Oceania Cancelling All Turkey Ports 2016

[RJB]

There is no one stopping you from going and telling you what to do.

Equally Oceania and others are making their decision

Pretty simple.

Big difference is you are making that decision for one or two people and Oceania has to make it for thousands. They better be right when they go to a country that has had prior terror attacks in tourist areas. They have a duty to all the passengers to do their best keep them safe :):)

[macintx]

I understand the switch, but I don't understand how they can hold $500 of our deposit "for future use on an Oceania cruise within the next year" if we decide to cancel, and not refund all of it if requested. It was their decision to make the change, which doesn't work for us since we have no desire to visit most of the new places they have offered. Plus we are not comfortable staying in Istanbul and flying to Athens on our own (we had the pre-cruise hotel arranged through Oceania,) and switching our business class air to

Athens would be about $1,500 more a person, so that is not feasible either. It's bad enough I'm paying a $300 per ticket penalty to cancel my Istanbul flights. I think we should get our entire deposit back, especially since my traveling companion is 80 years old, and we have no idea how her health will be in a year. Also, I checked my trip insurance, and the fine print says that if the cruise line offers an alternative, it's not covered.

[titong]

I understand the switch, but I don't understand how they can hold $500 of our deposit "for future use on an Oceania cruise within the next year" if we decide to cancel, and not refund all of it if requested. It was their decision to make the change, which doesn't work for us since we have no desire to visit most of the new places they have offered. Plus we are not comfortable staying in Istanbul and flying to Athens on our own (we had the pre-cruise hotel arranged through Oceania,) and switching our business class air to

Athens would be about $1,500 more a person, so that is not feasible either. It's bad enough I'm paying a $300 per ticket penalty to cancel my Istanbul flights. I think we should get our entire deposit back, especially since my traveling companion is 80 years old, and we have no idea how her health will be in a year. Also, I checked my trip insurance, and the fine print says that if the cruise line offers an alternative, it's not covered.

 

Which airline are you using? Have you asked them if they will waive the penalty? I notice that one poster stated he was flying on Delta, and that they waived the penalty because of the circumstances.

[sammiedawg]

Definitely check with the airline, there may be special circumstances since safety is a big issue. Don't wait, call now.

Five or six years ago friends were booked on Delta to Cairo in first class. Then the revolution occurred and cancelation penalties were waived for Egypt.

[cruisemom42]

Definitely check with the airline, there may be special circumstances since safety is a big issue. Don't wait, call now.

Five or six years ago friends were booked on Delta to Cairo in first class. Then the revolution occurred and cancelation penalties were waived for Egypt.

 

I sincerely doubt the airlines would waive penalties due to safety reasons, absent any official government warning not to travel to Turkey. Whether they would due to Oceania's rescheduling seems pretty doubtful as well, but who knows....

[petcoke]

While I can totally understand cancelling ports in Turkey off which we had 1booked. It is not only Turkey ports that are being cancelled we where on ATHENS to BARCELONA on 9th Oct for which we had flights booked and will loose money. It is now from ROME to BARCELONA and not even docking at the same time, so at least we could have used 1 flight . OCEANIAS response changed as a knock on effect, we apologise for any disappointment

[bitob]

I sincerely doubt the airlines would waive penalties due to safety reasons, absent any official government warning not to travel to Turkey. Whether they would due to Oceania's rescheduling seems pretty doubtful as well, but who knows....

 

 

Supervisors can and do break the rules all the time. Helps if you have status on the airline.

[pinotlover]

Something for many to consider. A friend of mine has told me he couldn't get any deals on changing his tickets to the new port. However, he was on a United Chicago to Frankfort - Frankfort to Istanbul (Air Turkey) ticket. He found a very inexpensive ticket on Air Turkey from Istanbul to Athens (new port) with good connections and plenty of time to make it to the ship. He'll still clear customs in Frankfort, and now his bags will then be sent all the way through to Athens. He said similar, < than $100 each, tickets where available to Rome as well from Istanbul. He booked the tickets and is calling Oceania tomorrow, Monday, to negotiate with them on crediting him back the cost of those ticket prices. We'll see!

[rallydave]

Something for many to consider. A friend of mine has told me he couldn't get any deals on changing his tickets to the new port. However, he was on a United Chicago to Frankfort - Frankfort to Istanbul (Air Turkey) ticket. He found a very inexpensive ticket on Air Turkey from Istanbul to Athens (new port) with good connections and plenty of time to make it to the ship. He'll still clear customs in Frankfort, and now his bags will then be sent all the way through to Athens. He said similar, < than $100 each, tickets where available to Rome as well from Istanbul. He booked the tickets and is calling Oceania tomorrow, Monday, to negotiate with them on crediting him back the cost of those ticket prices. We'll see!

