Why doesn't RCCL have an official statement on the Athens unrest?

[BklynBorn47]

Originally Posted by akcruz

And that is because most of us on this board take resposibility for ourselves, not sit around waiting for someone else to tell us what we can and cannot do.

 

....

 

It appears that personal responsibility is becoming a thing of past :(

 

 

That may be true in many instances, but this situation is different. As someone who always takes responsibility, plans ahead and researches private tours and DIY itineraries, after I've paid a company for a cruise I would expect some guidance when the posted itinerary is likely to change.

 

We were in Athens on June 22nd and visited the square where the demonstrations take place. Got great pictures of the protest signs, but all was peaceful on that day.

[steamboats]

I would expect some guidance when the posted itinerary is likely to change.

 

The passengers got this guidance onboard! There hasn´t been much of an announcement about the strike and the change of the itinerary was short term. So do you check out the RCI website for some guidance while you´re onboard???

 

steamboats

[Paulxyz2004]

That may be true in many instances, but this situation is different. As someone who always takes responsibility, plans ahead and researches private tours and DIY itineraries, after I've paid a company for a cruise I would expect some guidance when the posted itinerary is likely to change.

 

We were in Athens on June 22nd and visited the square where the demonstrations take place. Got great pictures of the protest signs, but all was peaceful on that day.

 

I have highlighted the important part here. The key word is "when it´s likely to change". As of today or even as of last Tuesday when this thread was started, the itinerary of next weeks cruise was probably not likely to change. So there was no notice on RCI´s website.

It´s simply like this, that at this point there is no reason to toally give up Athens as a port and potential unrest in Athens is short living and on rather short notice. So nobody knows today if there´s some kind of unrest next Wednesday.

[Reijo]

Gospelle, I do agree with you. I've been to Athens and it's a LOONNNGGG way from home. I would like to know what's going on in a foreign port when planning a trip there. I was in Israel in 2000, left for Egypt (leaving luggage in our hotel since we planned to return to Israel) and while in Egypt the fighting broke out on the Temple Mount. Talk about not being able to get any info!!!! We were totally in the dark. RCCL can at least post updates on their website telling what their plans will be IF the port has to be cancelled. It's all about just keeping people updated as to what their changes could be!

[wantocruisemore]

We just returned from out July 3-10 cruise onboard the Navigator. We stopped in Athens on July 6th. The ship announced the night before that a taxi strike had just been called and for people who planned to take taxis to make alternative arrangements. We had Nikos and PrivateGreeceTours lined up so it did not effect us. He said there had been some unrest and ships had previously rerouted on the few days when it might not be safe to be there or when there was a port workers strike. The taxi strike was announced at the last minute. He had arranged ahead for 3 couples to have a taxi driver each and after the strike was called he arranged a quick tour for all 6 in a van with one of his drivers. Thanks to his quick actions those people's tours were fine.

 

We did not see any evidence of violence except for some red paint splattered on the ground at the Parliment bldg. The traffic was a little heavier that morning due to the taxi strike. Other than that, it seemed business as usual and Athens was great! We had a great all day tour with Nikos driving and Anna as our guide.

 

In our case the ship made announcements as soon as they found out. I understand people wanting to know ahead of time but sometimes the ships have to make last minute decisions and they cannot post all in advance. I agree with the earlier post which indicated you need to read ahead and be informed and not just wait for the cruise line to hand feed you. We were monitoring the Athens situation when we had internet pre-cruise in Rome and knew there might be the possibility of re-routing or flipflopping ports.

[SewCruise]

I was on Brilliance June 24 - July 6, with Athens as one of our ports of call.

 

Of course we knew before we ever left for the cruise that our calling in Athens could be affected by the protesting, and as a first-time cruiser not being familiar with how these things are handled I did have some honest moments of worry and concern. But at some point I think we just accepted that, given the fluid nature of events in the city, it was going to be a "wait and see" kind of thing.

