Princess statement on Egypt

[7leagueboots]

I suspect that there will a lot of changed port stops over the next several months. It is really to bad about Alexandria, however, as seeing the Pyramids is a once in a lifetime opportunity for some people. Hopefully the situation there will be resolved - both for the people of Egypt and for the people who want to see its treasures.

[cruisemom42]

With what seems to be happening on a daily basis in both North Africa and the Middle East I truly believe Now is Not the right time to plan a visit there or anywhere nearby

.Who knew All of it was going to blow up in a domino-like fashion and in such little time .Since 2011 has started that part of the world has gone berserk!!!!

Who is next????

Many other places like Greece or Turkey have loads of problems too and who knows what will spark those people into marching in the streets THat whole region is way OUT OF CONTROL and extremely dangerous

I believe we North Americans should stay put .Those people too often blame us or Europeans for their problems and sometimes tourists or as we have seen or journalists get caught in crossfire .In such countries we are a VISIBLE MINORITY and can become easy targets

I hope cruise companies realize it is not safe there and bring some ships back here True hurricanes in summer are no picnic but at least they do not have guns

 

Michele

 

In response to this, I will repost what I said on the HAL board a few days ago when someone posted a similarly alarmist post:

 

If there is credible information suggesting a threat, then the US Government (or other governments) should post travel warnings. Absent a warning and given that tours are visiting a particular place (and I am of course not including Egypt in the past few weeks or next few months), I wouldn't be unduly alarmed to travel somewhere -- why would I be?

 

One can wonder where is "safe" -- the recent airport bombing in Moscow killed 35 people. The Madrid train bombing in 2004 killed 190 people and injured nearly 10 times that many. And the London subway bombing in 2005 led to the death of 56 people with many more injured.

 

I suppose I could just stay at home, but then statistics have shown me that I am much more likely to die as a result of my daily commute to work and back than that I would ever be involved in any sort of danger while traveling abroad.

 

Of course, I would not put myself in the path of danger knowingly -- wouldn't go into a war zone, wouldn't visit Egypt right now. But I think you are stretching a bit far in saying that all of the Greece and Turkey is a no-go zone. :rolleyes:

 

-------------

 

From a Newsweek article on "What Should you REALLY be afraid of?" (Estimates per year, most figures from 2008)

 

Americans murdered each year in the US: 14,180

Deaths by unintentional poisoning: 27,531

Fatal car crashes in US: 34,017

Americans that die from seasonal flu: 36,171

Americans killed by terrorist attacks around the world: 33

 

I think I will take my chances.....

[mes531]

Like Pia, we spent two weeks in Egypt in 2006. One week in Cairo to see the lower Nile and a week on the Upper Nile seeing Luxor, Aswan, Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel, etc.

 

Egypt would be difficult to see on any one given day, and I would think twice before I would schedule any independent tour there, especially now. As the previous posts, we did a transatlantic in 2009 and then tacked on a 10 day Egypt and Nile River tour which was fantastic. It also made it easy to fly from Rome to Cairo and catch up with the tour. It is a great option for when Egypt is again safe. When you travel with the tour company you have an armed guard with you at all times, and many times your bus has police escourt. Our guide told us the US, UK and Japan only allowed travel in Egypt with total protection for their tourists. The trip included Abu Simbel, Luxor, Aswan, Giza,and many more stops. Definitely a great way to see Egypt...but not now!

I understand being upset as it is such a great experience, but safety is so important! :)

[caribill]

Hmmmmm. Thanks for the info. EphesusDeluxe changed the Istanbul tour to Tuesday, but didn't mention anything about Topkapi being closed. Phooey! I would have thought they would be watching out for that kind of thing.

 

It may be that it is closed to the general public, but not to organized tours.

[ssbeagle]

I agree with you about wishing we had another stop in Greece, but from what a member of our roll call mentioned (which made sense) they have made the substitutions with the ability to more easily revert back to the old itinerary if necesarry. These new ports of call are within a day of Egypt just in case we end up getting to go there. So because of that I am dealing with this change a little easier. We are scheduled for the May 18 sailing on the Star.

 

I would like to see Egypt reinstated; however, with no leadership the country is still in turmoil and it will be a while before things settle down there. Even on the Princess website it says that itineraries can be changed back to the original if things drastically improve over there. I won't be cancelling the cruise though because of the change. Too many other ports to visit that I want to see for the first time or go back to again.

