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Israeli turmoil


clojacks
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We have a cruise scheduled in Sept '17 that includes 3 days in Israel. I know in the past, Celebrity, who we are sailing with, has cancelled the Israel stops and replaced them with more stops in Greece. With the events in Jerusalem of this weekend, it caused me to try to acquire some info in past practices when events occurred that made the stop unsafe. Mainly, how far out did people find out and what options were offered? Does anyone expect the recent events to cause any of the lines to reconsider Israel for 2017?

 

 

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If they deemed any US port to be unsafe, I would hope that they would. I trust all the lines I sail on to do their due diligence and keep all passengers as safe as possible. Thank you for your reply, even though it doesn't provide any of the info I was seeking.

 

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Last year a lady on our roll call for Baltic cruise cancelled her cruise after the Belgian bombings. Our cruise was totally uneventful but the Orlando shootings happened then. Where are you safest?

Always be alert and trust your instincts but still travel, it's what makes the world turn for me.

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Last year a lady on our roll call for Baltic cruise cancelled her cruise after the Belgian bombings. Our cruise was totally uneventful but the Orlando shootings happened then. Where are you safest?

Always be alert and trust your instincts but still travel, it's what makes the world turn for me.

 

I was scheduled to be in the airport at FLL last Friday. My flight was 7 PM so I was enjoying lunch with daughter a couple of miles away when shooting happened. I have flown in and out of said airport a hundred times but that took airport experience to a new level. I was also 3 miles from Pentagon 9/11 and spent that day on the fly securing 800 children and getting them back to parents . My car was embargoed for 3 days in parking garage when Reagan was shot in the next building from my office. I was in the Bologna train station in Italy day before it was shot up with 20 killed (1980?) My mom called from US and that is how I learned of that. I was in a school fire. And I lived next to a school that had one of the beltway shooting victims. I was flying into London the day terrorists bombed the tube and the bus that was bombed was on the same street as our hotel for the night. We went to South Hampton to wait for our ship after a scramble to find a rental car. Terror is not at all new. Terror is really scary! Each of these incidents made me fall on my knees and thank My God for his protection BUT I will still go and live my life. I will not let the terrorist stop my exploring the world. I will also do a smart assessment of the situation and not go looking for trouble. Seems enough finds me without looking. Next cruise up sails through Myanmar and the Straits of Hormuz (shots over the bow of Iranian ship last couple of days) but declined to go next segment of world cruise from Abu Dhabi to Rome. Still waiting for Arab Spring areas and the areas of severe refugee flight to get settled. I dearly hope to go there.

 

I do understand the wanting to know what might be done if political situation is not good. If Oceania decides to not go to Abu Dhabi for disembarkation I would like to know alternatives they might use. I hope somebody can help think this out. (not that our thinks will hold much viability:D )

Edited by Bowie MeMe
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We have a cruise scheduled in Sept '17 that includes 3 days in Israel. I know in the past, Celebrity, who we are sailing with, has cancelled the Israel stops and replaced them with more stops in Greece. With the events in Jerusalem of this weekend, it caused me to try to acquire some info in past practices when events occurred that made the stop unsafe. Mainly, how far out did people find out and what options were offered? Does anyone expect the recent events to cause any of the lines to reconsider Israel for 2017?

 

 

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I don't think you need to worry. Israel has the best security. We went there in October for 3 days and had excellent tours Guided Tours Israel. Felt very safe and I think you will be fine. If you are worried about cancellation of cruise be sure to just have trip insurance to protect your investment of flight and cruise.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I don't think you need to worry. Israel has the best security. We went there in October for 3 days and had excellent tours Guided Tours Israel. Felt very safe and I think you will be fine. If you are worried about cancellation of cruise be sure to just have trip insurance to protect your investment of flight and cruise.

 

Getting insurance is a great idea but it doesn't always work. We were on the Connie 2 years ago and had arrangements for private tours for our 3 day visit. One day before our cruise departed (we were already on our way to Istanbul for a precruise tour, X cancelled Israel, shortened the stop in Istanbul and substituted the greek Islands and Athens. Unfortunately it was too late to cancel our cruise, over 90% of the pax were angry and disappointed. BTW, X did nothing to make up the change (which we understand they have the right to do). In addition, a few other cruise lines (not the mass market ones) continued to stop in Israel at the same time. We're taking a land tour to Israel this time this year.

Edited by dabear
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If you wait for things to settle down in Israel you'll never ever get to visit.

And if you book when it seems to be relatively quiet, by the time you visit it probably won't be. Or vice-versa.

 

We put it off for literally decades before we came to that conclusion, and booked regardless.

Had a great time, never felt threatened.

