Turkey

[stpointer]

I have just read where NCL has cancelled all stops in Turkey for 2016. Is Celebrity far behind.

 

 

See USA today article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/cruiselog/2016/01/22/norwegian-regent-seven-seas-oceania-cruises-cancels-all-turkey-port-calls-2016/79130430/

[az_tchr]

Celebrity cancelled all Istanbul port stops some months ago. Istanbul cruises that start or end there will certainly not be changed unless things get very ugly. Would cost millions to change the starting or ending city for thousands of passengers. It is also partially as Istanbul now has only a place for two ships to dock instead of 4 due to construction that family saw there last month.

 

The other port cities are still on some itineraries and IMO perfectly safe but you never know what will happen in the future.

[cruza]

I have just read where NCL has cancelled all stops in Turkey for 2016. Is Celebrity far behind.

 

 

See USA today article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/cruiselog/2016/01/22/norwegian-regent-seven-seas-oceania-cruises-cancels-all-turkey-port-calls-2016/79130430/

 

If you will have just EU ports in cruise, then you need to pay VAT on everything... Turkish ports allow to skip it.

[bonedoc7]

Will be following, as we have Turkey ports in our cruise for August.

[landj999]

Oops. Thought this was about white meat on board

[bonedoc7]

Lmao

[littlelulu01]

Celebrity cancelled all Istanbul port stops some months ago. Istanbul cruises that start or end there will certainly not be changed unless things get very ugly. Would cost millions to change the starting or ending city for thousands of passengers. It is also partially as Istanbul now has only a place for two ships to dock instead of 4 due to construction that family saw there last month.

 

The other port cities are still on some itineraries and IMO perfectly safe but you never know what will happen in the future.

 

NCL Spirit was scheduled to embark and debark in Istanbul in November. That has been changed so they did change embarkation/debarkation ports in addition to canceling all Turkey stops.

 

Disney canceled Kusadasi over a month ago now for 2016. They didn't cite safety as a reason though. We were there last year and I felt much safer there than in Venice.

 

Curious about Israel ports as well. It was touch and go last year. Seems like it would be less expensive to make these changes now vs. last minute and be easier on passengers who have private excursions booked, airfare etc. Celebrity may be banking on world peace for the 2016 cruise season.

[Boscodog]

Following this post since we are cruising the Mediterranean next August. I would be disappointed to miss Kusadesi but safety is my paramount concern. I have thought I may even stay on the ship if I didn't feel comfortable touring Turkey. If Norwegian cancels all Turkey's ports, I wouldn't be surprised if Celebrity isn't far behind.

[RodPat]

Not only Norwegian but also Oceania and Regent Seven Seas have cancelled all stops in Turkey for 2016.

 

Pat

[DrivesLikeMario]

Not only Norwegian but also Oceania and Regent Seven Seas have cancelled all stops in Turkey for 2016.

 

Pat

 

Yes, that's true. Really sad to see those great ports off the itineraries.

[Dowunder]

Kusadasi for Ephesus is one of the main reasons we booked an upcoming 10 day Reflection cruise. It would be a great disappointment to miss that port and I wonder what the substitute would be. An overnight in Athens would probably be the obvious, but having visited Athens 3 times I would not be too excited about that.

[Bruin Steve]

For me, it's frustrating...

I've done a LOT of cruises...so I've been to a lot of Europe multiple times...including Istanbul, Kusadasi et al...

But one of the cruises still on my "bucket list"...one I've somehow never managed to fit into the schedule... is a Black Sea cruise...typically, these will start and end in Istanbul...and visit ports in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, (Sochi) Russia, sometimes a port in Georgia and a couple ports in Northern Turkey...

With Ukraine fighting with Russia and the current "issues" with Turkey, these cruises are getting really hard to find...

We were hoping to find one for the Summer of 2017...

 

Right now, we can't find a single cruise that works...

And, even if they had one, we could book it...and then, way down the road, find it cancelled or altered to some other itinerary we didn't want...

