Equinox still visiting Turkey?

[SandraA]

You have nothing to loose by contacting your airline and seeing if they will show some compassion in the circumstances...absolutely nothing to loose. Alternatively, rather than change flights totally there is also a possible alternative of still flying into Istanbul then getting a connecting flight added on to Athens, not ideal but may be cheaper.

 

Sincere best wishes, I hope you can manage to sort your flights.

 

Thanks. Yes we will speak with the airline if the agent doesn't have any joy. We disembark in Athens now instead of Istanbul but are booked to fly home from Istanbul. Yes we could purchase a flight from Athens to Istanbul and fly home as booked, but my preference is to avoid Istanbul altogether. We will see....

[BobbyD]

As of today, Reflection will still be calling at Bodrum and Kusadasi/Ephesus. Istanbul is ~400miles away. I am looking forward to our trip in August but I cannot deny a bit of apprehension. That will go away with my first drink on board!

[Xport]

After re-reading this verbiage, I think they are only switching beginning or ending a cruise from Istanbul to Athens but will still visit there as a port stop which seems really odd to me. Either you feel it's safe for passengers to be there or you don't. Hmmmm.

 

Celebrity cancelled all mid-cruise port calls in Istanbul this season--to the best of my knowledge, all or most were on Reflection--months ago and revised itineraries...

 

Yesterday's actions relate to this season's remaining cruises--aboard Equinox and Constellation--that were still scheduled to originate or end in Istanbul... The original itinerary for my 7 September cruise started with an onboard overnight in Istanbul but that overnight was cancelled months ago and, in my case, moved to cruise-end in Barcelona...

 

To the best of my knowledge, yesterday's actions have now eliminated all Celebrity presence in Istanbul during this year's Europe cruise season... It remains to be seen as to what action Celebrity takes/doesn't take relative to mid-cruise port calls at other Turkish ports like Kusadasi... At the moment, my sailing is still scheduled to port there on 9 September and is still scheduled to port at Athens--our new embarkation location; four days earlier--on 11 September... My Travel Agent believes that there may yet be further tweaks to our itinerary...

[jael001]

Official word on Celebrity's web site:

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/travel-alert

 

 

After re-reading this verbiage, I think they are only switching beginning or ending a cruise from Istanbul to Athens but will still visit there as a port stop which seems really odd to me. Either you feel it's safe for passengers to be there or you don't. Hmmmm.

 

Celebrity removed Istanbul as a port stop months ago already, so it's not an issue.

[DonnaMW]

Tell if I am wrong, but I looked up all the 2017 Med cruises, and not one stop in Turkey is listed for next season Thx

[Higgy64]

Ok... You're wrong Kusadisi is still listed on Reflection sailings throughout June 2017. I didn't check the other months, nor look for Bodrum, but I suspect it hasn't been dropped.

[SpookyGnome]

I had confirmation today of the itinerary and is as follows...

 

(Looks like we are off to Crete!)

 

7th Sept - Athens

8th Sept - At Sea

9th Sept - Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

10th Sept - Mykonos, Greece

11th Sept - Chania, Crete

12th Sept - At Sea

13th Sept - Dubrovnik, Croatia

14th Sept - Dubrovnik, Croatia

15th Sept - At Sea

16th Sept - Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

17th Sept - Florence / Pisa (Livorno),Italy

18th Sept - Nice (Villefranche)

19th Sept - Barcelona, Spain

20th Sept - Barcelona, Spain

 

Hope this helps...

[Lam8]

Celebrity cancelled all mid-cruise port calls in Istanbul this season--to the best of my knowledge, all or most were on Reflection--months ago and revised itineraries...

 

 

 

Yesterday's actions relate to this season's remaining cruises--aboard Equinox and Constellation--that were still scheduled to originate or end in Istanbul... The original itinerary for my 7 September cruise started with an onboard overnight in Istanbul but that overnight was cancelled months ago and, in my case, moved to cruise-end in Barcelona...

 

 

 

To the best of my knowledge, yesterday's actions have now eliminated all Celebrity presence in Istanbul during this year's Europe cruise season... It remains to be seen as to what action Celebrity takes/doesn't take relative to mid-cruise port calls at other Turkish ports like Kusadasi... At the moment, my sailing is still scheduled to port there on 9 September and is still scheduled to port at Athens--our new embarkation location; four days earlier--on 11 September... My Travel Agent believes that there may yet be further tweaks to our itinerary...

 

 

Athens has now been swooped with Crete for the mid cruise stop. Cheers

[Xport]

I had confirmation today of the itinerary and is as follows...

 

(Looks like we are off to Crete!)

 

7th Sept - Athens

8th Sept - At Sea

9th Sept - Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

10th Sept - Mykonos, Greece

11th Sept - Chania, Crete

12th Sept - At Sea

13th Sept - Dubrovnik, Croatia

14th Sept - Dubrovnik, Croatia

15th Sept - At Sea

16th Sept - Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

17th Sept - Florence / Pisa (Livorno),Italy

18th Sept - Nice (Villefranche)

19th Sept - Barcelona, Spain

20th Sept - Barcelona, Spain

 

Hope this helps...

