World Cruise on Serenity - Need Info RE: Red Sea Segment

[boatbob]

Luggage forward picks up my luggage tomorrow - am excited!!  Board a week from Saturday - am dure that I have forgotten many things  - Nervous!😇

[May B]

51 minutes ago, boatbob said:

Luggage forward picks up my luggage tomorrow - am excited!!  Board a week from Saturday - am dure that I have forgotten many things  - Nervous!😇

Bon voyage!

[Jayayeff]

2 hours ago, boatbob said:

So that means the the World Cruise passengers will mot be kicked off - am I right??  Fingers, eyes, & ties crossed!!

 

I don't believe that was ever likely to happen as they have time to re-route with passengers on their side.  The voyages that really need addressing now are those of the Symphony that don't have time to re-route around Africa with passengers...

 

[Keith1010]

4 hours ago, boatbob said:

Luggage forward picks up my luggage tomorrow - am excited!!  Board a week from Saturday - am dure that I have forgotten many things  - Nervous!😇

Safe travels and wishing you an early Bon Voyage.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

4 hours ago, boatbob said:

So that means the the World Cruise passengers will mot be kicked off - am I right??  Fingers, eyes, & ties crossed!!

Correct. The full WC will still end in Miami for those who started in Miami and in San Diego for those who will begin there.

The itinerary changes are key and are of a lot of interest by those taking individual voyage(s) on both ships to know if they will have any impact on their flights, hotels, transfer arrangements, etc. need to be updated.

 

Keith 

[Whipsnade]

Just got a report there will only be 165 world cruisers on Serenity. Big drop from OC. 

[Keith1010]

52 minutes ago, Whipsnade said:

Just got a report there will only be 165 world cruisers on Serenity. Big drop from OC. 

 

Big drop depends on your reference point.

 

Every World Cruise has carried a different guest count and numbers have ranged significantly. So many factors play into this including start and end ports, itinerary, economy, world issues, and so forth.

 

One that is certainly unique this time around is that as discussed here often some people booked with other cruise lines before Crystal announced their itineraries, I know some of them who were locked in with other lines but plan to return for a future World Cruise.

I do want to note that I've heard different numbers over the past few weeks. Sadly I know three people who had to cancel recently due to health issues.

 

Keith

[Ibis]

It is reassuring the World Cruise will end in Miami/San Diego as scheduled. However, for us, the concern is the segment on which we are booked, Toulon to Miami. It’s hard to imagine that will stay in place if the Red Sea itineraries are canceled. Serenity would likely, after going around Africa, cross without going up to the Mediterranean. Tough for us to make decisions as final payment for this segment comes due Thursday. To further complicate we of course already have our plans in place and confirmed to go over in April prior to the Serenity return to US in May from Toulon. It’s hard to imagine what the itinerary replacement for Toulon Miami might be.

[Peira]

Ibis, Everyone involved (Crystal, other cruise lines, pax, crew, provision providers, excursion providers, airlines, ports, etc.) is dealing with having what they thought were set plans now be up in the air. This is an extremely complicated matter, with no easy solutions. Crystal is working overtime trying to figure this out. Let's all take a breather and let them work on this.

Edited January 23 by Peira

[History&Wine]

5 hours ago, Whipsnade said:

Just got a report there will only be 165 world cruisers on Serenity. Big drop from OC. 

That figure includes those boarding in San Diego.  There are 105 or so world cruisers on Serenity at present.  

[Whipsnade]

They need to make a decision within days for Symphony as we are about a month ahead of Serenity. Hard to believe they will not cancel Singapore to Athens and dead head around Africa. Figure miles from Singapore to Athens at about 17 knots from Mar 12 and they will barely make it to Athens for second Med cruise. At 20 knots they will make first Med cruise. Depends on how much extra fuel cost vs revenue. 

[Anniken14]

For what it's worth, if we could have gotten out of our other cruise commitments, we'd be on the Crystal WC. I think many World Cruisers have their plans in place years in advance. I know we're committed for this year and next for WC on another line. We're able to fit in a Crystal cruise here and there, but we have too much $ invested in our '24 and '25 WC to move to Crystal.

[Whipsnade]

Your 25 $$ is probably not “hard” for another few months. Just think you will miss Machu Pichu, Carnaval and CapeTown. 