No itinerary changes for us, though a week or two later when a couple of rockets were lobbed into Ashdod from Gaza ships avoided the port for a while. Luck of the draw.

 

Whilst the prospects of being in danger are incredibly low even in the most turbulent of times, it's a matter of chance whether safety issues will mean that your itinerary will be changed last-minute.

This is one matter in which a cruise has a big advantage (or disadvantage, depending how you look at it) over a land vacation, because a port-of-call can be switched quite easily whereas hotels tend to be rather static. ;)

So although your itinerary can be messed up, your vacation won't be cancelled last-minute.

 

JB :)

 

ps Bowie MeMe - please post all your travel plans and dates, so I can avoid those places at those times. :D

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

We just returned from a cruise through the Middle East.

We departed Dubai and sailed to Oman, Jordan, 2 ports in Egypt, through the Suez Canal, 2 days in Israel, then on to Crete, Dubrovnik and ending in Venice.

 

Never once did we feel threatened.

I felt safer than some cities in the USA.

NCL had armed guards on the top of the ship in the night when going through questionable areas.

We had amazing guides in Egypt and Israel.

I am so glad that we went.

If you let the terrorists rule your travels, then they have won.

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We tried twice on NCL and Celebrity to make 3 day stops in Israel. For NCL about 5 years ago, we were to dock on Sunday, but Friday night at 6pm the captain announced canceling Israel. About 2 or 3 years ago one day before we departed for our Celebrity cruise out of Istanbul, X cancelled Israel (too late to cancel cruise), & substituted Greek Islands and Athens. On Santorini we found out a few other cruise lines did not cancel & in fact stopped in Israel without incident at about the same time. On each cruise we had arranged for private tours.

This year we've decided to go to Israel on a land tour. Good luck.

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We tried twice on NCL and Celebrity to make 3 day stops in Israel. For NCL about 5 years ago, we were to dock on Sunday, but Friday night at 6pm the captain announced canceling Israel. About 2 or 3 years ago one day before we departed for our Celebrity cruise out of Istanbul, X cancelled Israel (too late to cancel cruise), & substituted Greek Islands and Athens. On Santorini we found out a few other cruise lines did not cancel & in fact stopped in Israel without incident at about the same time. On each cruise we had arranged for private tours.

 

This year we've decided to go to Israel on a land tour. Good luck.

 

 

 

Do you mean a coach tour?

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We tried twice on NCL and Celebrity to make 3 day stops in Israel. For NCL about 5 years ago, we were to dock on Sunday, but Friday night at 6pm the captain announced canceling Israel. About 2 or 3 years ago one day before we departed for our Celebrity cruise out of Istanbul, X cancelled Israel (too late to cancel cruise), & substituted Greek Islands and Athens. On Santorini we found out a few other cruise lines did not cancel & in fact stopped in Israel without incident at about the same time. On each cruise we had arranged for private tours.

This year we've decided to go to Israel on a land tour. Good luck.

 

 

That is too bad about the cancellations.

I would have been upset also.

I believe that NCL is trying very hard not to cancel ports in the Middle East.

We had high security on the STAR in April and were able to visit all ports as scheduled.

It was an amazing cruise.

I know an excellent tour company / guide for Israel.

The one we used is a small private company and he was probably the best guide I've ever had - anywhere.

Uri Golani tell him Judy sent you.

He does tours from hotels or ships.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We were on the Celebrity cruise October 2015. The Israel ports were cancelled the morning we were flying to Rome for the cruise. Celebrity did substitute extra ports in Greece and Italy. We were very disappointed as Israel was the main reason we booked this b2b 28 day cruise. However we made the best of it an actually had a great time.

 

We are now considering trying the same cruise again this year. I am very worried that this might happen again and if it does I don't think we would be able to just enjoy the cruise. Too much time and money invested. The other couple we went with really wants to try again. I really don't know what to do and I think I am looking for some reassurance.

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We were there on Easter Sunday this year (2017), and the day after and are so glad that we were able to visit. The bombings in Syria had just happened. Our ship, the NCL Spirit docked in Haifa for two days. We used GuidedtoursIsrael and had wonderful tours both days with our tour guide Mickey. She was wonderful and did a great job on getting us around to all the sites we're wanted to see safely and she knew a lot of information on Christian and Jewish history. I encourage you to try again to see this wonderful place. I was a little nervous since we visited Bethlehem also, but once we saw the sites and were able to touch where Jesus was born, see where he was crucified, and visit the western wall, we never regretted our trip. There is so much more that we saw! I hope you have success with your next trip.

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Do you mean a coach tour?

 

 

Yes , after 19 cruises it will be a coach tour with a number of free days to do things on our own. We've also done a lot of independent travel not on ships.

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