Explosions and gunfire reported at Instanbul airport

[cwisleman]

I do think that Seabourn should have made an announcement of some kind by now as to whether or not they are changing the itineraries. Both UK and the USA have now updated their travel advice in the light of recent events. Nothing to definitely rule out Istanbul, but its not encouraging. We feel as though we have been left in limbo. It would help to have it confirmed that nothing has changed for them if that is the case. I don't really feel that this sort of event is one you can ignore.

 

June 29, 2016

After a very careful and thorough review, Seabourn has decided to replace the July 2, 2016 turn port of Istanbul with Piraeus (Athens). Seabourn is closely monitoring the situation in Istanbul. The company analyzes information regarding safety and security from many sources, which includes liaising with government intelligence agencies and on-the-ground port security assessments.

We are in the process of assessing other upcoming scheduled visits to Istanbul. We will provide an update in the next 24 hours.

The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority.

[marama]

Thank you for that information, we realise that Seabourn has a lot going on at present. However, cancellation deadlines are approaching and we will soon need to make an informed decision. I hope that even if Istanbul is dropped that the other Turkish ports can still be saved.

[rols]

I do think that Seabourn should have made an announcement of some kind by now as to whether or not they are changing the itineraries. Both UK and the USA have now updated their travel advice in the light of recent events. Nothing to definitely rule out Istanbul, but its not encouraging. We feel as though we have been left in limbo. It would help to have it confirmed that nothing has changed for them if that is the case. I don't really feel that this sort of event is one you can ignore.

 

I don't think that's a reasonable expectation nor are they ignoring anyting. This happened 24 hours ago only. Seabourn's first job was to sort out the cruise going there in 3 days time, which they moved to Athens. For that cruise people were just about to start getting on planes and security aside, purely operationally it's not clear how fast the airport will fully reopen. Since it's a turnaround port, changing it made a lot of sense.

 

Once that cruise is sorted out, I would expect them to take a day or two to consider both the safety and the operation aspects of the upcoming cruises stopping at Istanbul and make an informed decision. And there's nothing they can really say before they've done that. I'd certainly prefer they thought about it for a day and decided the correct course of action than just knee jerk cancel it and cause shiploads of people disruption and what's going to be at this point some expensive rebooking fees.

[marama]

It's not unreasonable to ask for an announcement of some kind. Just a holding statement saying that they are considering the situation would have done, that's all. I wouldn't expect anything definitive at this stage, just asking to know whether we will be hearing from them - or whether it's to be business as usual.

[rols]

we'll see you on board then as we're on the same cruise, which seems to be rather full.

 

There's another thread where someone is claiming insider knowledge that all the Istanbul cruises are being re-scheduled to Athens, so perhaps we'll see you at the Parthenon instead.

 

Bummer if true, we were looking forward to Istanbul.

[rwilmeth]

Pointer, please?

[rols]

Pointer, please?

 

it's the other thread you're also posting in, 3 or 4 posts above yours.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2348586&page=2

 

'afig' is the poster.

 

I take all insider knowledge posts with some grains of salt however I am at least checking on flights to Athens and seeing if we can hold one for a day. Our travel insurance definitely will NOT be helping us out here.

[rols]

Just an update in this thread too (I've been over in the 'Turkish Ports' thread) that we have confirmation that our July 30th cruise will depart from Athens instead of Istanbul.

[marama]

Just had confirmation that our October 15 cruise will now terminate in Athens instead of Istanbul. Looks like Athens is going to be getting crowded - we were hoping Seabourn might switch some cruises to use Malta, as Regent has already done.

Edited July 1, 2016 by marama

[mancunian]

Same here. Our cruise is on Sept 20th and should have been from Istanbul. Just had a call from Seabourn via travel agent to ask if we still want hotel night in Athens or to fly on the day. We have decided we would prefer to stay in Athens for night.

 

Feel Seabourn has been generous in giving us the onboard credit as I do not think they have to. Our first cruise with them and impressed with their handling of the situationl