Middle East safety?

We would love to take a world cruise but are a little apprehensive about cruising through the Middle East/Suez Canal. Seems like cruise ships would make great targets for terrorists. Are we just lucky so far? Are cruise ships escorted? Am I too paranoid? We are experienced international travelers and have never had any worries till this occurred to me. Thanks!

In 2014 I did a world cruise that went through the Suez Canal. While in the Arabian Sea we did have protection from pirates. In the Suez Canal the ships go through in a convoy. We were supposed to have a couple of stops in Egypt but they were cancelled about a month before we were scheduled there.

Although I am not booking any trips to Syria or Afghanistan, I am not staying home because of terrorists. According to this site the odds of being killed in a terrorist strike is 1 in 20 million (odds of being killed in a car accident is 1 in 113). http://www.lifeinsurancequotes.org/additional-resources/deadly-statistics/

A couple of things.

Not all World Cruises go all around the world so you can easily find a World Cruise that doesn't sail the Suez Canal.

I have no fears or concerns of sailing the Suez Canal. I feel very good about the security.

What I might not do right now is get off in say Egypt. So I would just stay on the ship.

I have been to Egypt twice before on other World Cruises.

Keith

You might consider doing segments of WCs that avoid that area.All WCs seem to have them.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2292232&page=27

Here is a posting from a blog by a couple on the current HAL WC - the last entry notes cruising through the area you are concerned about. Some points are razor wire on the Promenade DEck, Security & extra security during certain times(Ex Navy Seals) and lites being turned off.

The couple have done several WC & longer cruises and write very balanced reviews of their experiences...there is a link to their blog also - interesting read.

While we have yet to go, in reading Pete's blog, security seemed very high on their recent Suez transport. They were lead by an Egyptian destroyer and there appeared to be lots of security on the land as well. Still, no guarantees.