 

My personal contingency plan was this: If we called in Athens I would assume it was safe to go about the day as planned. If we called in a different, unscheduled port instead of Athens, I would find a beautiful beach and a cold drink and somehow try to appreciate the fact that I was still vacationing in the freakin Mediterranean! If we had an extra sea day, I would drown my sorrows in overpriced Seattle's Best coffee and the Solarium hot tub.

 

Beginning a few days prior to our Athens stop, the captain regularly made ship-wide announcements that the situation was being closely monitored and that the safety of all passengers was of the highest priority. People onboard were curious about the ship's plans, but the overall atmosphere remained relaxed and I detected no sense of urgency or dissatisfaction with the company's communications with us.

 

Captain Henrik did not announce to passengers that we would indeed be calling in Athens on June 30 as scheduled until either late in the evening on June 29 or early the morning of the 30th. That detail has escaped me, but either way the decision was clearly made at the last minute, so there's really no way RCI could have made any sort of definitive advance statement regarding the port of call.

 

I felt the situation was handled perfectly fine by RCI, and we had a wonderful day in Athens.

[Gracie115]

We just returned from out July 3-10 cruise onboard the Navigator. We stopped in Athens on July 6th. The ship announced the night before that a taxi strike had just been called and for people who planned to take taxis to make alternative arrangements. We had Nikos and PrivateGreeceTours lined up so it did not effect us. He said there had been some unrest and ships had previously rerouted on the few days when it might not be safe to be there or when there was a port workers strike. The taxi strike was announced at the last minute. He had arranged ahead for 3 couples to have a taxi driver each and after the strike was called he arranged a quick tour for all 6 in a van with one of his drivers. Thanks to his quick actions those people's tours were fine.

 

We did not see any evidence of violence except for some red paint splattered on the ground at the Parliment bldg. The traffic was a little heavier that morning due to the taxi strike. Other than that, it seemed business as usual and Athens was great! We had a great all day tour with Nikos driving and Anna as our guide.

 

In our case the ship made announcements as soon as they found out. I understand people wanting to know ahead of time but sometimes the ships have to make last minute decisions and they cannot post all in advance. I agree with the earlier post which indicated you need to read ahead and be informed and not just wait for the cruise line to hand feed you. We were monitoring the Athens situation when we had internet pre-cruise in Rome and knew there might be the possibility of re-routing or flipflopping ports.

 

 

So nice to hear that Private Greece Tours took care of you, we have them booked for our Sept. cruise. Didn't you also stop at the castle on the way to the port in Rome? How was it? We have that tour booked also!

[akcruz]

I was on Brilliance June 24 - July 6, with Athens as one of our ports of call.

 

Of course we knew before we ever left for the cruise that our calling in Athens could be affected by the protesting, and as a first-time cruiser not being familiar with how these things are handled I did have some honest moments of worry and concern. But at some point I think we just accepted that, given the fluid nature of events in the city, it was going to be a "wait and see" kind of thing.

 

My personal contingency plan was this: If we called in Athens I would assume it was safe to go about the day as planned. If we called in a different, unscheduled port instead of Athens, I would find a beautiful beach and a cold drink and somehow try to appreciate the fact that I was still vacationing in the freakin Mediterranean! If we had an extra sea day, I would drown my sorrows in overpriced Seattle's Best coffee and the Solarium hot tub.

 

Beginning a few days prior to our Athens stop, the captain regularly made ship-wide announcements that the situation was being closely monitored and that the safety of all passengers was of the highest priority. People onboard were curious about the ship's plans, but the overall atmosphere remained relaxed and I detected no sense of urgency or dissatisfaction with the company's communications with us.

 

Captain Henrik did not announce to passengers that we would indeed be calling in Athens on June 30 as scheduled until either late in the evening on June 29 or early the morning of the 30th. That detail has escaped me, but either way the decision was clearly made at the last minute, so there's really no way RCI could have made any sort of definitive advance statement regarding the port of call.

 

I felt the situation was handled perfectly fine by RCI, and we had a wonderful day in Athens.

 

Thank you for such a wonderful, logical post!