 

2017 may be the summer we do a River Cruise instead...

[sayaguru]

Our October cruise already cancelled the 2 days in Istanbul, they said because of the port work. They added a day in Athens, not sure what else as I booked after that. Lots of people dropped out of the cruise. There are still 2 Turkey ports. Fingers crossed.

Edited January 22, 2016 by sayaguru

[littlelulu01]

NCL Jade has a two week cruise and they replaced Kusadasi with Santorini. This means the cruise will have two port days in Santorini! Very strange replacement. Between that and the fact that I've had several NCL cruises for 2016 canceled now it's getting harder to decide what to do. We have a backup booked on the silhouette same dates out of Rome but I can certainly see some changes to that itinerary occurring as well. My hope is that we will end up with a decent itinerary. At least the Jade didn't substitute for a sea day. There's only so many things you can do in Santorini though. With all the cancellations I wonder how many will be canceling cruises for Mediterranean this summer. I would think celebrity won't be too far behind in making some changes to their 2016 med itineraries and follow suit in dropping Turkey.

[teacherman]

We have always wanted to see Istanbul, but felt it deserved more than a cruise stop. We are doing a TA from Miami to Rome in April, and then flying on to Istanbul for a few days before returning home. Is it safe to go? Is it safe to go anywhere? We just try and monitor the on going situations and use common sense when we are out and about.

[az_tchr]

Teacherman - Istanbul is probably as safe as any huge city. I would go back if given the chance and spend several days. A week there would not be enough to explore it fully. Just like almost everywhere people there are very friendly and helpful. It is only a few outsiders deciding to die making a political statement that ruin it for all. Could and has happened in the US or Canada.

[cruza]

We have always wanted to see Istanbul, but felt it deserved more than a cruise stop. We are doing a TA from Miami to Rome in April, and then flying on to Istanbul for a few days before returning home. Is it safe to go? Is it safe to go anywhere? We just try and monitor the on going situations and use common sense when we are out and about.

 

We did it last August in opposite order: flight to Istanbul (Turkish Airline had great sale!) and we stayed in Sultanahmet area hotel and we had a great time. After we flew to Rome to cruise from Ataturk airport. We felt very safe in Istanbul (safer than in NYC... )

[ptrpanpens]

I am on October 21 Constellation cruise Istanbul to Rome with three days in Israel. Plan B is also to fly to Istanbul for 5 days then meet either Silhouette or Reflection in Rome and cruise back on one of them to Florida. Flights Ist to FCO should be easy to get and cheap. Of course this does not address Israel, but that is also iffy so may have to pass it over this time.

 

At this point I still feel comfortable traveling to Istanbul but monitoring events to see if something else happens and may change plans again. What a shame for the friendly and helpful people of Turkey who depend so much on tourist dollars. And giving in to terrorists.:mad:

[Xport]

Celebrity cancelled all Istanbul port stops some months ago. Istanbul cruises that start or end there will certainly not be changed unless things get very ugly. Would cost millions to change the starting or ending city for thousands of passengers.

 

It was first reported on Cruise Critic yesterday that Azamara--Celebrity's sister line; both are owned by Royal Caribbean--is in the process of revising 2016 itineraries [including those which were scheduled to originate or end at Istanbul] now... Admittedly, the scale of Azamara's ships is far smaller than is the scale of those which Celebrity still plans to originate or end in Istanbul this year [Equinox and Constellation]... And admittedly, no mention has been made yet as to guest compensation--if there is any--for changing air plans and cancelling prepaid hotels in Istanbul as a result of itinerary changes... But clearly, it would appear that some determination has been made within the Royal Caribbean family of brands that things in Istanbul have gotten "very ugly"...

 

To the best of my knowledge, Azamara has not historically used the same Istanbul port as the one under construction...

 

If interested, more here...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2304294

 

With a 7 September cruise on Equinox scheduled to depart Istanbul [the originally scheduled overnight there--at cruise beginning--was moved to Barcelona--at cruise end--last month], I'm following this matter closely...