 

In addition, people on other flights on other airlines into Istanbul can also book the Turkish Airways flights to Athens or Rome simply by purchasing the one way thicket from Istanbul. They will need to check to see if their airline has an interline agreement with Turkish and if so then simply show the agent at your boarding city your boarding pass for Istanbul to Rome or Athens and their luggage can be checked thru as well.

 

If no interline agreement, they will need to pick up their luggage in Istanbul and take it to the Turkish checkin counter before heading for their gate. In this case they will need extra time for the Istanbul connection in order to check their luggage thru.

 

Another possible problem is those flying in the day of embarkation who may not have time to go thru Istanbul and then backtrack to Rome or Athens. For those who are having their disembarkation changed from Istanbul to Athens or Rome, they simply need to do the above in reverse to get to Istanbul for their already booked flights.

 

Goo luck with getting the reimbursement from Oceania however even without the reimbursement which should be provided, this is a small price to pay in order to not have to cancel and lose more money.

[S2000ap1]

I think Oceania are stuck between a bit of a rock and hard place here especially with the cost that cancelling pots will incur both directly and for any costs they might pick up from passengers who might be able to claim compensation , also I am sure for them changing flights etc will have a cost, so who should bare these costs I am not sure .

 

I personally would have no problem going to Turkey I doubt there is more risk there than many other places around the world , in deed including London , where I travel to and around daily , I fully expect some thing to happen here soon . In Turkey I for sure would not join any form of group for tourist activities as this is like waving a flag saying here we are , target , but to wander around I would feel safe and indeed. Did last year in Fetehya where ones faith in the human race was restored when one of our friends dropped a 10 euro note in a shop and the shop keeper rushed around town to find her and return the money ! Not many places where that would happen .

 

Also I think there is a wider picture here , one needs to man up and face these people , except a bit of risk and show we wil not be intimidated , life is dangerous and to be honest if you do a bit of risk assessment and I would think the ship is more likely to sink than some one getting blown up on a cruise.

 

Just my thoughts , shame really we couldn't go to Tunisia last year due to the problem on one beach in one Hotel .

 

Maybe I my views are not the norm

[PaulMCO]

Those that have TA's should get their TA's to do your lobbying.

Certainly O paying for change fee's is not out of the realm. They have done so before in the past.

 

Dave's suggestion is a good one by buying a one-way bridge ticket back to/from Istanbul. Either Turkish or Aegean (if Athens) are good choices and fairly inexpensive. Just checked for our flights and it was $150 pp. Both are *A carriers.

 

 

Also I think there is a wider picture here , one needs to man up and face these people , except a bit of risk and show we wil not be intimidated , life is dangerous and to be honest if you do a bit of risk assessment and I would think the ship is more likely to sink than some one getting blown up on a cruise.

 

Maybe I my views are not the norm

 

+1

Edited January 24, 2016 by PaulMCO

[azam71209]

For those of you who may have travel insurance and decide to switch to a different trip entirely-

 

We have twice done that with Travelguard. You just go into their system and put in the new departure dates and costs and it works fine. We switched a land trip to Japan (tsunami) to a Greek Islands cruise with different dates. We also switched a Central America trip for an Alaska cruise six months later. No problem with that either. If the new trip costs less, you will probably get a credit but no refund. Did have to pay change fees with the airlines where we did not use included air. But that's one of those things when you don't use included air.

 

Mary

[beachmudhut]

..If no interline agreement, they will need to pick up their luggage in Istanbul and take it to the Turkish checkin counter before heading for their gate. In this case they will need extra time for the Istanbul connection in order to check their luggage thru...

 

Rallydave.. Just a thought. If you needed to collect your luggage and check in again for a separate flight, wouldn't this involve going through immigration first and thus the requirement to produce a valid visa for entry into Turkey?

[rallydave]

..If no interline agreement, they will need to pick up their luggage in Istanbul and take it to the Turkish checkin counter before heading for their gate. In this case they will need extra time for the Istanbul connection in order to check their luggage thru...

 

Rallydave.. Just a thought. If you needed to collect your luggage and check in again for a separate flight, wouldn't this involve going through immigration first and thus the requirement to produce a valid visa for entry into Turkey?

 

A very valid concern. I really don't know. So far I've never changed planes outside of the US and Canada and in both places, no transit passengers as they have in Europe and always have to go thru immigration, pick up luggage and either put back on the conveyor when exiting customs or taking the luggage to the desk for check-in.

 

Actually I semi covered this eventuality when I said you would need more time between flights to recheck luggage. With your comment would need even more time due to customs/immigration plus the need for the Visa to go thru immigration. Luckily, that is an electronic visa and not real costly, I believe.

 

So, yes, more possible delays and a little more cost but, still would save the vacation and not add a lot of cost.

 

Thanks for bringing that up, a very valid point.

[macintx]

Our tickets were on American. They would not waive the penalty for cancelling. I'm sure it doesn't help that I have no frequent flyer status with them. So, I just think that because of the added expenses incurred, Oceania should refund our entire deposit and not hold onto $500 of it. For some people, this switch is manageable, but in our case it is not.

[mswoody50]

At least we know that Oceania did not wait to final pay to cancel these ports. I never believed that they only waited to cancel to keep people from canceling. They did the right thing as soon as they knew that was what they had to do.

 

We booked this tour when on Oceania June 2015. We had to pay in full by 22 Jan 2016. I could change or alter our reservation up to that date. What did Oceania do, change itenary 23 Jan 2016. Without even mentioning to us on the day that the cruise had been changed. Today, we still have not been advised of any changes, on found out when B.I.L was doing a search for a future cruise. Think it certainly is not fair on Oceanias part, not to inform guests directly.

Robyn

[RJB]

We booked this tour when on Oceania June 2015. We had to pay in full by 22 Jan 2016. I could change or alter our reservation up to that date. What did Oceania do, change itenary 23 Jan 2016. Without even mentioning to us on the day that the cruise had been changed. Today, we still have not been advised of any changes, on found out when B.I.L was doing a search for a future cruise. Think it certainly is not fair on Oceanias part, not to inform guests directly.

Robyn

From looking it seems to me that the vast majority of the canceled ports were way before final pay. You may be one of the few that got caught. Oceania should do something for you. Hope you have a good TA. Good Luck.

[PaulMCO]

We booked this tour when on Oceania June 2015. We had to pay in full by 22 Jan 2016. I could change or alter our reservation up to that date. What did Oceania do, change itenary 23 Jan 2016. Without even mentioning to us on the day that the cruise had been changed. Today, we still have not been advised of any changes, on found out when B.I.L was doing a search for a future cruise. Think it certainly is not fair on Oceanias part, not to inform guests directly.

Robyn

 

They actually changed it on the 22nd.

Our cruise begins on the 24 March and we have not been officially notified yet nor has our TA. This is the only compensation being offered if you are in the penalty phase and would like to cancel (at least for our cruise)

 

"If this new itinerary is no longer suitable for any reason, guests that cancel by February 5, 2016 will receive a future cruise credit for the value of their cancellation penalty valid for any new 2016 cruise commencing no later than December 31, 2016. The future cruise credit may only be applied towards the cruise fare. "

[ggglo]

We are on the same cruise as you. oceania refuses to do anything for us. We have business class tickets from Istanbul to Miami (bought ourselves before Oceania came out with special fare.). We just bought tickets from Athens to Istanbul (business class so we can bring all our luggage.). Insurance will not cover this expense either!😰

[pinotlover]

Was talking to my TA this morning about a different cruise we're going on, and this topic came up. She does a lot of Oceania business and gave an interesting new twist. Seems that many of her customers, like ggglo about had bought their own tickets early, both before Oceania's 270 day period and before they announced the air specials. She said it appears obvious that Oceania went to the airlines and booked up all the air changes for their air customers, before they made the schedule announcements. Some of her customers are having problems even finding airline seats now without expensive changes and/or additional nights added on!

[PaulMCO]

We are on the same cruise as you. oceania refuses to do anything for us. We have business class tickets from Istanbul to Miami (bought ourselves before Oceania came out with special fare.). We just bought tickets from Athens to Istanbul (business class so we can bring all our luggage.). Insurance will not cover this expense either!😰

 

We did something similar. We were planning on returning thru London using Virgin FF miles. I had booked Turkish Air business (for the extra Luggage and carry on) to London. Friday I scrambled to get an Aegean flight -- did manage to snare the last cheap business seat on the 29th. Will Overnight in Athens. I still have a prepaid private tour that I am out 300 Euros for in Istanbul.

