Changes for Onward and Journey April/May Red Sea transit

[DGM]

We received offical email from Azamara and the May 3 cruise is cancelled.

[DS]

3 hours ago, DGM said:

We received offical email from Azamara and the May 3 cruise is cancelled.

Which ship is the 3 May cruise on?   Can you post the email?

[oddjob16]

7 hours ago, DS said:

Which ship is the 3 May cruise on?   Can you post the email?

Journey. Singapore to Piraeus may 3rd

[oddjob16]

Journey's May 3rd is cancelled, but no info as how the ship will get to Piraeus in time for the next cruise is given. Will they sail thru Suez with minimum crew? Isn't that a serious gamble?

[fruitmachine]

9 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

Journey's May 3rd is cancelled, but no info as how the ship will get to Piraeus in time for the next cruise is given. Will they sail thru Suez with minimum crew? Isn't that a serious gamble?

Serious? Yes.
Exceptional? No.

 

It's a gamble that hundreds of cargo ships a week still take: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:39.6/centery:20.3/zoom:6

 

The most recently available Suez Canal statistics seem to be showing c.50 transits per day, down from 80+ in mid 2023.

 

[Heartfelttraveler]

On 3/9/2024 at 7:17 PM, oddjob16 said:

Journey's May 3rd is cancelled, but no info as how the ship will get to Piraeus in time for the next cruise is given. Will they sail thru Suez with minimum crew? Isn't that a serious gamble?

No guests between May 3 and May 29.  

[oddjob16]

1 hour ago, Heartfelttraveler said:

No guests between May 3 and May 29.  

Obviously. The cruise is cancelled. 

[Heartfelttraveler]

1 hour ago, oddjob16 said:

Obviously. The cruise is cancelled. 

Just showing that the ship has 26 days to go around Africa and make it to Greece for the May 29 trip.

[Laganlady02]

34 minutes ago, Heartfelttraveler said:

Just showing that the ship has 26 days to go around Africa and make it to Greece for the May 29 trip.

26 days, Singapore to Athens around Africa???

[Heartfelttraveler]

16 minutes ago, Laganlady02 said:

26 days, Singapore to Athens around Africa???

They were originally going to do it in 26 days going through the Suez Canal with 15 days of ports stops of which 4 were overnight.  I am in no way an expert, or even a novice, but looking at the map, taking into account that they will only port to take on supplies etc., those extra 15 days of sailing should get them to Greece in time for the May 29 itinerary.

 

This is the original itinerary on cruise mapper.

[fruitmachine]

17 hours ago, Laganlady02 said:

26 days, Singapore to Athens around Africa???

It's approximately 23,300km (without any stops).  Sailing continuously, 24 hours a day, without any stops at maximum speed (23kph), for 26 days would only get you 20,592km.

 

Clearly, they have to stop for fuel.

 

It doesn't look like they are going round Africa.

[fruitmachine]

1 hour ago, fruitmachine said:

It's approximately 23,300km (without any stops).  Sailing continuously, 24 hours a day, without any stops at maximum speed (23kph), for 26 days would only get you 20,592km.

 

Clearly, they have to stop for fuel.

 

It doesn't look like they are going round Africa.

Typo - 33kph

[Laganlady02]

4 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

It's approximately 23,300km (without any stops).  Sailing continuously, 24 hours a day, without any stops at maximum speed (23kph), for 26 days would only get you 20,592km.

 

Clearly, they have to stop for fuel.

 

It doesn't look like they are going round Africa.

Yes, that was my point to @Heartfelttraveler. Based on distance alone, Singapore to Athens around Africa cannot be done in 26 days.

 

On another thread it was reported that Journey is indeed following this route from May 3, however no mention was made of how long this would take.

 

It seems very likely that this will necessitate the cancellation of the subsequent cruise due to sail on May 29 from Athens.

 

[fruitmachine]

9 minutes ago, Laganlady02 said:

Yes, that was my point to @Heartfelttraveler. Based on distance alone, Singapore to Athens around Africa cannot be done in 26 days.

 

On another thread it was reported that Journey is indeed following this route from May 3, however no mention was made of how long this would take.

 

It seems very likely that this will necessitate the cancellation of the subsequent cruise due to sail on May 29 from Athens.

 

Or it will slip through the Red Sea as quietly as possible, with no passengers, minimum crew, and AIS tracking switched off or showing it elsewhere.

[NC Rob]

We're on the May 29 sailing on Journey.   All the shore excursions have been deleted (the one's we booked as well as the available ones) and you can't book the cruise anymore, but it is still there.  Also, the previous cruise's itinerary (Singapore to Athens) on the Azamara web site has the ship being 'at Sea' on May 29th.   I called Azamara who claims that the May 29th sailing is still going to happen.... anyone else hear anything new on the May 29th sailing?

