Century being rerouted through Suez Canal April 2015

I just got off the phone with Celebrity future cruise sales.

I trip that was booked for Century in Asia is suddenly going through the Suez Canal.

I will now try and call up my reservation.

Other cruises on our back to back are not available for viewing

Suppose it's its funeral march to get to an X homebase to clear her of all the X stuff before passing on to new owners?

CELEBRITY CENTURY

05 APR 2015

15 NIGHT SUEZ CANAL CRUISE

Date

05 APR 06 APR 07 APR 08 APR 09 APR 10 APR 11 APR 12 APR

Port Location

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AT SEA

AT SEA

AT SEA

AT SEA AT SEA AT SEA AT SEA

Arrive Depart

6:00 PM

Date

13 APR 14 APR 15 APR 16 APR 17 APR 18 APR 19 APR 20 APR

Port Locaton

SUEZ CANAL (PASSAGE) JERUSALEM (ASHDOD), ISRAEL AT SEA

RHODES, GREECE

ATHENS (PIRAEUS), GREECE AT SEA

AT SEA

ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY

Depart

3:00 PM 10:00 PM

5:00 PM 8:00 PM

 

Arrive

3:00 AM 7:00 AM

8:00 AM 11:00 AM

5:00 AM

Just received my New Confirmation… Excuse the poor formatting...

I just got off the phone with Celebrity future cruise sales.

 

I trip that was booked for Century in Asia is suddenly going through the Suez Canal.

I will now try and call up my reservation.

Other cruises on our back to back are not available for viewing

I am very excited about this.

It is only the second time EVER that Celebrity will go to Dubai (I was on the Solstice the first time last year). I am booked B2B2B on the Century in early 2015 but will slip it out to sail from Singapore to Rome. WOW:)

As for Celebrity changing the itinerary, they do this ALL THE TIME. At least it is over a year in the future. We all knew that the Century was going to be sold after Celebrity severely cut back the dry dock. I am just happy that the sale is not until mid 2015:)

Just received my New Confirmation… Excuse the poor formatting...

Arno,

Can you post the itinerary for the two sailings prior to this?

Thanks.

I am very excited about this.

It is only the second time EVER that Celebrity will go to Dubai (I was on the Solstice the first time last year). I am booked B2B2B on the Century in early 2015 but will slip it out to sail from Singapore to Rome. WOW:)

 

As for Celebrity changing the itinerary, they do this ALL THE TIME. At least it is over a year in the future. We all knew that the Century was going to be sold after Celebrity severely cut back the dry dock. I am just happy that the sale is not until mid 2015:)

I need to jump on this one. I've been dying for an X itinerary with a Dubai call!

Waive at the Somali pirates when you go through the Horn of Africa!

I hate it that they cancelled our Around Japan cruise. X hasn't even informed us yet.

Waive at the Somali pirates when you go through the Horn of Africa!

When we were on the Solstice last year doing the reverse itinerary Celebrity had half a dozen hired military onboard in case there were any problems.

They also kept the exterior lights off and had us keep our blinds drawn at night.

Arno, if there's a possibility of a port call during the cruise(s) that could get me to Petra, I'd be all over it. The first one didn't seem to have any ports. ???

Suppose it's its funeral march to get to an X homebase to clear her of all the X stuff before passing on to new owners?

Except the X on the stack -- they usually just paint over it :)

The website for Suez sailing is now up..

Just booked Singapore to Dubai - great price!

When we were on the Solstice last year doing the reverse itinerary Celebrity had half a dozen hired military onboard in case there were any problems.

 

They also kept the exterior lights off and had us keep our blinds drawn at night.

Not only will there be the usual Muster drill, there may be a Safe Haven drill as well where you practise finding a spot in the hallways or stairwells.

If I don't set an alarm for a wake up call, often the vacuuming in the hallway will interrupt my slumber. On Azamara with that similar itinerary, it was a helicopter doing a buzz around the ship to ensure all was well. :eek:

Hopefully, you will have an information meeting to help explain any out of the ordinary procedures.

Thanks,Arno ,for this info.

We all knew the ''via Suez Canal repo sailing'' was the only obvious choice to get her over to CDF.

I'm glad they're doing it as a revenue voyage.

