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Odyssey of the Seas to sail from Haifa, Israel starting in May 2021


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Its not in Royal site but I checked the options on the local  site: 

It will start on the 4-June with few 3 nights cruise to nowhere 

Will follow by 4 night cruise to Cyprus and later 5 night cruise to Greece island + Athens. Also 7 nights cruise will be added during Jul - Aug and September , latest cruise is 22-Sep .

I guess that is answering what will be second country cruises will started from.

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12 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Its not in Royal site but I checked the options on the local  site: 

It will start on the 4-June with few 3 nights cruise to nowhere 

Will follow by 4 night cruise to Cyprus and later 5 night cruise to Greece island + Athens. Also 7 nights cruise will be added during Jul - Aug and September , latest cruise is 22-Sep .

I guess that is answering what will be second country cruises will started from.

jew GIF

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As Royal Caribbean continues to navigate an environment that is ever-changing, our commitment to each of you, our valued travel partners, is one area where transparency and support prevail. For this reason, we are reaching out today to ensure you are among the first to learn of a new development.

Our newest ship, Odyssey of the Seas, will now sail from Haifa, Israel beginning May 2021, offering a combination of 3-to-7-night escapes visiting the Greek Isles and Cyprus. Residents of Israel will be the first to experience this Quantum Ultra Class newcomer during an inaugural season that offers a variety of new and signature onboard experiences. Highlights onboard include a two-level pool deck designed for downtime under the sun and stars, SeaPlex - the two-level indoor and outdoor activity complex that is a high-adrenaline playground for all ages, and a lineup of complimentary and specialty restaurants primed to please every palate with cuisine from around the world. Itinerary details for these new sailings will be available in the coming days, at which time Israeli residents can begin making reservations.

“We are thrilled to debut Royal Caribbean cruises from Israel with our newest and most innovative ship, Odyssey of the Seas. Israeli travelers will be looking to get away, relax with total peace of mind, and enjoy the travel experiences they are missing dearly; and that is what we do best,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International. “Sailing from Israel is an opportunity we have had our sights on for quite some time. We greatly appreciate the government of Israel for their collaboration and confidence in us to deliver memorable cruise experiences to their residents, and look forward to delivering on that promise aboard our newest ship – the first ‘Green Island’ at sea.”

Additionally, in conjunction with Israel’s health and tourism authorities, these will be the first fully-vaccinated sailings, where both crew and guests above the age of 16 will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to boarding. Details on the additional health and safety measures to be implemented by Israel and Royal Caribbean will be announced at a later date.

As you can imagine, it's never an easy decision when our guests’ vacation plans are disrupted. Much thought and planning went into moving Odyssey’s debut to Israel, resulting in the cancellation of a planned Europe season. Guests currently confirmed on an impacted European cruise departing May 9 — October 28, 2021 will have the option to request a refund of the funds paid or leverage Lift & Shift to move to any 2022 sailing of their choice; otherwise, a 125% Future Cruise Credit (FCC) will be automatically administered. Plus, knowing that your clients were eagerly awaiting Odyssey’s inaugural season, a special $100 Onboard Credit per stateroom will be issued to those guests selecting a Future Cruise Credit or the Lift & Shift option. All affected guests and associated travel partners will soon receive an email notification to outline the compensation options in greater detail.

Your partnership means the world to us and, little by little, we are making strides toward crafting vacation memories on the high seas once again!

Stay safe!

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What I find interesting in this announcement is:

"In conjunction with Israel's health and tourism authorities, Royal Caribbean will be the first to offer fully vaccinated sailings, where both crew and guests above the age of 16 will be vaccinated against COVID-19. Details on the additional health and safety measures to be implemented by Israel and Royal Caribbean will be announced at a later date."

A set up for other countries to follow suit? The future will tell.

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10 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

What I find interesting in this announcement is:

"In conjunction with Israel's health and tourism authorities, Royal Caribbean will be the first to offer fully vaccinated sailings, where both crew and guests above the age of 16 will be vaccinated against COVID-19. Details on the additional health and safety measures to be implemented by Israel and Royal Caribbean will be announced at a later date."

A set up for other countries to follow suit? The future will tell.

More like it was the condition of the Israeli health authorities + the Greek/Cyprus one.

But might be followed by the UK .

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12 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

What I find interesting in this announcement is:

A set up for other countries to follow suit? The future will tell.

I was thinking this too. Depending on the virus/vaccine situation and political will on the part of various governments, I could potentially see the start-up as being a number of very localised cruises for very restricted target markets. E.g. British Isles cruises for Brits, Spain/Italy maybe for Schengen area, etc. 

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2 hours ago, CruisingSteve said:

Guests currently confirmed on an impacted European cruise departing May 9 — October 28, 2021

That includes the TA to Florida on Oct. 28 which was already in scope of the CDC CSO being longer than 7 nights prior to Nov. 1.