[Riocca]

Crystal Symphony made a run via the Red Sea:

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/cruise-ship-encounters-red-sea-tensions-on-repositioning-voyage/127657?fbclid=IwAR3t-OEcEDIovvej1dfLcf9MPZ4Fns4nUUsyiTY-PEAmJ4xBLv3t0ZulGxI_aem_ASvvmNDCP4gr3jV7MiQjMc8lyGjPUGhsl7H8JJOBoiNyd6ZUvnjKjWhyN9TSz6Fn894

[zipcruise]

So does Artania / Phoenix… They are also doing a world tour. Guest may stay if they want or can fly to hurghada/egypt and wait there for the ship. 

[Peter Lanky]

We were on the now cancelled Singapore to Athens cruise on Journey on 3rd May and have now been 'lifted and shifted' to a cruise next March. However I have been keeping an eye on things and it seems the Journey is definitely going around Africa as a 'Japan to Greece' 41 night Grand Voyage at the absurd price from £15,798. I can't see anyone jumping in at that price. This also includes the scheduled Japan to Singapore section.

 

However, the maths doesn't work out. Stopping at Walvis Bay on 21st, it seems to be planning to leave people in the middle of the ocean on 29th May. 🤣8 days non-stop at 20 knots would probably end up somewhere off the coast of Mauritania, so good luck to anyone trying that.

[NC Rob]

I did the same math with similar results... they could go around Africa and make it to Istanbul for the June 8th sailing, but I don't see how they can get to Athens by May 29th.  It is interesting that Crystal Symphony went through as did some others... maybe Azamara plans on sneaking through at the last minute unnoticed. Otherwise I don't know why they don't cancel the May 29th sailing now.

[Riocca]

32 minutes ago, Peter Lanky said:

We were on the now cancelled Singapore to Athens cruise on Journey on 3rd May and have now been 'lifted and shifted' to a cruise next March. However I have been keeping an eye on things and it seems the Journey is definitely going around Africa as a 'Japan to Greece' 41 night Grand Voyage at the absurd price from £15,798. I can't see anyone jumping in at that price. This also includes the scheduled Japan to Singapore section.

 

However, the maths doesn't work out. Stopping at Walvis Bay on 21st, it seems to be planning to leave people in the middle of the ocean on 29th May. 🤣8 days non-stop at 20 knots would probably end up somewhere off the coast of Mauritania, so good luck to anyone trying that.

The following May 29th ten night cruise is currently showing as sold out, which is never a good sign, so maybe that will provide the extra days required.

We are booked on Pursuits October 26th Athens to Dubai so are waiting to see what transpires, the prices increased to ridiculous levels a while ago but have dropped in price twice in the past week to something more normal. 

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, NC Rob said:

I did the same math with similar results... they could go around Africa and make it to Istanbul for the June 8th sailing, but I don't see how they can get to Athens by May 29th.  It is interesting that Crystal Symphony went through as did some others... maybe Azamara plans on sneaking through at the last minute unnoticed. Otherwise I don't know why they don't cancel the May 29th sailing now.

But Crystal Symphony went without passengers

[NC Rob]

18 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

But Crystal Symphony went without passengers

That's true, but after reading these posts, I don't think the Journey is going to have any passengers on it either. As Peter Lanky pointed out earlier, the price of the 41 day cruise is insane (you can book the first 15 days alone for $140/night and the next 26 days at $630/night (for basically a repositioning cruise), I can't imagine anyone signing up. Also, he points out that at any reasonable speed, they can't get to Athens by May 29th. And on the Azamara web site, that 41 night cruise's itinerary says that you are "at sea" on Day 42. So I can't imagine they really plan on having guests on board.

While they haven't cancelled our sailing on the 29th, they have cancelled all the shore excursions which I'm guessing is so that they don't have to pay the vendors for a late cancellation. But they aren't ready to cancel the whole cruise yet....

Adding all that up, I think they are going to make a last minute decision to go through the Suez Canal without guests and keep the May 29th cruise (with who knows what shore excursions) or go around Africa and sail to Istanbul for the June 8th sailing....it would be nice if Azamara actually said something about their plans.

[excitedofharpenden]

From my point of view I think it would be a poor/risky decision to go through the Suez (as demonstrated by what happened to Crystal Symphony). Much better to keep the ship and crew safe and go round the Cape of Good Hope, even if it will mess up the schedule. 

 

Phil 

[tgg]

I am grateful today that I'm retired and don't have to make critical decisions with far-reaching and complicated consequences.

[oddjob16]

27 minutes ago, tgg said:

I am grateful today that I'm retired and don't have to make critical decisions with far-reaching and complicated consequences.

Sadly that’s not true. Complicated decisions all the time. Go and make tea, then take trip to the loo, or go to the loo first, then make tea…..And so it goes. On and on…🤣😂