New to Site & cruise isn't canceled to Turkey-help?

I'm new to this site, it appears a lot of cruise lines are not stopping in Turkey now as it's on the Government watch list. The cruise line I'm on is still going there (RCL). per my conversation with the Monday.

It's our anniversary cruise, travel agent says, I'll lose all our money if we cancel, we have ins. thru the agent....

any advice? Are we just being jumpy?

The cruise line can cancel any time up to the morning of arrival in a port. Canceling in advance does give the possibility of scheduling another port, but on any given cruise, the availability of alternative ports isn't always there.

Are you talking about canceling your cruise if it doesn't make a Turkey port stop? That might be an over reaction. Or does your cruise begin or end at a Turkish port? That is a far more complicated situation.

Unless you have cancel for any reason you will most likely lose your $$ depending on when you cancel & the cancellation penalty with the cruise line

Even with CFAR you may only get 75-80% back ..read the fine print

If there is some problems in Turkey the ship will most likely change the itinerary

When is the cruise ??

What port in Turkey ?

I'm new to this site, it appears a lot of cruise lines are not stopping in Turkey now as it's on the Government watch list. The cruise line I'm on is still going there (RCL). per my conversation with the Monday.

It's our anniversary cruise, travel agent says, I'll lose all our money if we cancel, we have ins. thru the agent....

any advice? Are we just being jumpy?

It depends on your risk tolerance.

For us, missing Istanbul is causing us to seriously consider cancelling our entire cruise. Princess will not commit to any changes other than the closest, upcoming itineraries.

No word on anything in September, October or November. :(

jrawn, no, you are not being jumpy. Recent communications from Royal Caribbean include cancellation of all port calls to Turkey, including Ephesus (Kusadasi). They will now call on a Greece port. All shore excursions purchased through RCI will be refunded to the form of payment used. They continue to monitor the situation in Turkey. This is from RCI's website, with regard to the Brilliance and Vision of the Seas: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/beforeyouboard/itineraryUpdates.do.

We depart Aug 22 from Rome, Italy,and return there. Turkey is just a port

Yes, you're being jumpy and unrealistic.

You have the same odds your flight will crash going to Europe as something will happen to you while visiting Turkey

We depart Aug 22 from Rome, Italy,and return there. Turkey is just a port

Do not see a ship departing on the 22nd ...do you mean the 21st ?

Jewel of the seas?

I would just wait & go with the flow at this point JMO

You are in the penalty phase & unless RCL offer to let you change the sailing date you will be out of pocket

Hi Jrawn

Welcome to cruise critic.

I agree that unless you have a cancel for any reason insurance and are willing change all your plans, just try not to worry.

I can imagine your main concern would be safety. Remember the cruise lines try not to put their passengers in harms way. They will take all reasonable precautions to not endanger you. If they do make a stop where you are not comfortable, you still have the option on staying on the ship. (or not venturing too far)

The world has become a very complicated place and if you hesitate to travel every time something happens, you might find yourself trapped at home. Then what do you do if something happens on your street?

have a great cruise

Thank you so much for this info!!! I'll be monitoring it and I guess it's just who you ask. I'm an info gatherer and not one to stick my head in the sand.

yes, your right cruise out on the 21st, return on the 28th

If you're feeling uneasy, just stay onboard on that port day.

The cruise line can cancel any time up to the morning of arrival in a port. Canceling in advance does give the possibility of scheduling another port, but on any given cruise, the availability of alternative ports isn't always there.

 

Are you talking about canceling your cruise if it doesn't make a Turkey port stop? That might be an over reaction. Or does your cruise begin or end at a Turkish port? That is a far more complicated situation.

Sorry to piggyback, but relating to the original question and your answer -- Our cruise is on Sept 13 of this year and Kusadasi is a stop. Assuming they will cancel the port stop (Turkey has just declared itself in a 3 month state of emergency), will that give Carnival enough time to schedule a different port as opposed to an extra sea day in your opinion? I'm really not looking forward to an extra sea day so hopelessly searching for some optimistic news/opinions.

Sorry to piggyback, but relating to the original question and your answer -- Our cruise is on Sept 13 of this year and Kusadasi is a stop. Assuming they will cancel the port stop (Turkey has just declared itself in a 3 month state of emergency), will that give Carnival enough time to schedule a different port as opposed to an extra sea day in your opinion? I'm really not looking forward to an extra sea day so hopelessly searching for some optimistic news/opinions.

Generally yes...but getting an alternative port, and maintaining the schedule of the cruise is not always just a quick and easy fix. Sometimes there are other ports are available, sometimes not. If a port is available, and Carnival hasn't used that port before, setting up excursions becomes a new ball game.

Carnival doesn't have a large presence in the Med...they would have to draw on the operations of their fellow Carnival Corp cruise lines, who are also scrambling to substitute ports.

Generally yes...but getting an alternative port, and maintaining the schedule of the cruise is not always just a quick and easy fix. Sometimes there are other ports are available, sometimes not. If a port is available, and Carnival hasn't used that port before, setting up excursions becomes a new ball game.

