Israel (Haifa)

We are sailing on Fantasia over Chrismas and the New Year. One of our stops is Haifa in Israel.

Does anyone know if MSC are still stopping here as we have heard that some cruise lines have stopped? Not heard any thing from MSC. Also any advice when visiting this port will be welcome. Thanks.

We are sailing on Fantasia over Chrismas and the New Year. One of our stops is Haifa in Israel.

Does anyone know if MSC are still stopping here as we have heard that some cruise lines have stopped? Not heard any thing from MSC. Also any advice when visiting this port will be welcome. Thanks.

We stopped here in 2010 on a Thomson Cruise. Had a full day excursion to Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, River Jordan, lunch at a kibbutz and a couple of other Biblical sites. A great day, one of the highlights of the Cruise.

We are going on the MSC fantasia over Christmas, when we port in Haifa we are planning to stay the night at a Jerusalem hotel, been to Jerusalem before this time I'm bringing the family

We are going on the MSC fantasia over Christmas, when we port in Haifa we are planning to stay the night at a Jerusalem hotel, been to Jerusalem before this time I'm bringing the family

The U.K. Government have issued some warnings to Israel especially around Jerusalem and surrounding areas and routes to Jerusalem. They have mentioned some incidents in that area recently. I do not want to put a dampener on your tour but may I suggest you look to see if the USA government have issued the same warnings to be vigilant.

We are also on the Fantasia Christmas cruise. Because we are traveling with our mothers and a wheelchair and the security risk as in Jerusalem, we will spend our time in Haifa. It looks as though there will be plenty to do there.

We are also on the Fantasia Christmas cruise. Because we are traveling with our mothers and a wheelchair and the security risk as in Jerusalem, we will spend our time in Haifa. It looks as though there will be plenty to do there.

I think we will be doing the same. We were so looking forward to this country as we have never been but with things as they are I think it maybe safer.

It still is probably a lot safer than, let's say Miami or any other big American city. Hopefully I will get there before my time on this Earth has been completed.

We are sailing on Fantasia over Chrismas and the New Year. One of our stops is Haifa in Israel.

Does anyone know if MSC are still stopping here as we have heard that some cruise lines have stopped? Not heard any thing from MSC. Also any advice when visiting this port will be welcome. Thanks.

Hi I have just return from cruise with MSC Musica, 22 nov - 13 Dec 2015. we were to stop at Ashdod Israel but this was changed to Haifa, I took a shore trip to Bethlehem, also visited The Temple mount, the wailing wall and the Holy sepulchre, very interesting and safe trip over border from Israel to Palestine. would thouroughly recommend this shore cruise. I arranged a trip with the ship but Viator also offer shore cruises from Haifa. cheers, merry christmas

Hi I have just return from cruise with MSC Musica, 22 nov - 13 Dec 2015. we were to stop at Ashdod Israel but this was changed to Haifa, I took a shore trip to Bethlehem, also visited The Temple mount, the wailing wall and the Holy sepulchre, very interesting and safe trip over border from Israel to Palestine. Amazing place to visit. would thouroughly recommend this shore tours. I arranged a trip with the ship but Viator also offer shore cruises from Haifa. cheers, merry christmas

We are going on the same cruise next month :)

Do any of you still have the MSC tour leaflets for Haifa? We are trying to organise as much in advance as we can and I read on here somewhere :confused: (I've read that much that my brain is about to expode!!) that MSC have more tours available onboard ship than online.

If you did the MSC tour could you let me know which one? My OH's attitude is "might as well see it - not be here again" and I haven't worked up the courage yet to tell him how far away most places are :( and my DD is refusing to get off the ship totally! And I really cannot wait to see the Holy Land, I'm excited.com

Also, I read that there was a 2 hour wait for passports to be checked???? Anyone else?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

A friend and I are doing the Feb. 26th stop in Haifa. Are you by chance going to arrive on that date? We are looking to share a transfer to Jerusalem and want to stay overnight.

Extract from MSC email regarding my post above:

"The cancellation of the call to Haifa was due to terrorist threats which caused us to decide against sailing there. We hope you can appreciate that this decision was made with our passengers safety in mind."

Yes, I saw your post earlier in the week, Bollinge. We (MSC) are still going to Haifa - originally we were also scheduled into Egypt but that was cancelled many months ago.

How on earth MSC can take the next few cruises to Israel after sending this "The cancellation of the call to Haifa was due to terrorist threats which caused us to decide against sailing there. We hope you can appreciate that this decision was made with our passengers safety in mind" to yourself? When you go in September the region might be much more stable than it is now.