Will be interesting to see how this progress.  I'm guessing a non-revenue TA absent of guests so they can effectively isolate the ship and crew on the voyage over and present a "clean" ship to US authorities on arrival so the Nov. sailings from Florida can proceed.  

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1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

I was thinking this too. Depending on the virus/vaccine situation and political will on the part of various governments, I could potentially see the start-up as being a number of very localised cruises for very restricted target markets. E.g. British Isles cruises for Brits, Spain/Italy maybe for Schengen area, etc. 

British Isle cruise for the Brits, yes please, right now I'll take anything that's offered, cold wet and windy weather, who cares if it's on a cruise

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46 minutes ago, Mike.s said:

British Isle cruise for the Brits, yes please, right now I'll take anything that's offered, cold wet and windy weather, who cares if it's on a cruise

Well Anthem is a cold weather ship and I understand she's currently in Southampton...

Although someone on the other site did raise the question of whether she is too big to get into any other UK ports, to which I don't know the answer. 

And then there would have to be the political will on the part of BJ and his government. 

 

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19 minutes ago, KristiZ said:

@Traveler, will you be on the inagural cruise now, and do one of your great blogs for us??

We are  aiming for the 5 nights at the 18-June with Rhodes , Athens, Mikonos  stops  ,  so not the "real" inaugural but the first cruise with ports , for sure I will blog here  .  Already left our names with the local travel agent for the pre booking list . Once I will see the price maybe we will take another one earlier. 

Finally no need to fly for a cruise , only one hour drive ? 

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While disappointing for any guests who lost a cruise from Rome the positive aspect is that any opportunity for Royal to get a ship sailing with guests is good for all of us.

Royal is able to fine tune and adapt protocols in partnership with a different government.  Lessons learned from Singapore will be augmented with lesson learned in a different region with different requirements coming from a different government.  This knowledge will help Royal when it comes time to restart cruising in the next region.  Lessons from there will augment lesson from Israel and Singapore and so on.

Every new ship sailing with guests anywhere brings us all closer to a restart closer to home and further proof to public health agencies like the CDC that cruising can be accomplished safely.

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36 minutes ago, Traveler said:

We are  aiming for the 5 nights at the 18-June with Rhodes , Athens, Mikonos  stops  ,  so not the "real" inaugural but the first cruise with ports , for sure I will blog here  .  Already left our names with the local travel agent for the pre booking list . Once I will see the price maybe we will take another one earlier. 

Finally no need to fly for a cruise , only one hour drive ? 

Perhaps you could use the savings from no flights to book a Star Class room?  Curious minds really want to see those rooms. lol

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Apparently we're the only ones affected who are happy with the decision ? Our September 19th (Holy Land) cruise has been cancelled, but that gave us the opportunity for a lift & shift to October 7th 2022 with a waaay better itinerary. Keeping our old price is amazing as we've just saved about 1900 euros (2300 $) - that's UBP, UDP and  a few shore excursions ?

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Apparently my cruise 7th September Holy Land has also been cancelled. I haven't heard anyting from Royal or my TA. But I saw it in Cruiseplanner. Very disappointed.

Does anybody know : I had only paid the $900 deposit. I will be lifting and shifting to October 2022 and I read you then get 125% to compensate. Will I get that over the full fare or just the $900 ?

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6 minutes ago, Marga said:

Apparently my cruise 7th September Holy Land has also been cancelled. I haven't heard anyting from Royal or my TA. But I saw it in Cruiseplanner. Very disappointed.

Does anybody know : I had only paid the $900 deposit. I will be lifting and shifting to October 2022 and I read you then get 125% to compensate. Will I get that over the full fare or just the $900 ?

It's based on the amount you have currently paid rather than total cost of the cruise (I believe)

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1 hour ago, Marga said:

So it would make sense to quickly pay the rest of the amount? I pay directly to my TA and officially i don't know anything about a cancellation yet 

You could try paying in full but I doubt that would work.  I suspect that Royal would decline accepting payment on a cruise that has been cancelled. If you choose the 125% FCC, it will be based on the value of your deposit. 

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6 hours ago, Marga said:

Apparently my cruise 7th September Holy Land has also been cancelled. I haven't heard anyting from Royal or my TA. But I saw it in Cruiseplanner. Very disappointed.

Does anybody know : I had only paid the $900 deposit. I will be lifting and shifting to October 2022 and I read you then get 125% to compensate. Will I get that over the full fare or just the $900 ?

If you do Lift & Shift, you won't get any FCC (neither for the cruise price paid nor for your cruise planner purchases). You'll keep your original cruise price and get 100$ OBC for the cruise you shift to. The October Holy Land cruises are quite expensive at the moment, so if you booked for a favorable price, Lift & Shift should be the best option. 

If you're looking at the October cruises, you couldn't use your FCC for them anyway as the rules state that the FCC is only good until September 30th, 2022 sail dates.

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