 

The idea that O just suddenly made a decision is quite absurd. They had to preplan the new ports stops, prepare a press release and load new itineraries on the WEB. That takes time. I had called about my Turkish Visa (not being received or acknowledged) on the 15th and was given a run around.

[makai 7]

"Our cruise begins on the 24 March and we have not been officially notified yet nor has our TA. This is the only compensation being offered if you are in the penalty phase and would like to cancel (at least for our cruise)"

 

Wow - this seems really strange as our TA received an email Thursday, January 21, 2016 3:47 PM (that is the date/time on her email, and she is on the West Coast) - and then she forwarded it to us - we received it 7:21pm our time (east coast).

 

I would assume that all TAs would have received the email on the same date/time. Ours is a partner of some sort with Oceania, but I wouldn't think they would get exclusively notified about something this significant.

 

We just saw that flights are now booked from Athens so we assume we will get our actual details in the next 24 hours or so. They also are in process of refunding Turkish visas, tours, and post-cruise packages. I am sure it is a total mess in their offices right now.

[piscean]

From looking it seems to me that the vast majority of the canceled ports were way before final pay. You may be one of the few that got caught. Oceania should do something for you. Hope you have a good TA. Good Luck.

 

I've just paid my balance for our April cruise! I have another on Nautica in September so I wouldn't want to book another in 2016 (even if they let me!)

Celebrity cancelled Istanbul because the port is under construction and there would be fewer berths!

[TravelingAngel]

.

 

The idea that O just suddenly made a decision is quite absurd. They had to preplan the new ports stops, prepare a press release and load new itineraries on the WEB. That takes time. I had called about my Turkish Visa (not being received or acknowledged) on the 15th and was given a run around.

 

Our trip was for Oct 22 - Nov1, Rome to Istanbul on the Nautica. I heard that Oceania was cancelling all stops in Turkey so figured I would be notified so I could choose another sailing.

 

I was not notified by Oceania, or by my TA. I heard through a tour operator that I had booked in Turkey that the tour was cancelled because Oceania wasn't stopping there in 2016! I checked my booked cruises and saw that Oceania had changed my cruise to Rome to Athens, keeping the same booking number. I find this completely unacceptable!

 

First of all, I have no desire to go to Athens because I've been there and I really wanted to go Turkey - Ephesus and Istanbul were the reasons we booked this cruise. I understand Oceania cancelling ports of call in Turkey, better safe than sorry and all that, but the least it could have done was notified its passengers of the change and find out what their passengers would like to do. There are still quite a few itineraries that we haven't done and would have been happy to choose one.

 

I can understand that changing cruises can get complicated. All Oceania did was change a couple of ports of call, and kept everyone who had booked the original cruise in the same cabin - no big deal. It is more complicated when people want to change itineraries, like we do. We now prefer the Monte Carlo to Lisbon itinerary because it too has several ports we've not been to and would love to see. This cruise leaves in June instead of October and is on the Riviera instead of the Nautica, so I suppose that entails a bit more work for Oceania. Luckily for us, we had not yet hit final payment day nor had we booked any air, so it really should not be a problem. Anyway, I've asked my TA to handle it and hopefully it will all work out.

 

But still - Oceania should have sent out an announcement to its passengers the minute they decided to cancel Turkish ports. That would have been the respectful way to treat its customers - that would have been good customer service.

[hawky]

"But still - Oceania should have sent out an announcement to its passengers the minute they decided to cancel Turkish ports. That would have been the respectful way to treat its customers - that would have been good customer service."

 

Until you get your letter, here is the pertinent part of mine:

 

Please note, for those guests who have made their air arrangements through Oceania Cruises, new flights will be confirmed. Guests with previously confirmed air deviation arrangements will, at no additional charge, be provided a new air deviation if required. Guests with pre- or post-cruise transfers with Oceania Cruises will be re-accommodated.

Any Turkish visa, hotel and/or land program booked through Oceania Cruises will be canceled and refunded to the credit card on file. Shore excursions previously reserved for the ports that have changed will be canceled and refunded where applicable. Note, shore excursions for our new ports of call will be made available for viewing and purchase through our website within the next few days or by contacting our call center. In addition, guests will retain the amenities and promotions of their current reservation.

If this new itinerary is no longer suitable for any reason, guests may choose to cancel this voyage by February 5, 2016. A full refund will be processed.

For questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your travel or the Oceania Cruises call center.

Warmest Regards,

Oceania Cruises

 

Edited January 25, 2016 by hawky