Adriatic Sea/Ionian Sea cruises suddenly sold out

[Vineyard View]

I have been tracking a few itineraries  in the Adriatic/Ionian Seas areas for a while now. I have been waiting for mileage windows to open for next May. Last time I looked was early last week. This evening, each and every SB itinerary in this area for 14 days (preferred) but also 7 day are suddenly sold out. 
There was talk on another thread about group booking emails, and concerns around how that will impact sailings. I have no idea of this is related, but the sudden sold out status surprised me. Maybe you who have followed SB can lend some light. It might be expected a year out? IDK. 

[Hlitner]

You might want to look at the thread about charters/groups "Seabourn is pushing group travel and charters on this blog.   Is that what is happening with the cruises you are watching?  I have no idea.  But it does seem like SB has no hesitation on chartering (or doing large group bookings) on shorter cruises.  They even seem to be doing this on cruises that are well booked (it happened to us on a 2025 European cruise).  

 

I will be very blunt.  DW and I really like Seabourn (at the moment it is our favorite cruise line) but we are reaching a place where we no longer trust booking SB cruises more than a few months in advance.  SB is quick to take our deposits, and later charter that same cruise and tell us to take our business to another cruise.  And when SB does this kind of thing, there is very little compensation to make up for screwing-up plans already made   To be very honest, we no longer trust SB and now figure any long-range SB booking is tentative!   

 

On our recent cancellation (done by SB because of a charter) they offered us only 10% off a future cruise.  Because of several price increases, that 10% discount meant we actually lost money (on a future booking) when compared to the booked and confirmed cruise that SB chartered out from under many loyal customers.  

 

Some folks here on CC like to talk about being "loyal" to a particular cruise line.  But these days, that "loyalty" is more like a one-way street with the cruiser going the wrong way.

 

Hank

 

[skybluewaters]

I agree with you, Hank.

 

We just had a 45-day cruise (Singapore to Dubai on Encore in 2026) cancelled due to "deployment changes."  I suppose that wording rules out a charter taking over the cruise. 

 

We were offered a 10% discount on a new sailing if booked by 12/31/2024.  Unfortunately, the per diems now are > 10% more than that of the cancelled cruise.

 

I suppose the 10% discount was well thought out, and perhaps any more than that would be financially untenable for Seabourn, but it still is a poor decision from a PR standpoint.

[Isr45]

2 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

I agree with you, Hank.

 

We just had a 45-day cruise (Singapore to Dubai on Encore in 2026) cancelled due to "deployment changes."  I suppose that wording rules out a charter taking over the cruise. 

 

We were offered a 10% discount on a new sailing if booked by 12/31/2024.  Unfortunately, the per diems now are > 10% more than that of the cancelled cruise.

 

I suppose the 10% discount was well thought out, and perhaps any more than that would be financially untenable for Seabourn, but it still is a poor decision from a PR standpoint.

Interesting that this cruise was cancelled for 2026 but heard nothing for our cruise the opposite way in November 25

[sanne]

Sad to say that this has happened to us recently on Regent and Silversea…one was a 14 day charter, the other redeployment. Jumping ship won’t solve the problem. It happens and we have to deal with it or not book ahead. 

[whogo]

If you are looking for a cruise on Seabourn Encore, my bet is that Seabourn is trying to figure out how to get Encore to the Mediterranean after her cruise ending in Singapore on March 2, 2025. The next cruise that my online agency lists is June 1, 2025 from Dubrovnik. Blame the Houthis.

[pyffii]

Just had our may 4th cruise on Encore from Athens cancelled today !!!

[Vineyard View]

14 hours ago, whogo said:

If you are looking for a cruise on Seabourn Encore, my bet is that Seabourn is trying to figure out how to get Encore to the Mediterranean after her cruise ending in Singapore on March 2, 2025. The next cruise that my online agency lists is June 1, 2025 from Dubrovnik. Blame the Houthis.

it was on the Encore that we were looking. Cruise was there one day, then sold out. The more I looked, I noticed that they all were in April and May. Darn. 

[Cantara24]

17 hours ago, whogo said:

If you are looking for a cruise on Seabourn Encore, my bet is that Seabourn is trying to figure out how to get Encore to the Mediterranean after her cruise ending in Singapore on March 2, 2025. The next cruise that my online agency lists is June 1, 2025 from Dubrovnik. Blame the Houthis.

 

It has been figured out. Singapore to Kobe to Hawaii to LA to Miami via Panama, to Lisbon to Rome. As our Red Sea was cancelled they are doing two Ocean crossings versus going empty around Cape.

Dubrovnik added in as additional choice.

 

We who are cancelled are getting first dibs!!! Yahoo!

Edited June 20 by Cantara24
clarification

[AJCM]

We’ve had our 21 day Greece/Turkey cruise, for Apr 25, cancelled due to the Middle East/Red Sea situation. This cancellation is understandable - more so than this year’s Greece cruise having been cancelled a year out due to “operational reasons”. Two years running with Seabourn cancellations, as well as this year’s Indian Ocean crossing with Azamara.

 

Following on from covid and Red Sea cancellations and the commensurate compensation to clients, cruise lines are gun-shy now and are more prepared to make changes very early rather than deal with consequences of later cancellations. However, it’s certainly making early bookings riskier than they used to be.

 

Fortunately for us, they’ve cancelled before we’ve paid for expensive flights - we’ve been on the cusp; so the cancellation timing is favourable. We’ve already found and booked a Silversea cruise whose dates coincide with other 2025 arrangements. There was nothing suitable for us with Seabourn, as their offerings with suitable dates are virtually the same as our 2023 Seabourn Med. cruise.