tel Aviv which should take just over one hour, depending on traffic.

gnomie:)

In my opinion, it is a good idea to use Regent Air so that it will include transportation to the airport.

The last time Regent arranged an airport transfer for us, our driver showed up in a Porsche Panamera. THAT was a fun drive to the airport...but the driver wouldn't let me drive, which was a bit of a buzzkill. I'd have probably gotten us there faster...or at least gotten us lost faster...

Gnomie,

 

We were also looking forward to spending a few days post-cruise in Istanbul; it's one of my wife's favorite cities. Another huge plus was one of the excursions in Rome, the Papal Visit, which fell on our anniversary. Not too crazy about the changes, but visiting Jerusalem is definitely on our bucket list, so...

 

But looking a bit deeper, I don't think it's a fear of terrorism or anything - Regent has numerous cruises after this one still visiting Istanbul. Not sure what drove this change.

 

Weird.

One of the features that attracted us to this particular cruise was the opportunity for the Papal visit, which we would consider a once in a life time opportunity.

We are already scheduled for a cruise from Haifa later on in 2016 so really don't want to go there twice - we are really bummed because that was the only Regent cruise for summer 2016 that interested us - back to the drawing board.

gnomie :)

The last time Regent arranged an airport transfer for us, our driver showed up in a Porsche Panamera. THAT was a fun drive to the airport...but the driver wouldn't let me drive, which was a bit of a buzzkill. I'd have probably gotten us there faster...or at least gotten us lost faster...

Wow - we would have loved that transfer (even if we couldn't drive);)

I stand corrected regarding an airport in Jerusalem - obviously we have not flown into or out of Israel - preferring to visit by ship (mid-cruise).

If you have enough time to do at least two one-day excursions out of Haifa, you should really enjoy your trip. On the other hand, you could use Regent's transfer to the airport and get a hotel nearby so you can do excursions with a reputable tour company on your own for a couple of days. This may be a better way to go since Jerusalem is only 35 miles away from the airport.

Really think that you would enjoy Israel - there is so much to see and so much history there. At the present time, Israel is a much easier and safer (at least it feels safer) place to visit than Egypt.

Unfortunately, missing Volos means missing Meteora - a spectacular place to visit !!!

Oh, there's no doubt we'd love Israel - it's on our bucket list. The plus for this itinerary (im my opinion) is that it's not loaded with other Middle Eastern ports. As much as I love to travel, I also love to come home - and there are some ports that make me feel that's not a guarantee. So doing Crete and Cypress and then heading straight to Israel is a win-win in my book.

I just figure that I'll whine about it so maybe Regent will feel sorry for me and comp me some OBC or something... ;)

I haven't had a chance to call my TA yet, but has anyone had any experience with a schedule change this drastic?

 

Thoughts?

My first Radisson booking on Navigator itinerary was changed from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles to Lima. :eek:

Talked to TA who was able to get us a good deal switching to Mariner in Caribbean. For some reason, Radisson was surprised that we didn't want to stay on the Navigator. :confused:

Marc

My first Radisson booking on Navigator itinerary was changed from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles to Lima. :eek:

 

Talked to TA who was able to get us a good deal switching to Mariner in Caribbean. For some reason, Radisson was surprised that we didn't want to stay on the Navigator. :confused:

 

Marc

Wow - that is quite the change. I mean, Lima is probably nice and all, but seriously? Makes changing Istanbul to Haifa seem downright logical! :rolleyes:

We received the 2016 brochure in our mail today and "Mediterranean Romance" on the 13 July is listed as Barcelona to Istanbul - yet the port listing is the revised Barcelona to Jerusalem and the cruise (and the following one) are flagged as "New Release sailing" with no maps shown. The departure on the 26th August has also been adjusted, but as I don't have the original itinerary I can't say how.

Those three departures appear to be the only cruises affected. I wonder why?