[TER777]

For frame of reference, the Silver Moon left Athens January 16, going around Africa, arriving Mumbai February 14. Thus suggesting Symphony could do similar canceling Singapore to Mumbai to Athens, March 12 - April 13 sounds like a possibility. 

[Whipsnade]

Ter that is my prediction. 

[Roland4]

32 minutes ago, TER777 said:

For frame of reference, the Silver Moon left Athens January 16, going around Africa, arriving Mumbai February 14. Thus suggesting Symphony could do similar canceling Singapore to Mumbai to Athens, March 12 - April 13 sounds like a possibility. 

Sure hope so as we are supposed to be boarding Symphony on April 13! First time on Symphony since the infamous 2012 Trans-Atlantic From Hell!

[TRIPACIAN]

40 minutes ago, Roland4 said:

Sure hope so as we are supposed to be boarding Symphony on April 13! First time on Symphony since the infamous 2012 Trans-Atlantic From Hell!

The word on the ship is that they WILL be in Athens for the April 13th cruise even if they have to go around Africa.

[Whipsnade]

That makes it almost certain we will be kicked off in Singapore Mar 12. 

[oakridger]

Would people on the WC want to stay onboard even if the ship ends up speeding around Africa with only service ports?  Would Crystal allow that?  I think if allowed, and supplies could be restocked somewhere in the middle, I would want to stay onboard.  I love sea days in general more than some people do; however, four weeks is a lot of continuous sea days!  

 

What do you all think?  Stay on?

 

~Nancy

[Whipsnade]

I would stay on as we too love sea days. And then there is the adventure. Sadly I think we would be in the extreme minority. 

[Dog-man]

6 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

The word on the ship is that they WILL be in Athens for the April 13th cruise even if they have to go around Africa.

Looks like we won’t be on a Mumbai to Athens cruise then! Something that was predictable weeks ago.

 

The strikes that took place last night were to take out two missiles ready to be fired into Red Sea shipping. 
 

For any of you interested in open source intelligence on the situation I have placed a link below. The touch map feature is very interesting.

 

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2024-01-15/ty-article-magazine/30-attacks-all-red-sea-ships-targeted-by-the-houthis/0000018c-5df7-d6f9-afbc-5dff7a430000

 

 

 

[Jayayeff]

22 minutes ago, Dog-man said:

Looks like we won’t be on a Mumbai to Athens cruise then! Something that was predictable weeks ago.

 

The strikes that took place last night were to take out two missiles ready to be fired into Red Sea shipping. 
 

For any of you interested in open source intelligence on the situation I have placed a link below. The touch map feature is very interesting.

 

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2024-01-15/ty-article-magazine/30-attacks-all-red-sea-ships-targeted-by-the-houthis/0000018c-5df7-d6f9-afbc-5dff7a430000

 

 

 

 

Also, subsequent to those most recent strikes, the Houthis have given the UN and other aid agencies notice that all UK and US nationals (or dual nationals of either country) are to leave Yemen within the next 30 days.. I really can't see any passenger ship affiliated with either country heading into the Red Sea anytime soon...

[rafinmd]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

Would people on the WC want to stay onboard even if the ship ends up speeding around Africa with only service ports?  Would Crystal allow that?  I think if allowed, and supplies could be restocked somewhere in the middle, I would want to stay onboard.  I love sea days in general more than some people do; however, four weeks is a lot of continuous sea days!  

 

What do you all think?  Stay on?

 

~Nancy

I don;t think that's necessary.  I doubt if many passengers are boarding in Europe so they can do pretty much a normal cruise with a few people affected but the full world left whole.

 

Roy

[ctjon]

11 hours ago, Roland4 said:

Sure hope so as we are supposed to be boarding Symphony on April 13! First time on Symphony since the infamous 2012 Trans-Atlantic From Hell!

I will always remember that Trans-Atlantic from Hell as my only really bad Crystal cruise - if it were my first it would have been my last.

[nancygp]

49 minutes ago, ctjon said:

I will always remember that Trans-Atlantic from Hell as my only really bad Crystal cruise - if it were my first it would have been my last.

To each his own

 

while we had some very rough weather we still had a very nice cruise

 

Nancy