It leads folks to presume the proper extended and all encompassing drydock necessary before the ''hand over'' to CDF would likely be Palermo, where she was extensively refitted in 2006...likely late April for ~~ 30+ days.

Now....my SIL lives in Dubai...and 2 other live in the UK.....now...if only I could parlay that into a Dubai-Rome sailing.....that would be beyond ''dream coming true...'':cool::)

Are you still freezing stiff in Chatham ? On the bright side, you're only a mere few weeks till your next B2B2B2B2B2B......:rolleyes:

Cheers

Claude

G'day.

Interesting movements going on here ..:confused:

We too were on the Solstice repo itinerary, from Barcelona to Sydney last year, and thoroughly enjoyed the trip southbound..

Maybe some folks on this board are unaware that RCL Rhapsody O.S. is also being sent to the Med, and basically has the same itinerary as above.. Rhapsody, however leaves Sydney AU on April 17th 2015, and finishes in Istanbul on 1st June 2015..

That itinerary was released a couple of weeks back... And we jumped on that one :D (From Singapore)

Sue and Phil.

.

I'm booked on Dubai to Rome!

So happy to hit one of my wish list cruises, and on an X ship to boot!

Interesting that she will be repositioned to Europe - that is an indication that she will definitely be not deployed in Alaska in 2015.

How sure is it that she will LEAVE the fleet? Than she must be transferred to her new owner in Europe.

Or is she maybe just doing Europe cruises for Celebrity, as a second ship which sails Med itineraries including Venice??? :confused:

The other ship which is very likely to sail Mediterranean itineraries with Venice in 2015 is CONSTELLATION.

Also a ship, which replaces CENTURY in Alaska is required - there I strongly assume that it will be INFINITY.

Thanks for the heads up on this. :)

Does anyone know if the X promo for 25 extra cruise points might apply to this itinerary (if booked by Dec. 31st) ?

Thanks for the heads up on this. :)

Does anyone know if the X promo for 25 extra cruise points might apply to this itinerary (if booked by Dec. 31st) ?

Hi C-Dragons,

I'm not sure if it's included, but as I always say, it never hurts to ask ! Please keep in mind that the 25 point promo is for Aqua Class and above cabins.

Thanks for the heads up on this. :)

Does anyone know if the X promo for 25 extra cruise points might apply to this itinerary (if booked by Dec. 31st) ?

My TA said, no, it's only valid for sailing thru MARCH 2015. :-(

We're booked on the Dubai - Rome cruise and very much look forward to it.

I find it disappointing, that after 6 sea days the ship has to enter the Suez Canal at 2:00 a.m. As this is probably a main reason for most people booking this cruise can't they have the passage through the canal starting at a time where people could watch? The timing was just changed from 3:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.

Also you can't yet see or book any tours. I'd like to see what is on offer especially for Ashdod.

Do you expect any special things on this last cruise under the X flag? And how will the checkout be at Rome (arrival 5:00 a.m.) - will the ship be cleared in a haste to be pulled out to a dock for maintenance?

We're booked on the Dubai - Rome cruise and very much look forward to it.

 

Come join our roll call, you'll get far better responses there. Quite active already with lots of good information and one passenger keeping a very thorough website with all the particulars in order for the sailing.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1958631

Welcome to Crusie Critic, and look forward to meeting on board! :D

Thanks, cle-guy! I've just posted over there. Looking forward to meet everybody! BTW: do I know you from flyertalk?

We're booked on the Dubai - Rome cruise and very much look forward to it.

 

I find it disappointing, that after 6 sea days the ship has to enter the Suez Canal at 2:00 a.m. As this is probably a main reason for most people booking this cruise can't they have the passage through the canal starting at a time where people could watch? The timing was just changed from 3:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.

 

Also you can't yet see or book any tours. I'd like to see what is on offer especially for Ashdod.

 

Do you expect any special things on this last cruise under the X flag? And how will the checkout be at Rome (arrival 5:00 a.m.) - will the ship be cleared in a haste to be pulled out to a dock for maintenance?

It takes all day to pass through the Suez Canal and, believe me, you will see plenty of it during that day. I doubt that Celebrity have any say is what time slot they are allocated. All shipping passes through the Canal in convoy.