patty1955 Posted August 13 #1 Share Posted August 13 (edited) I thought this cruise was far enough out that we'd get to go but I guess not. Is now changed to: Edited August 13 by patty1955 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patty1955 Posted August 13 Author #2 Share Posted August 13 After I posted this I got an email that one of my upcoming Oceania Cruises has been changed. They're giving us a $200 OBC as an apology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canderson Posted August 13 #3 Share Posted August 13 32 minutes ago, patty1955 said: I thought this cruise was far enough out that we'd get to go but I guess not. Given the number of cruise ships afloat and the number of ports available, and the number of days in a year, if a cruise line sees that things may continue to go sideways in a particular area, they'll often be proactive about schedule changes just to assure they can put together a decent alternate itinerary. Probably just as well to reset customer expectations as early as possible. What they seem slow to do is admit the initial situation that is going to start to prevent cruises in a given area, cancelling/rescheduling the earlier cruises in a crisis zone rather late in the game. Once they finally get past that, things seem to go a lot more smoothly and far more in advance, like yours. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Ingrid Posted August 13 #4 Share Posted August 13 44 minutes ago, patty1955 said: I thought this cruise was far enough out that we'd get to go but I guess not. Sadly, this falls squarely in the "better safe than sorry" category. We've resigned ourselves to not making plans for that part of the world - for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow9612 Posted August 14 #5 Share Posted August 14 Similar port changes for March 2026 Infinity sailing as well. I seem to think that notice was just given recently for September 2025 sailings, so I thought we had more time before they'd change the 2026 sailings.... I do appreciate them being proactive, but a year and a half in advance surprised me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare foodsvcmgr Posted August 14 #6 Share Posted August 14 I can understand concerns about Israel but tourism to Egypt doesn’t seem to be having any particular issues lately. Sadly a “lone wolf” terrorist can strike anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Rick&Jeannie Posted August 14 #7 Share Posted August 14 We had basically the same itinerary early this year. We canceled shortly before Celebrity made very similar changes. I don't expect to be able to visit Israel for awhile now. It's been a bucket list item for some time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patty1955 Posted August 14 Author #8 Share Posted August 14 21 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said: We had basically the same itinerary early this year. We canceled shortly before Celebrity made very similar changes. I don't expect to be able to visit Israel for awhile now. It's been a bucket list item for some time. I understand them cancelling Israel but we really wanted to see Egypt. They're offering a full refund even with a non refundable deposit so we'll see Egypt another way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Rick&Jeannie Posted August 14 #9 Share Posted August 14 9 minutes ago, patty1955 said: I understand them cancelling Israel but we really wanted to see Egypt. They're offering a full refund even with a non refundable deposit so we'll see Egypt another way. Yes...we received a full credit card refund and our Delta flights were "refunded" as flight credits. That was not a problem for me because we used those credits within about a month to book a different cruise airfare. Hopefully we'll get to see Israel/Egypt before our time runs out! 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-Airbalancer Posted August 14 #10 Share Posted August 14 33 minutes ago, patty1955 said: I understand them cancelling Israel but we really wanted to see Egypt. They're offering a full refund even with a non refundable deposit so we'll see Egypt another way. Maybe time to book with another cruise line or do a land tour to Egypt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCARAB1 Posted August 16 #11 Share Posted August 16 Such a disappointment-2nd cruise attempt for Israel and Egypt to get cancelled. Travel Guard insurance has granted us a voucher for the amount of the trip insurance good until 8/15/2026 and Celebrity is refunding the total “non-refundable” deposit. It took a couple of phone calls with Celebrity and having help from an agent with Cruise Its - the Celebrity agent apologized for taking some time to verify our refund saying “it was new so not too many staff knew about it”. Seems an email sent out on 8/13 should be readily available for staff but I had to forward it for him to verify. Anyway it’s supposedly done with the refund to post in 2-3 days on our credit card. I’m open to suggestions for another itinerary for 2026 - suggestions are welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Cruise Junky Posted August 16 #12 Share Posted August 16 HAL just released 2026 itineraries. They have both Egypt and Israel on them if you’re interested in switching lines. HAL does not appear to have cancelled any 2024 nor 2025 to Egypt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patty1955 Posted August 16 Author #13 Share Posted August 16 2 hours ago, MCARAB1 said: Such a disappointment-2nd cruise attempt for Israel and Egypt to get cancelled. Travel Guard insurance has granted us a voucher for the amount of the trip insurance good until 8/15/2026 and Celebrity is refunding the total “non-refundable” deposit. It took a couple of phone calls with Celebrity and having help from an agent with Cruise Its - the Celebrity agent apologized for taking some time to verify our refund saying “it was new so not too many staff knew about it”. Seems an email sent out on 8/13 should be readily available for staff but I had to forward it for him to verify. Anyway it’s supposedly done with the refund to post in 2-3 days on our credit card. I’m open to suggestions for another itinerary for 2026 - suggestions are welcome! I had to forward my email too and I called on the 13th. I'm probably going to have to call again. I haven't received an email acknowledging the cancellation let alone the refund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubesDad Posted August 23 #14 Share Posted August 23 We had booked this cruise earlier this spring as part of a back to back with the previous cruise, fully expecting it to be cancelled/modified as we drew closer to the end of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubesDad Posted August 23 #15 Share Posted August 23 On 8/16/2024 at 12:17 AM, patty1955 said: I had to forward my email too and I called on the 13th. I'm probably going to have to call again. I haven't received an email acknowledging the cancellation let alone the refund. I had similar issues trying to get information out of Celebrity; you would think the staff would be informed before the clients???? I finally instituted a chat on social media, as there were errors in the emails they sent out, and had answers within a few days. Celebrity's back room functions continue to amaze me for their ineptitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCARAB1 Posted August 24 #16 Share Posted August 24 Celebrity came through with our refund quickly. I got notified by Bank of America that the $900.00 non/refundable” deposit was credited/refunded August 21. That was exactly 8 days after my phone call with them. Just took a little frustration and prayer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patty1955 Posted August 24 Author #17 Share Posted August 24 45 minutes ago, MCARAB1 said: Celebrity came through with our refund quickly. I got notified by Bank of America that the $900.00 non/refundable” deposit was credited/refunded August 21. That was exactly 8 days after my phone call with them. Just took a little frustration and prayer! Mine showed as pending yesterday and is credited today. 10 days from my original phone call and 4 days after the second. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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