This is the reason my DD is not dis-embarking.

Myself and OH are going to wait until the last minute to make a decision but it will definitely be a ship tour - we normally make our own arrangements but would feel more safe in Israel knowing that MSC would wait for all their tours to be back on board before sailing.

So, Travelstogo, yes that is our sailing but no we won't be joining yourselves overnight in Jerusalem. But, it is good to know that there will be other English speaking guests on board:)

Any other insights or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

duplicate post. Sorry

Yes, I saw your post earlier in the week, Bollinge. We (MSC) are still going to Haifa - originally we were also scheduled into Egypt but that was cancelled many months ago.

 

How on earth MSC can take the next few cruises to Israel after sending this "The cancellation of the call to Haifa was due to terrorist threats which caused us to decide against sailing there. We hope you can appreciate that this decision was made with our passengers safety in mind" to yourself? When you go in September the region might be much more stable than it is now.

 

This is the reason my DD is not dis-embarking.

 

Myself and OH are going to wait until the last minute to make a decision but it will definitely be a ship tour - we normally make our own arrangements but would feel more safe in Israel knowing that MSC would wait for all their tours to be back on board before sailing.

 

So, Travelstogo, yes that is our sailing but no we won't be joining yourselves overnight in Jerusalem. But, it is good to know that there will be other English speaking guests on board:)

 

Any other insights or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks[/QUOTe]

 

So, I just sent the following note to MSC UK, in reply.

 

If I were you, I would not bank on visiting Haifa, think Cyprus instead. Will let you know their response, but it's only a lady sitting at her desk parroting edicts from Head Office in Italy. Don't forget MSC were caught up with Costa in the Tunis museum attack last year.

 

"Thank you for your note. Of course we all understand the risk of terrorist attacks which can occur anywhere, such as Paris, Istanbul, Bombay, New York, Tunis, London, Glasgow, Jakarta, etc., and you are wise to err on the side of caution.

 

However, it seems to me that Haifa is one of the safest places in the world right now. Has MSC cancelled all calls there this year, or is the "threat" specific to September? I note visits by your ships have recently taken place to Haifa and are still scheduled."

So, I just sent the following note to MSC UK, in reply.

 

If I were you, I would not bank on visiting Haifa, think Cyprus instead. Will let you know their response, but it's only a lady sitting at her desk parroting edicts from Head Office in Italy. Don't forget MSC were caught up with Costa in the Tunis museum attack last year.

 

"Thank you for your note. Of course we all understand the risk of terrorist attacks which can occur anywhere, such as Paris, Istanbul, Bombay, New York, Tunis, London, Glasgow, Jakarta, etc., and you are wise to err on the side of caution.

 

However, it seems to me that Haifa is one of the safest places in the world right now. Has MSC cancelled all calls there this year, or is the "threat" specific to September? I note visits by your ships have recently taken place to Haifa and are still scheduled."

Yes, this is quite peculiar! Perhaps fear of cancelled bookings and the availablily of the port of Cyprus also come into the equation. BTW, Fantasia just left Haifa about an hour ago: I assume all went smoothly. We are sailing this ship in March and have decided that if it ports in Haifa then we will still take an overnight trip to Jerusalem. If it sails elsewhere, so be it, I just hope that we are given enough notice to cancel our hotel and private tour.

Watching this thread with interest.it seems that my Costa cruise from Venice to Dubai has been cancelled for "operative reasons" and is being replaced by another ship sailing Savona to Dubai (not that they have gotten around to telling me yet). All the European posts have changed and the Egtptian posts all dropped. However we now have Haifa!

It is not until November, so Imdare say Costa may switch some more ports about. As long as we still call in Jordan for Petra and transit the Suez and end up in the UAE, I'll be happy.

Bit strange what MSC are doing though. Usually it is the other way around when they cancel a port from current sailings and take a while to rescheduled later cruises. They cancelled Tunis a while back for 2015, but it is only this month they've told me they have dropped it from my June sailing and replaced it with Valetta which is what I was expecting them to do.

Mairi .... I remember our Costa cruise a few years back over the Christmas period was changed about five times, first it was extended by one day lucky that Kerry had already booked that day off, they removed a call to Egypt and put in Libya three days after the fighting began! a week or so later they changed that having already taken out Tunis as well having put in another Tunisian port call which was then also removed.

We ended up with Malta,Corsica and Sicily after the obligatory call to Naples which was in the Christmas swing, shame the same cannot be said about the ship.

AmoMondo - I thought of you when I read this:

http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-reviews/msc-cruises/msc-musica/read-review-111352/

The of big cruise shops being attacked by pirates :eek: