No more Holy Land cruise in 2013

[greatam]

Pharaonic Egypt needs to be preserved, and proactively. We did a lousy job of securing Babylonian history with our little incursions in Iraq. The looting was insane. This stuff is too precious to be controlled by a small minority of thugs and opportunists and moralists.

 

I really do think we need a coalition of countries to step in and advise and perhaps control these sites. I feel that it is slipping away from us.

 

I'm really curious what coalition of countries wants to step into this mess?? And who would Egypt even allow to step in to preserve historic sites? As pointed out, they don't want the "evil westerners" polluting their country. I am surprised some of the more radical groups haven't blown up some of the lesser sites, much like the Taliban did in Afghanistan even with the rest of the world imploring them to leave the 2000 year old Buddhist statues alone.

 

Once the elections are over, this will be a FAR different country than any Eqypt most of us can remember. The Muslim Brotherhood will lead Egypt directly into an Islamic theocracy, almost identical to Iran. They will break the treaty with Israel. Allow free access to the Suez to all (meaning our enemies who can block the Canal) Egypt has already allowed Iran warships to transit the Canal three times-something that hadn't happened in 30 years.

 

The current military government has already sent military to patrol the Sinai, something that has not been done in 30 years due to the Israeli treaty. This area was controlled by NATO.

 

I have spent an extensive amount of time working in the Middle East in the last 5 years. Truth be told, I feel safer in Iraq than I would in Egypt. At least you KNOW what the dangers are. In Egypt, you have no idea what could happen or where the danger is coming from. And the US Military STILL has a ban on US government contractors and Military entering Egypt except on official business. You have an Egyptian stamp in your passport, your lucrative government contracting job is over!!!

 

Bring your burqua. Head covering will be MANDATORY within a short period of time. This coming not from me but from friends that are from Kuwait, Bahrain, Dubai and Iraq.

[Fixit2010]

Regardless if I agree or not to the last post, can we stay on topic.

[SixOneTwo]

Fixit 2010, I appreciate your Sphynx pun! Will stay on topic going forward.

 

Suffice it to say that I really only want to see Egypt via cruise ship and by that I DO NOT mean a Nile Cruise. Most of the ships had good two-day stops and customized itineraries so that you could see a good amount of sites. So we'll keep our fingers crossed that some sort of internal or external intervention will some day allow us all to experience it.

[Desertbelle]

You all are starting to make me worried that we won't get to see Egypt in October. Is it too much to ask that they settle down enough for me to get to see the Pyramids with my own eyes?

[greatam]

Regardless if I agree or not to the last post, can we stay on topic.

 

My post was on topic. The chances of having a successful Egyptian cruise with a US based company is rapidly coming to an end with the current state of affairs. European cruise lines may be more apt to cruise to Egypt but with US laws being what they are and cruise lines depending heavily on US Military intelligence as well as Stratfor and Jane's for advice, the recommendation is to STAY AWAY FROM EGYPT if anything is construed as AMERICAN.

[greatam]

You all are starting to make me worried that we won't get to see Egypt in October. Is it too much to ask that they settle down enough for me to get to see the Pyramids with my own eyes?

 

I personally would be making plans to do a land trip if you really want to see the Pyramids. Or find a European cruise line making the trip.

 

The underlying currents in the Middle East are NOT conducive to bringing a ship with 2000+ people into some Middle Eastern ports, particularly when that ship may have a very large contingent of Americans on board.

 

There is not nearly as much hatred in the Middle East of Europeans as there is of Americans.

 

Good luck but I certainly would have an alternative plan as I don't have a gut feeling that US based ships will be making it to Egypt.

[curtdesilets]

I personally would be making plans to do a land trip if you really want to see the Pyramids. Or find a European cruise line making the trip.

 

The underlying currents in the Middle East are NOT conducive to bringing a ship with 2000+ people into some Middle Eastern ports, particularly when that ship may have a very large contingent of Americans on board.

 

There is not nearly as much hatred in the Middle East of Europeans as there is of Americans.

 

Good luck but I certainly would have an alternative plan as I don't have a gut feeling that US based ships will be making it to Egypt.

 

 

The topic is: Why have cruise lines canceled their "Holy Land Tours" which included Israel and Egypt. The current political unrest in Egypt is sort of related to that topic, I would think. :cool:

 

I would agree with your posts here Greatem. We haven't actually been in this area for over 15 years, so I'm sure you and several others have much more first hand experience. But from what I've read, the situation in Egypt is quite dire for tourism.

 

Your suggestion of joining a European based land tour might be the ticket. Or Canadian? or Australian? My wife first went with a group of Aussies. It was one of those under 35 groups, and the Aussies, for the most part, just wanted to party and quickly got bored with all of the tombs/monuments and such. My wife was just the opposite and wanted to see the history, which she did in relative safety.

 

I have no idea how a coalition of countries can get together to try to save these sites, but in an ideal world, it seems to me the best idea.

 

Do you remember a couple years ago when Zahi Hawass was trying to get everyone to return their artifacts? Good thing we stalled!

[geospyder]

You all are starting to make me worried that we won't get to see Egypt in October. Is it too much to ask that they settle down enough for me to get to see the Pyramids with my own eyes?

 

Are you on the Solstice BCN to DUB cruise sailing Oct 26? I don't see you on the Roll Call for that cruise. We are planning to book it in three weeks when we are on the Connie. Like you, we also hope to see the pyramids among other things. Oops! I have signatures blocked so I didn't see that you are on a different cruise.

[Desertbelle]

Are you on the Solstice BCN to DUB cruise sailing Oct 26? I don't see you on the Roll Call for that cruise. We are planning to book it in three weeks when we are on the Connie. Like you, we also hope to see the pyramids among other things. Oops! I have signatures blocked so I didn't see that you are on a different cruise.

 

No, we are on the Mariner of the Seas leaving October 29, 2012 from Rome. :)

[jacketwatch]

What ports do they substitute with when it is necessary to avoid Egypt?

For us it was Haifa. I think it will vary however.

[Orator]

Athens and Marmaris substituted for Egypt on CS Holy Land last year. My guess is that the cruiselines attempt to make an informed decision ASAP since they want to avoid as many problems as possible with their guests. If past threads are an indication no matter what they decide, their decision will be questioned and attacked by a number of posters.

[azevedan]

Azamara substitued an extra day in Rhodes and a stop in Cyprus. We stayed with the cruise after the itinerary change because those, plus the other ports, were all new to us. In Cyprus, we traveled in a convoy with armed guards. It's the way of things in many of the stops in that part of the world. The typical cruise line excursion is a big group (attracts attention) and cruise lines typically have an abundance of caution.

We did Egypt (and Jordan) this past March on a land cruise and had a wonderful time - a better way to see things, as other posters have mentioned. I especially recommend the Temples of Karnak and Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt.

You can read more back-and-forth about this issue (traveling to Egypt) in the forum post for Africa and Middle East under Ports of Call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1572330

[CELEBRITY LOVER]

We are scheduled to leave on the Silhouette in November. I am starting to worry because it has 2 days in Alexandria before Israel. Should we cancel? Do you think they may change the itinerary? We also were scheduled on Azamara to Egypt that got canceled.

Any advice?