 

Athens has now been swooped with Crete for the mid cruise stop. Cheers

 

Crete is new to me... Thanks so much for the scoop!

[DonnaMW]

Ok... You're wrong Kusadisi is still listed on Reflection sailings throughout June 2017. I didn't check the other months, nor look for Bodrum, but I suspect it hasn't been dropped.

 

Can you tell me that date in June and I can find it and was interested in next year. thanks

[Higgy64]

Hi Donna,

 

Reflection is visiting Kusadisi on the sailings that start on:

 

8th May ; 19th May ; 9th June ; 19th June ; 30th June ; 21st July ; 11th August ; 1st September ; 11th September ; 29th September.

 

All her other sailings go the other way in the Med, i.e. West from Rome.

[Plum Happy]

The Reflection cruise that I booked for next year (September 1,2017) has eliminated Ephesus, Turkey for the 3rd day on the cruise for Valletta, Malta. I was so looking forward to going there. So, I am going to assume that they have dropped Turkey altogether from their Greek Island tours, next year.:( With things the way they are now, security is a must and they have to adjust.

 

I noticed that someone received a email from Celebrity about this in the Connections forum that it was eliminated from the trip planned.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Plum Happy

[Higgy64]

Still showing on the website as visiting Ephesus - but given their IT track record that might not count for much

[DonnaMW]

Still showing on the website as visiting Ephesus - but given their IT track record that might not count for much

 

 

Schedule from the website no Ephesus Looks like they changed it. I guess they felt it was safer to just do it and see what happens next year. Been 8 years since my visit there and was looking forward to going again.

 

 

Fri Jun 30 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 4:00 PM

Sat Jul 1 Messina (Sicily), Italy 10:00 AM 7:00 PM

Sun Jul 2 Valletta, Malta 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Mon Jul 3 At Sea

Tue Jul 4 Mykonos, Greece 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

Wed Jul 5 Rhodes, Greece 7:30 AM 6:30 PM

Thu Jul 6 Santorini, Greece 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

Fri Jul 7 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 6:00 AM 6:00 PM

Sat Jul 8 At Sea

Sun Jul 9 Naples, Italy 7:00 AM 6:30 PM

 

 

 

Fri May 19 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 4:00 PM

Sat May 20 Messina (Sicily), Italy 10:00 AM 7:00 PM

Sun May 21 Valletta, Malta 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Mon May 22 At Sea

Tue May 23 Mykonos, Greece 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

Wed May 24 Rhodes, Greece 7:30 AM 6:30 PM

Thu May 25 Santorini, Greece 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

Fri May 26 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 6:00 AM 6:00 PM

Sat May 27 At Sea

Sun May 28 Naples, Italy 7:00 AM 6:30 PM

[Cruise Junky]

Athens has now been swooped with Crete for the mid cruise stop. Cheers

 

The sail out of Ćhania is spectacular. I think you did well to get Crete. We loved it.

[chemmo]

Crete is new to me... Thanks so much for the scoop!

 

Crete really is a lovely Island, if you are into history visit Knossos....

[Higgy64]

Excellent - the US and UK websites are now showing different itineraries for the same cruise.... well done Celebrity !

[Bluebury]

Being in the UK I access the UK site and that still shows the original itinerary when I looked earlier, even going out of Istanbul! We have changed our flights as our TA informed us of the change, can someone please confirm the actual route please.

 

Is it just out of Athens and then replacing a port stop in Athens with Souda?

 

Nothing else is thank you

 

Sharon

[Xport]

Being in the UK I access the UK site and that still shows the original itinerary when I looked earlier, even going out of Istanbul! We have changed our flights as our TA informed us of the change, can someone please confirm the actual route please.

 

Cruise origination has been moved from Istanbul to Athens with a 10:30 PM sail-away time... Our scheduled port call at Kusadasi--on 9 September--remains unchanged... And our originally scheduled intermediate port call at Athens--on 11 September--has been changed such that we will now visit Chania [souda], Crete [8:00 AM-6:00 PM]...

 

My Travel Agent was able to access a revised Celebrity invoice--reflective of all itinerary changes--yesterday afternoon and forwarded it to me via e-mail... I suspect that your Travel Agent may well be able to do the same...

 

Celebrity's US website was not updated as to the itinerary changes for my cruise until this morning...

Edited July 1, 2016 by Xport

[Bluebury]

Thank you Xport, appreciate the information.

[Husky61]

Xport,

 

Celebrity emailed me the change of itinerary.:)

[Blckczr]

I am on the same cruise and as far as my itinerary goes, we are departing from Athens (Piraeus), Greece

[Blckczr]

Does anyone know if the Celebrity Equinox 7th September 2016 cruise is still departing from Istanbul? In light of the recent turmoil in Istanbul we are wondering if CC will make a last minute decision to avoid Turkey altogether. We hope CC will give us enough time to rearrange our flights if this is the case.

 

I am on the same cruise and as far as my itinerary goes, we are departing from Athens (Piraeus), Greece