 

Carnival doesn't have a large presence in the Med...they would have to draw on the operations of their fellow Carnival Corp cruise lines, who are also scrambling to substitute ports.

Very complicated situation, definitely. Thanks for your response - I still have some hope.

Where do you find that Turkey has declared a 3 mth state of emergency? Our cruise with Royal Caribbean on August 21 would fall into that time frame then and I'm going to relax. A cruise that we planned on for a year should be a fun thing. We are going to do the wait and see.

Where do you find that Turkey has declared a 3 mth state of emergency? Our cruise with Royal Caribbean on August 21 would fall into that time frame then and I'm going to relax. A cruise that we planned on for a year should be a fun thing. We are going to do the wait and see.

Most news outlets reported it 2 days ago, but here is one link to the NY times article about it. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/world/europe/turkey-erdogan-gulen.html

I'm new to this site, it appears a lot of cruise lines are not stopping in Turkey now as it's on the Government watch list. The cruise line I'm on is still going there (RCL). per my conversation with the Monday.

It's our anniversary cruise, travel agent says, I'll lose all our money if we cancel, we have ins. thru the agent....

any advice? Are we just being jumpy?

I have read through your question a few times and have read the various responses you have received so far.

I for one have no clue what your question is, and I think that is true of many others here. A. If you are concerned about the safety of visiting Turkey and want to know if your cruise line is likely to keep you safe, that is one question. B. If you are dying to go to Turkey (sorry if that is an unfortunate metaphor) and are hoping that the cruise line does NOT cancel, that is a different question.

The general answer is that the cruise lines, including RCL, are going to avoid high-risk areas, and their definition of high risk seems to be set by very nervous people. From my reading here, it seems that the companys' excess of caution causes many passengers the most problems due to missed ports (i.e., the missed Israeli ports that were on some passengers' "must have" "once-in-a-life-time" lists). But the companies do have a moral and legal obligation to their passengers. So, for better or worse, they will NOT stick to an itinerary if it seems that there is any significant risk. That may cause you to give a sigh of relief, or it may make you wish you had planned your own land tour wherein you wouldn't be held captive to the corporations' policies and decisions. In either case, I hope you are able to avoid stressing out about this. Relax, go where the ship takes you, enjoy what is offered, and count your blessings at being able to enjoy such luxury.

 

The general answer is that the cruise lines, including RCL, are going to avoid high-risk areas, and their definition of high risk seems to be set by very nervous people. From my reading here, it seems that the companys' excess of caution causes many passengers the most problems due to missed ports (i.e., the missed Israeli ports that were on some passengers' "must have" "once-in-a-life-time" lists). But the companies do have a moral and legal obligation to their passengers. So, for better or worse, they will NOT stick to an itinerary if it seems that there is any significant risk. .

Excellent comment. :)

As far as Turkey is concerned, the more-nervous cruise lines started cancelling or foreshortening calls in Istanbul because of the political situation many months ago, long before even the atrocity that took eight German tourists' lives, or the Ataturk airport bombing, or the coup attempt.

Other cruise lines continued with calls to Kusadasi and even Istanbul because they know that Istanbul in particular is an exceptionally popular port-of-call. But the recently-announced State of Emergency will almost certainly have prompted them to abandon all Turkish ports, including Kusadasi, for the foreseeable future.

I am one who decries excessive caution, but recent events and Erdogan's consequent clamp-down make even me nervous about the future of Turkey.

If ships continue to call at Turkish ports it will be because they deem them to be safe. Cruise lines are more nervous than me, and know the situation far better than me or other travellers.

If you are unhappy about that, you can simply stay on the ship - there are far, far easier targets for suicide bombers and gun-toting zealots than a cruise ship.

But if they haven't done so already, RCI will probably cancel Turkish ports.

It may be that they have already decided to do so but holding back an announcement in order to sweeten the bad news with good news about an alternate port.

There are easy alternatives to Kusadasi, including ports in Cyprus and the Greek islands. But, as Bruce's comment, the question is whether those places are already fully-committed. Fingers crossed for jrawn and kirkandmimi.

JB :)

My apologies as I look through my post and wasn't clear enough. No, Turkey wasn't high on my list when I chose this cruise so it surely wouldn't break my heart to not go there. It was more about cost/amt of time we can be gone. My ideal would be if they replaced the Turkey port with Mykonos (sp?) I've been watching the news daily and at this point, hope this happens.

My apologies as I look through my post and wasn't clear enough. No, Turkey wasn't high on my list when I chose this cruise so it surely wouldn't break my heart to not go there. It was more about cost/amt of time we can be gone. My ideal would be if they replaced the Turkey port with Mykonos (sp?) I've been watching the news daily and at this point, hope this happens.

The cruise that I just returned from was originally scheduled to over night in Istanbul. We booked immediately upon seeing that. This was a year out.

About 3 mos later I learned that the Istanbul port was canceled. I was extremely disappointed.

Since it was 7 mos before departure, the cruise line had enough time to replace Istanbul with Santorini and Kusadasi.

I would still rather have had to overnight in Istanbul, however, Kusadasi ( Euphsis) was amazing. Santorini was okay.