Consequences of attacks on shipping in the Red sea

[benjoon]

1 hour ago, Kayena Kevin said:

Did not find today's communication from Azamara to be very useful. Whilst I can understand their desire to try to stick to the current itinerary, today's attacks make this even more unlikely. Let us be honest, it would be totally irresponsible to choose to take a cruise ship through the Red Sea at the moment. Passengers need to know more than 2 months in advance if the cruise is to be cancelled, rerouted via Africa or abbreviated. We have flights, visas, accommodation etc that will be extremely expensive to reorganise at late notice. Most other cruise lines have made the call. 

What sort of communication did you get. Just out of interest as we are booked on the October transit through the Red Sea.

[Kayena Kevin]

Hi, just a standard email to passengers on the May 2 voyage saying they were closwly monitoring the situation etc

[Milly66]

Hi Same here. Just the standard email to passengers on the May 2nd cruise.  We have already b poked our Athens flights to Manchester.  Azamara are really cutting it fine. NOT GOOD!

[IslandThyme]

I'm onboard the World Voyage, scheduled to be in Jeddah on May 2, so that may be the cruise you are talking about. They have so far given us absolutely no information about a change in itinerary, although rumors and speculation are rampant.

[souths]

It’s not just Azamara going through the Red Sea, Princess, Holland America, Virgin, seabourne, Oceania, Reagent of the Sea are also scheduled for Cruises. No decision have been made by these cruise lines. It must be difficult to navigate what could be a drastic change.

[excitedofharpenden]

6 hours ago, IslandThyme said:

I'm onboard the World Voyage, scheduled to be in Jeddah on May 2, so that may be the cruise you are talking about. They have so far given us absolutely no information about a change in itinerary, although rumors and speculation are rampant.

They can't because the final decision is probably still being worked on. If they say yes, we are going through and you don't then all hell will break loose. Conversely if they say no and do, the other reaction. It's not easy. You can't stop people speculating. That's even more difficult!  

 

Phil 

[mv_hana]

21 hours ago, souths said:

It’s not just Azamara going through the Red Sea, Princess, Holland America, Virgin, seabourne, Oceania, Reagent of the Sea are also scheduled for Cruises. No decision have been made by these cruise lines. It must be difficult to navigate what could be a drastic change.

We are on Princess WC and notified this evening of our adjusted itinerary. We will be traveling to South Africa after Australia and then head north for Western Europe and the Med after which will continue on our Atlantic crossing as scheduled. Overall we are very grateful that the cruise was't cut short. 

[Sarnia 432]

3 hours ago, mv_hana said:

Princess WC

@mv_hana could you post the new itinerary letter on the Island princess world cruise roll call.  There are a lot of segment cruisers who would be very pleased to finally see what that section will look like.

[ECCruise]

11 hours ago, souths said:

It’s not just Azamara going through the Red Sea, Princess, Holland America, Virgin, seabourne, Oceania, Reagent of the Sea are also scheduled for Cruises. No decision have been made by these cruise lines. It must be difficult to navigate what could be a drastic change.

Holland and Princess have both announced the changes on their World Cruises which avoid the Red Sea and sail south around Africa.

[2ndsailing]

Just now, ECCruise said:

Holland and Princess have both announced the changes on their World Cruises which avoid the Red Sea and sail south around Africa.

And Cunard

[ECCruise]

Just now, 2ndsailing said:

And Cunard

Yes. All Carnival Corp, so they've made the decision.

[mv_hana]

22 hours ago, Sarnia 432 said:

@mv_hana could you post the new itinerary letter on the Island princess world cruise roll call.  There are a lot of segment cruisers who would be very pleased to finally see what that section will look like.

 

22 hours ago, Sarnia 432 said:

@mv_hana could you post the new itinerary letter on the Island princess world cruise roll call.  There are a lot of segment cruisers who would be very pleased to finally see what that section will look like.

Feb.16 Melbourne (new port)

Feb 21 Perth

Feb 29 Port Louis, Mauritius (new port)

The attachment shows everything from Feb 29 through April 15. No word yet after April 15, but assuming it will be all sea days until Fort Lauderdale.

[Splodnap]

Yesterday at a briefing the captain  of Viking Neptune on her World zcruise said that while the company was reviewing  the situation the cruise was still going ahead with a Suez transit

[KirkNC]

Just now, Splodnap said:

Yesterday at a briefing the captain  of Viking Neptune on her World zcruise said that while the company was reviewing  the situation the cruise was still going ahead with a Suez transit

Be interesting to see how that statement holds up.  
 

we are onboard the Onward and I am fully expecting a major itinerary change any day now.

[NewSalty]

So we're booked on the Journey cruise through the Suez (May 3-29).