 

If you think Istanbul is dirty and you did not enjoy it, I think you would have a difficult time indeed in Egypt!

 

Istanbul is one of my favorite cities (second to Rome). What I remember most from my visits there are all the flower beds in the public parks around the major sites (Haghia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi). There is very little litter or graffiti compared to Athens (or indeed, to Cairo). People are friendly and the food is delicious. In short, everything one could hope for -- plus several thousand years of history.

 

For those whose itineraries now include an overnight in Istanbul, there is a lot of info on the Ports of Call boards on what to do here. This city is very safe and extremely simple to do on your own due to the easy-to-navigate tram that runs from the cruise docks to the center of the old city (which is where all the major sights are grouped, within walking distance of each other).

 

I have been to Egypt before and thoroughly enjoyed our tours to the Suez Canal, Cairo and the Pyramids. Egypt is not as dirty as some places I have been. All I remember about Istanbul is the stink and how crowded and claustrophobic the market was. We took a tour of the city and mosques and the smell is what stuck with me. The best part of that whole day was sailing into the port which was very nice. I thought the people were unfriendly and I would rather go somewhere I haven't been before in that area. I liked Kusadasi very much and that's part of the same country.

[houch]

I'm not really disappointed that they are cancelling Egypt but I wish they would have chosen somewhere else other than Istanbul for our cruise. I've been there before and I found it to be very dirty and did not enjoy the tour we took there at all. They had substituted Istanbul for Israel on a cruise we took in the 90s. I would rather have gone to another Greek island like Mykonos or Rhodes. I am hoping this time since it is Egypt we are missing we'll still get to go to Israel. That would be a major disappointment if we couldn't go there. I am glad Princess looks out for safety first.

 

I did not find Istanbul dirty, I thought it was awesome and clean! Egypt, on the other hand was filthy, the dirtyist major city I have ever been to. Grafitti, trash, and litter all over, even in the water where multiple plastic bottles were floating. Yes, I did get to see the Pyramids, they look exactly like the pictures. I guess I am glad I went there but I would never to back. But I would love to go back to Istanbul, (felt safe there but not in Egypt)

[Mapu]

I did not find Istanbul dirty, I thought it was awesome and clean! Egypt, on the other hand was filthy, the dirtyist major city I have ever been to. Grafitti, trash, and litter all over, even in the water where multiple plastic bottles were floating. Yes, I did get to see the Pyramids, they look exactly like the pictures. I guess I am glad I went there but I would never to back. But I would love to go back to Istanbul, (felt safe there but not in Egypt)

 

I totally agree. We have been to Istanbul several times. Our first time there we were on a cruise that overnighted and ended there. When we left the cruise we had 3 nights on our own there before flying home. We felt very safe and had a wonderful time there. We have since been back for individual days on a few different cruises and just toured the city going back to favorite places on our own. Three years ago we were on a cruise that went to Egypt. I would have liked to have had time in Alexandria but chose instead to go to Giza and Cairo spending the night in Giza and then meeting the ship in Port Said. The best decision we made was not going into Cairo for a Nile River dinner cruise. We had a wonderful dinner at our hotel and then the rest of our group met us to go to the sound and light show at the Pyramids. The next day we toured Cairo. The city was dirty and crowded and traffic was a nightmare. While touring one of the markets our guide ushered all back in the van because she was not sure it was safe for us to be there then. It was early afternoon. I don't care to go back to Cairo but I look forward to getting back to Istanbul again.

[cruisemom42]

I think ssbeagle's experience in Istanbul must have been singular indeed. I don't recall hearing anyone complain about the smell (stench??) in Istanbul before.

 

Here is an example of the kind of detailed info on doing Istanbul on your own, located on the "Other Med" ports board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=24817056&postcount=82

 

along with helpful comments from dozens of others who have done it.

 

Re: Cairo -- having been there several times, unfortunately tourists often see the worst of the city. There are lovely places in Cairo and indeed in all of Egypt. It's just difficult to experience them on a one-overnight tour from a cruise ship.

 

A link showing just a few of the beautiful photos I took last time I was in Egypt (November 2010): http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=27779199&postcount=42