Deadly Protests in Bahrain Sparks Costa to Cancel Calls

[Dan Askin]

Deadly Protests in Bahrain Spark Cruise Cancellations

[KirkNC]

Not surprised as many of the mideast ports are a little dicey right now. I can't get over being in Tunis twice last year on cruises and now they have riots in the streets.

 

Kirk

[UKBayern]

I thought that might happen after events yesterday. My parents are on the Luminosa next week. Luckily, Costa will not put in a sea day, but another port day.

[sidari]

So cancel Bahrain and add Libya to our cruise at Xmas ! despite demonstrations there as well ! makes you wonder what is going on with them.

[UKBayern]

So cancel Bahrain and add Libya to our cruise at Xmas ! despite demonstrations there as well ! makes you wonder what is going on with them.

 

I really don't understand what you are talking about. Bahrain is substituted by Abu Dhabi or Muscat next week, not by Libya. I also looked at your sailing at XMas, and your ship was never supposed to call at Bahrain in the first place.

[sidari]

UKBayern ... I know we were not going to Bahrain, i was merely saying that the inclusion of an extra day and to go to Libya after Costa new that trouble had already started is somewhat strange to say the least.

[G.M.T.]

Trying to get a cruise ship into Libya takes months if not years of negoiations before the first passengers disembark.

 

But it only takes minutes to cancel a port call and re-route a ship.

 

Ron

[sidari]

Ron .... Costa added Libya 2 days ago which added a 6th night to the cruise which was 5 nights, have to wonder what will happen if problems continue in those countries! as i said strange choice knowing trouble had already started there.

[Welshdoc]

We just disembarked from Deliziosa on Sunday. Obviously safety is paramount but do feel a liitle disappointed that our cruise only really lasted four nights with an extra day at Dubai. The ship seems to be a day late at every port this week suggesting they had a very long stay at Dubai over the weekend!

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Hello, i'm writing from Bahrain ! :)

 

 

Other than the Pearl Roundabout, a small area in Manama, the nation is fine. There is absolutely no violence, the protesters' camp is more akin to a rock concert than a protest venue, with a stage, celebrations, food, even a make-shift barber shop opening up. I will not go into details about why violence was initially used, but yesterday I was there doing some photography- I do not personally agree with their cause, but it was just something that had to be seen !

Nonetheless, I doubt that the Kingdom will want people mixing with the protesters, so I doubt they will allow cruise ships to call here- from a safety point of view, I assure all that it is safe and all the travel warnings should be lifted in the very near future. In fact, quite honestly, the protests would be quite a tourist attraction (of course this cannot be the case for obvious reasons, but what am I trying to say is that in no way is it dangerous).

I can predict that cruise ships, unless some drastic changes are made, will not call in Bahrain until the Winter season.

 

Libya, on the other hand, is a different story in its entirety. Bahrain is not a dictatorship- the protesters want certain political changes- Libya is one (dictatorship), and it is unlikely that even after the fall of Ghaddafi things will calm down- there are to many factions within the nation, and no particular leader. Libya is not Egypt. Nonetheless Costa will not cancel cruises until you are atleast a few months out from the sailing.

 

I hope I did not stray too far off topic here- I know there are some political themes in my post but I find that necessary to clear things up about cruise ships calling in places which, incidentally, are suffering from political civil unrest.

 

Regards and greetings from Bahrain !