 

Azamara announced a sale today, which includes a tripling (to 30%) of the quarterly discount on the Journey's cruise right after ours.  (Athens-Istanbul)

 

Similarly, the Onward, (which sails our itinerary about a month ahead of us) also had its' post-Suez transit cruise put on the 30% sale.  Even more significantly, the actual Onward cruise through the canal is also on the sale.  (Note, however, that there is a significant difference - the Onward is on an ATW cruise - Azamara has much less leeway regarding cancellation...)

 

I can't imagine Azamara putting the post-transit cruises on sale if they were considering cancelling them.  (Just more unhappy customers...)  Neither can I imagine them committing to the canal transit.  If they don't go through the canal AND they stick to the May 29th date for the Athens-Istanbul cruise - the only way they can get the ship there on time is drop all but the necessary fueling ports, put the pedal to the metal, and speed around Africa.  I sure hope they offer us either cancellation or a full-money-back opt-out.

[souths]

5 hours ago, NewSalty said:

So we're booked on the Journey cruise through the Suez (May 3-29).

 

Azamara announced a sale today, which includes a tripling (to 30%) of the quarterly discount on the Journey's cruise right after ours.  (Athens-Istanbul)

 

Similarly, the Onward, (which sails our itinerary about a month ahead of us) also had its' post-Suez transit cruise put on the 30% sale.  Even more significantly, the actual Onward cruise through the canal is also on the sale.  (Note, however, that there is a significant difference - the Onward is on an ATW cruise - Azamara has much less leeway regarding cancellation...)

 

I can't imagine Azamara putting the post-transit cruises on sale if they were considering cancelling them.  (Just more unhappy customers...)  Neither can I imagine them committing to the canal transit.  If they don't go through the canal AND they stick to the May 29th date for the Athens-Istanbul cruise - the only way they can get the ship there on time is drop all but the necessary fueling ports, put the pedal to the metal, and speed around Africa.  I sure hope they offer us either cancellation or a full-money-back opt-out.

I wrote to Azamara and received a reply promptly. It confirms they are monitoring the situation and current information indicates they will be able to continue with the same itinerary. They also said they would inform us of any changes to itinerary or cancellation. While I trying to be positive , I am checking out alternatives in Europe. We had to cancel this cruise in the covid period, so I guess our visit to these ports may never take place. Mind you it’s a first world problem and I hope that a resolution can be found for the people suffering in the Middle East on all sides.

[hamrag]

On 2/5/2024 at 9:35 PM, souths said:

I wrote to Azamara and received a reply promptly. It confirms they are monitoring the situation and current information indicates they will be able to continue with the same itinerary. They also said they would inform us of any changes to itinerary or cancellation. While I trying to be positive , I am checking out alternatives in Europe. We had to cancel this cruise in the covid period, so I guess our visit to these ports may never take place. Mind you it’s a first world problem and I hope that a resolution can be found for the people suffering in the Middle East on all sides.

 

We received news today that our Oceania Insignia 15 night cruise Barcelona to Southampton early June is now cancelled. It was a segment of its ATW cruise, scheduled to transit Suez Canal and on to the Med. Now it's going all the way around Africa with a significant segment now having an additional 15 sea days.

 

It was a fabulous itinerary, but we've honestly little to complain about relative to the dreadful war territories worldwide currently. Horrific times for so many people.

 

We may end up choosing an Az or Windstar itinerary to replace it.

[Kayena Kevin]

Agree, totally minor inconvenience for us compared to the suffering in the middle east. I think Oceania has made the right call and importantly they have made it early enough for people to make decisions and minimise cancellation costs. Hopefully Azamara can do something similar soon.

[souths]

Azamara are now the only cruise line still going through the Red Sea. They need to make a call so we can get on with planning.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, souths said:

Azamara are now the only cruise line still going through the Red Sea. They need to make a call so we can get on with planning.

Silversea and Crystal have also not cancelled Red Sea itineraries, to similar consternation from their passengers.

[downundermatt]

18 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Silversea and Crystal have also not cancelled Red Sea itineraries, to similar consternation from their passengers.

And as it stands Royal Caribbean still have Serenade doing their World Cruise thru the Suez in May.

Edited February 10 by downundermatt
Extra info

[souths]

23 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Silversea and Crystal have also not cancelled Red Sea itineraries, to similar consternation from their passengers.

I heard today Silverseas have now cancelled.

 

[hamrag]

On 2/9/2024 at 10:09 AM, souths said:

Azamara are now the only cruise line still going through the Red Sea. They need to make a call so we can get on with planning.

And they're still selling it, low pricing, at only 3 months or so out!

[onechaiguy]

16 minutes ago, hamrag said:

And they're still selling it, low pricing, at only 3 months or so out!

Any advantage to putting a deposit down knowing that it will get canceled our rerouted? Lol. 

[IslandThyme]

Consensus of onboard rumors, if that can be considered to be a reliable source, is that they will tell us when we're in Sydney, so probably March 1, if they're going to change the itinerary.