cambe

BudgetQueen, I live in the UK, however it was my agent who alerted me to the change and said that Costa would not refund my deposit but I would be able to transfer to another cruise for a small admin fee.

I contacted my agent again and said that the reason I had booked this cruise was because it went to Egypt and Israel but not Turkey. The agent has come back to me and said that as my cruise is not until October she may be able to refund my deposit. I will not know for sure for another 2 weeks as apparently it takes that amount of time for Costa to contact their clients even though they have had the new itinerary on their website for the past 3 weeks.

I think things are different in Europe from the USA.

Giovanna, like you I would be disappointed but not angry about not getting to a port for security/weather reasons but as my cruise is not until October I just want to cancel.

I am still going to Venice and will probably hire a car and go somewhere in Italy (want to go to Bari which was one of the ports on the cruise) but I don't know exactly where I will go.

Thank you all for you help.

afgal

I'm one of those on the April Costa Holy land cruise. Costa canceled our stops in Israel a few days after our final payment was due. They are offering no onboard credits and no transfers to another cruise-nada. The reason they gave for canceling israel (only beginning with the April cruises, mmarch cruises went) was its customers would not want to visit israel if they couldn't visit Egypt also. If you didn't like the change then you could cancel and lose 50% of the cruise cost.

jacketwatch

afgal: Did they substitute other ports?

doug_stallings

cambe ... it's a little late in the season, but you might be able to take a cruise to Croatia in October from Venice if you'd like a cruise experience. There are some small ships that do this itinerary, and October weather in Croatia can be very pleasant. Alternatively, there may still be ferry service from Trieste to Croatia, but I don't know the specifics. This might be a nice alternative if you've never visited Croatia before.

And if you really want to see Egypt, land-based tours are very well priced right now and are something you might want to look into. You'll see a lot more of Egypt if you take a land-based tour.

afgal

Jacketwatch-instead of the 2 stops in Israel we are doing Limassol cyprus, Rhodes Greece and Marmaris Turkey. It could be worse we could be at sea instead of these ports but it is still disappointing. If i had known my Holy Land cruise (how Costa advertised it) would end up as an overpriced Greece and Turkey cruise i would have choosen a different cruise with Costa. We'll still have a great time though!

jacketwatch

Actually our stop in Egypt was cancelled also but i agree with Doug that seeing Egypt by land would be better.
afgal: True it could be worse. I don't at all agree with their line of reasoning for canceling Israel. Celebrity added Haifa after they cancelled Egypt (two days here as well) so with this and two days in Ashdod as scheduled it seems far more redemptive than just nixing it all. They have nothing to lose financially too. Who would cancel and lose 50%?? Weird.

Eschew

I am quite sure everyone ahs beaten this topic to death. The simple rule is in the fine print. The cruise line reserves the right to change itenary with or without notice in order to protect the safety of its passengers.

That will mean no Tarcy Arms for Alaska depending on the ice condition, that means no Grand Ccayman due to rough sea and they cannot tender ashore. That would also mean no Egypt or any other place that there maybe unrest or danger due to weather or whatever reason they can think of.

Your alternative? None really. You can either cancel or bitch. Cancel, you lose and you may get a partial refund. Bitch, you may get a discount for future cruise, reduced port charges, or some sort of minor compensation, maybe a catergory upgrade. That's about it.