Crystal Cruises cancels Istanbul and Turkish Ports - Will Seabourn do the same?

[BrisbaneGran]

I am perfectly happy to visit the Turkish ports, however, if they are going to make changes they need to do it sooner rather than later so those of us without Seabourn air can get sorted.

 

That is my main worry too. We don't arrive in Istanbul till May 7th. BUT will be boarding the Odyssey in about 16 days......if we have to change flights we NEED to do that BEFORE then! It is going to cost us anyway, as one flight is on Frequent Flyer points....don't think they will alter that one.....and the other one we will be charged an alteration fee of a few hundred dollars.

[pater15]

My wife and I have about 200 days on just SB. I just booked 14 days RT out of Athens (also having some problems) on 1/23. We did the Med just after the Gulf War on the Sea Goddess II, 43 passengers on board if my memory serves me, what a great trip!! We were also on planes shortly after the 9/11.

I am not saying we are some kind of thrill seekers. We plan and try to make sure we stay as safe as possible. I have traveled with people that were on the SB ship that was shot with the missile and they all were impressed with the crews responds to the attack. I have full confidence that they will evaluate the situation and will not put us in harms way. We refuse to let psychopathic extremist tell use were we can travel. We have worked to hard to be able to enjoy this level of travel!!

If they do cancel the Turkey ports, we love sea days.....Cheers

[Techno123]

Cancelling the ports is not a problem for me apart from Istanbul as flights are booked from there! Happy to go to Turkey, happy to not go to Turkey . They are probably considering their next move very carefully - cancel the ports and those who want to go to Turkey, especially Ephesus which is their jewel in the crown won't be happy and will cancel. Don't cancel the ports and those who are scared of the bombings will cancel.

Does anyone know whether Seabourn will offer any help with flights if they cancel Turkey very close to sailing? Maybe the Odyssey will sail us home :D

[BrisbaneGran]

Cancelling the ports is not a problem for me apart from Istanbul as flights are booked from there! Happy to go to Turkey, happy to not go to Turkey . They are probably considering their next move very carefully - cancel the ports and those who want to go to Turkey, especially Ephesus which is their jewel in the crown won't be happy and will cancel. Don't cancel the ports and those who are scared of the bombings will cancel.

Does anyone know whether Seabourn will offer any help with flights if they cancel Turkey very close to sailing? Maybe the Odyssey will sail us home :D

 

Completely agree Techno....cancelling the Ports, or not cancelling the Ports doesn't matter to us....BUT we NEED to know ~something~. Our flights out of Istanbul are fully paid, and we will be on the ship very soon. Will be extremely difficult trying to make changes to flights in the middle of the ocean!

[Chairsin]

I understand missing a port or having it changed for a less desirable can be disappointing but having your embarkation or disembarkation port changed causes big headaches for those of us who have already booked air. And frankly i wonder what port they would change to? We are doing a 14 day BTB IST-ATH-VCE. Maybe they would start us in VCE and substitute Croatian ports.? And Techno I somehow doubt they will offer help with the flights unless you booked them with Seabourn.

[BrisbaneGran]

I understand missing a port or having it changed for a less desirable can be disappointing but having your embarkation or disembarkation port changed causes big headaches for those of us who have already booked air. And frankly i wonder what port they would change to? We are doing a 14 day BTB IST-ATH-VCE. Maybe they would start us in VCE and substitute Croatian ports.? And Techno I somehow doubt they will offer help with the flights unless you booked them with Seabourn.

 

The easiest Port would probably be Athens, but with so many cruises already changing, that Port will be filling up fast!

[knot knormal]

I hate to break in but there are three of us over on the France ports of call board that want to know the tour operator Chairsin used in Marseille...thank you so much. We too will be there on a Sunday. Or you can e-mail me at whitejn at comcast dot com.

[Chairsin]

Haha! Knot knormal I feel like I am being cyber stalked. Too funny. Anyway, I just answered you on the France board. Feel free to ask more questions there.

 

BrisbaneGran, yes, Athens would be another option but would likely mean relating some ports. Guess I will have to be patient. It is clearly something out of our control. Once Seabourn makes a decision we will the determine what our plan of action will be.

[BrisbaneGran]

They are probably considering their next move very carefully - cancel the ports and those who want to go to Turkey, especially Ephesus which is their jewel in the crown won't be happy and will cancel. Don't cancel the ports and those who are scared of the bombings will cancel.

 

Again, that idea is fine, if you are outside the cancelling time zone! We are NOT, so have no choice in whether to cancel or not!

[Techno123]

I understand missing a port or having it changed for a less desirable can be disappointing but having your embarkation or disembarkation port changed causes big headaches for those of us who have already booked air. And frankly i wonder what port they would change to? We are doing a 14 day BTB IST-ATH-VCE. Maybe they would start us in VCE and substitute Croatian ports.? And Techno I somehow doubt they will offer help with the flights unless you booked them with Seabourn.

 

We are doing it the the other way round Venice - Athens - Istanbul. If I were at Seabourn head office I would probably keep Istanbul as the embarkation/disembarkation port but not offer any tours there - it then becomes an individual choice based on how risk averse you are.

Fly/sail in and go straight to the port/airport

Fly/sail in and go to your hotel for the night then to the port/airport

Fly/sail in - say to heck with the lot of you do your tours and enjoy Istanbul to its fullest

 

Athens is going to be very full and flights at a premium! The Greek islands don't have flights everywhere every day.

I would enjoy doing a bit more of Croatia or even Puglia in the heel of Italy.

[koalapanda]

Hey Techno 123 are you re organising our itinerary?;) We all know the Seabourn Gurus are watching our posts. Maybe we could make a wish here for alternative Ports if required.

