Cruise lines and tour ops cancel visits to Ukraine, Crimea

By Michelle Baran

Sevastopol's Monument to Scuttled ShipsAs Russia annexed Crimea and the Ukraine government began to withdraw its military personnel from the peninsula this week, travel suppliers began cancelling visits to Ukraine and Russia, as well as to Crimean destinations.

Cruise lines have begun altering some of their Black Sea sailings to bypass previously scheduled port stops in Odessa, Sevastopol and Yalta.

Windstar, Oceania, MSC, Regent Seven Seas and Azamara have substituted port calls in alternative countries, including Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.

Silversea canceled calls to the Crimean peninsula for the April 25 Black Sea sailing of the Silver Wind and for the July 21 departure of the Silver Spirit. However, should the situation in Crimea improve, the line said it would consider returning to its original itineraries.

Viking Cruises has a 12-day Footsteps of the Cossacks river cruise on the 196-passenger Viking Sineus, which sails from Kiev into the heart of the Crimean peninsula, with port stops in Sevastopol and Yalta. But its Ukraine departures begin in May, and the company has yet to decide if it will cancel any sailings.

“Though we know our passengers are paying attention to the developments on the ground, we have not yet seen significant cancellations,” Richard Marnell, Viking’s senior vice president of marketing, wrote in an email.

During a speech earlier this month at a dinner event to celebrate the christening of its latest generation of river cruise ships, Viking Cruises Chairman Torstein Hagen said that while nearly all of Viking’s river cruise capacity through the end of October was sold out, space was still available on its Ukraine sailings.

Many tour operators have already canceled either part or all of their 2014 tour itineraries that include stops in Crimea, offering affected passengers refunds or the option to rebook travel elsewhere.

Globus canceled all 2014 departures of its Ukraine and Crimea tour; Insight Vacations is no longer offering its 12-day Ukraine, Moldova and Crimea tour; and Intrepid Travel has canceled three Ukraine departures through mid-June.

Royal Caribbean to sail first Black Sea cruises

By Tom Stieghorst
Royal Caribbean International said it will transfer the Rhapsody of the Seas in the summer of 2015 from Alaska to Europe to offer its first Black Sea itineraries.

Rhapsody will offer three roundtrip sailings, 10 and 11 days in duration, from Istanbul. It will make maiden port calls at Burgas, Bulgaria; Odessa, Yalta and Sevastapol, Ukraine; and Sochi, Russia, with overnight stays in Odessa, Sochi and Istanbul.

From July to mid-November Rhapsody will sail seven- to 11-day Greece and Turkey itineraries from Rome.

Replacing Rhapsody in Alaska for the 2015 season will be the slightly larger Jewel of the Seas, which will join Radiance of the Seas in that market.

In total, eight Royal Caribbean ships will sail in Europe for the summer of 2015.

New river cruise line sails in Russia, Ukraine

By Michelle Baran

Two cruise operators have partnered to create World Quest Cruises, which is offering river cruises in Russia and Ukraine, among other destinations, to travelers in North America.

World Quest Cruises is a joint venture of Huntington, N.Y.-based Imperial River Cruises and Moscow-based Orthodox Cruise Co. Global Voyages Group of Bellevue, Wash., has been tapped to provide North American sales, marketing and call center support.

Imperial and Orthodox have been operating cruises in Russia and Ukraine for more than 20 years, and finally decided to sell their product directly to the North American market.

“The principal advantage is the experience — they’ve been operating ships in Russia for more than 20 years,” said Tom Russell, managing partner at Global Voyages Group. “The second is the value. Their products are typically 20% lower-priced than some of the other products that are available. That’s because there’s no middleman involved. They are the supplier.”

Starting in 2014, World Quest Cruises is offering river cruise itineraries in Russia and Ukraine, Portugal, Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as expedition cruises in Antarctica and the North Pole.

The company will sell into ships that Orthodox owns and operates in Russia and Ukraine, and charter other river cruise vessels.

World Quest’s expedition cruises to Antarctica will be aboard the 114-passenger Sea Explorer. The 128-passenger icebreaker 50 Years of Victory will travel on a 14-day trip from the Russian port of Murmansk to the North Pole.

The North Pole itinerary will run from June 19 through Aug. 8, 2014, with prices starting at $24,995 per person, based on double occupancy.

In 2015, the company will expand its Russian river cruise offering with a 12-day itinerary between Moscow and St. Petersburg aboard the 100-passenger Princess Anabella, a vessel that is being refurbished for the 2015 program.

Prices for this river cruise start at $4,495 per person, plus port taxes and fuel surcharges. World Quest Cruises will have exclusive access to the Princess Anabella in 2015.