Actually I hope changes don't happen as these little Turkish Ports are rarely seen on cruise itineraries. Istanbul is such a gem.We are hoping to do a foodie tour that we missed out on due to itinerary changes on a previous cruise.

Our feelings are that we must maintain our life style, continue doing what we love to do and not be intimidated.

As yet we have not booked any flights but can understand the anxiety of fellow cruisers contemplating having to make changes. We are staying positive all will be well. At the same time accepting that life can spring the unexpected at us anytime.

Thinking of all our US friends whom Mother Natures hand has you shivering.

[Techno123]

Hey Techno 123 are you re organising our itinerary?;)

Hi koalapanda

Got to keep those biking opportunities open :D

I completely agree we should stick with the original plan but .... if SB do decide to make changes it would be nice to look at some alternatives to just the Greek islands otherwise you guys doing the 21 day cruise could end up visiting the same places more than once.

[jakes47]

We had 4 Turkish ports on our original cruise - the reason we chose that itinerary. (Most of the other ports we had been to on previous cruises).

I must admit I wasn’t 100% comfortable but my husband had Turkey, including Gallipoli on his bucket list. After this last incident and when it was time to commit to our airfares we both decided that we need at bit more peace of mind. We changed cruise and tacked on some land based touring of Provence.

 

We are very much looking forward to our fist Seabourn cruise – Turkey will have to wait for another time.

[jakes47]

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=6769

[shedridt]

The line that this chat has gone off on is in no way representative of ANY cruise line I'd like to travel on, much less Seabourn.

 

This is the last line I'd have thought would be hijacked by such frivolous people who haven't really any interest in Seabourn as the wonderful line it's always been. What has happened here?

[koalapanda]

Hey Techno 123 are you re organising our itinerary?;)

Hi koalapanda

Got to keep those biking opportunities open :D

I completely agree we should stick with the original plan but .... if SB do decide to make changes it would be nice to look at some alternatives to just the Greek islands otherwise you guys doing the 21 day cruise could end up visiting the same places more than once.

 

You are correct Techno 123, Puglia sounds great love the regional cuisine. Two days at Patmos would be good for us. A sea day on Seabourn is lovely also .

[claudiaYVR]

Last year Seabourn pulled the Egyptian ports from our itinerary approximately 6 weeks prior to the cruise (they were not embarkation/disembarkation ports). I was crushed as Egypt was perhaps the most anticipated portion of that Middle East itinerary. The substitutions were fine, in fact we ended up going to Ephesus which was not on the original itinerary and what a treat that was.

 

I cannot argue with the cruiseline (or its insurers) logic of cancelling certain ports of call due to increased terrorist activities but I do believe that in most cases these cancellations are reactionary in nature and not necessarily preventative.

 

Anyways, we decided to change our outgoing flight to take us to Cairo (instead of our embarkation port in Mumbai) three days earlier than planned and organized a whirlwind tour of Cairo and Luxor pre-cruise. It was fabulous.

 

Later on, we asked one of the cruise lecturers (Egyptian born) what would he do in the circumstances and his advice was that if one decided to go to places with hightened alert for terrorism, it would be wise to arrange for private tours with a good, reputable local tour company. The goal is to stay as under the radar and as nimble as possible, i.e. don't attract undue attention with a large group of tourists and rely on your guide's ability to maneouver in and out of tourist attractions quickly.

 

I am NOT advising anyone to do as above, just stating what worked so well for us which that gentleman later confirmed. We all have to balance what we're comfortable with while not renouncing our dreams of visiting troubled areas of the world.

 

Whatever you do, safe travels and have a marvelous cruise.

[koalapanda]

Bravos to Donaldwolfmart and ClaudiaYVR, whilst our tongue in cheek banter re alternate Ports is diffusing.Our very humble opinion is as yours the itineraries should not change. Enjoy Istanbul as it is a very special Port. The Turkish people are most hospitable the history fascinating. I agree with Claudia low key excursions help us get to know the locals. It is the most informative way to learn about the culture as Visitors. Our stance is strong that we are respectful to all however our freedom will not be traded for fear.

Edited January 28, 2016 by koalapanda
compounding

[claudiaYVR]

Today Seabourn posted that they are officially counting down to its visits to Ephesus. I commented that by the looks of it SB wasn't planning on cancelling the Turkey ports of call and they replied that Turkey remains popular with its customers and that they are looking forward to visiting.

[Techno123]

That sounds promising

[Donaldwolfmart]

I fullfilly agree the Seabourn management team to not to pull off the Seabourn cruise lines from Turkish seaports as well as they are sideby side the Turkish tourism dealers and they encourage the travellers hoping to travel to Turkey and increase the numbers of travellers who wish to visit Turkey in the meantime.

I wish the other cruise line management staff can show the same sensitivity on tourism issues to encourage the tourists planning their future visits to European countries.

[Turk321]

A new bombing now in Istanbul. Any news on how Seabourn is responding.

[rols]

A new bombing now in Istanbul. Any news on how Seabourn is responding.

 

Nope, no news - we've been discussing this in the thread about Istanbul hotels. All of us currently booked on cruises into/out of Istanbul seem (to me at least) to be hoping Seabourn keeps the itineraries intact and we get to visit both Istanbul and the rest of the ports in Turkey.

[Chairsin]

I just sent an email to my TA to see if she can put out her feelers to Seabourn to get a sense of what, if anything, they are going to do in light of this recent tragic incident.

[Techno123]

Thoughts are with the people of Belgium today. It doesn't matter where you are, if it is the wrong time and place .....:(