No Turkey or Greece stops, true or false?

[girlsandpop]

My dear old dad, age 91, invited my sister and I on a mediterranean cruise next summer.

 

We will be going on the Royal Princess, Barcelona to Athens. We will have stops in Spain, Gibraltar, France, several in Italy, Malta, and then to Crete (Heraklion) Greece, Kusadasi Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey, Mykonos, Greece, and then ending in Athens.

 

My sisters neighbor (who cruises a lot) told her that is a poor choice for a cruise because of the political climate (dangerous in Turkey) and Greece stops are very limited due to refugee problems.

 

Is this true or false information?

 

I asked the cruise line and the person I talked with said they didn't know anything about it.

 

Should we find a different cruise?

[Cruise Junky]

True on Turkey false on Greece. We had 5 stops in Greece in May. No

impact at all

[land lover]

My dear old dad, age 91, invited my sister and I on a mediterranean cruise next summer.

 

We will be going on the Royal Princess, Barcelona to Athens. We will have stops in Spain, Gibraltar, France, several in Italy, Malta, and then to Crete (Heraklion) Greece, Kusadasi Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey, Mykonos, Greece, and then ending in Athens.

 

My sisters neighbor (who cruises a lot) told her that is a poor choice for a cruise because of the political climate (dangerous in Turkey) and Greece stops are very limited due to refugee problems.

 

Is this true or false information?

 

I asked the cruise line and the person I talked with said they didn't know anything about it.

 

Should we find a different cruise?

 

What a wonderful itinerary.....it is almost a year away...your Dad is 91 don't burst his bubble. Istanbul, Turkey might be a no, but done of us have a crystal ball. Kusadasi is a distance from Istanbul and a tourist trap so they want to have things stabilized ASAP. We traveled to several Greek islands and Kusadasi, last Nov. at the hight of refugee problem, no issues.

 

Recently the stability of Turkey is in question https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/turkey-travel-warning.html

 

The cruise line will find another port(there r plenty of Greek islands in that area) or you will have a sea day.

 

Would I select another itinerary? it all depends why this was picked in the first place. You need to do your own research to determine..what you want to do.

 

I'd keep it personally being almost a year out. Turkey is an incredible place to visit(we've been there 3 times on cruises) if the political climate settles down by the summer you don't want to miss your opportunity.

 

Good Luck

Edited November 7, 2016 by land lover

[LondonTowner]

Looks like a good itinerary to me, although you don't name all the ports. The refugee problem has been in a couple of the small Greek islands near the Turkish coast and Lampedusa in Italy.

 

I can't really seeing it making an impact on the cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

No issues with stops in Greece yet.

 

Istanbul, Turkey has the best chance of being canceled/replaced even next summer. Kusadasi still could be an issue but not so much.

The issues there will be a problem in Turkey for a long time to come.

[catsdinner]

We just did this cruise in September and it was wonderful. We were disappointed we skipped the Turkey stops but understood why. the Greece stops were wonderful.

[girlsandpop]

Thanks for the input! Ok, I think we won't worry about it and plan to go. If they cancel some ports then it's fine. I'm sure they are up on the latest and won't take us if any dangerous areas.

 

What did they put in as replacements for the Turkey stops?

 

I'm a bit worried about the heat of July/August, but those are the only dates we can go. We'll just make sure dad drinks a lot of water!

Edited November 8, 2016 by girlsandpop

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the input! Ok, I think we won't worry about it and plan to go. If they cancel some ports then it's fine. I'm sure they are up on the latest and won't take us if any dangerous areas.

 

What did they put in as replacements for the Turkey stops?

 

I'm a bit worried about the heat of July/August, but those are the only dates we can go. We'll just make sure dad drinks a lot of water!

 

We had Istanbul canceled and went to Santorini.

Kusadasi remained on the itinerary.

[kennicott]

We board the Pacific Princess, hopefully, in two weeks for a four week TA. We have three Greek ports—Khios, Rhodes and Corfu. We were scheduled for two full days in Istanbul, Princess held onto that stay as long as they could through all the political turmoil, acts of violence, etc. but after Turkey declared Marshall Law I guess that was too much for the line and they cancelled.

They replaced those two days with the port in Rhodes and a port at Kotor, Montenegro.

[bassmaster150]

We just sailed the Carnival Vista from Barcelona to Athens in early October (Princess is owned by Carnival Corp). We made our scheduled stops in Crete, Rhodes, and Athens. However, our call into Kusadasi, Turkey was cancelled and replaced with a sea day for obvious reasons. We were kind of bummed as we really wanted to return to the ruins at Ephesus, but we definitely understand the reasoning for the cancellation.

[IECalCruiser]

We board the Pacific Princess, hopefully, in two weeks for a four week TA. We have three Greek ports—Khios, Rhodes and Corfu. We were scheduled for two full days in Istanbul, Princess held onto that stay as long as they could through all the political turmoil, acts of violence, etc. but after Turkey declared Marshall Law I guess that was too much for the line and they cancelled.

 

They replaced those two days with the port in Rhodes and a port at Kotor, Montenegro.

Kotor might be in jeopardy for upcoming cruises. The was an apparent coup plot broken up last month. The West leaning government won a close election and only 42 of 81 members attended the first meeting of parliament with the Russian leaning members boycotting.

 

 

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[Skai]

We recently returned from an E. Med cruise in Sep. Two port stops were canceled - Kusadasi, Turkey and Split, Croatia. Rhodes, Greece was substituted for Kusadasi and Kotor, Montenegro was substituted for Split.

 

W/out going into to too much detail, for VAT(tax) purposes, Kotor was added to satisfy EU rules by visiting a non-EU member port. With cruiselines canceling Turkey(also non-EU), most are opting to stop in either Albania or Montenegro(the only other non-EU countries other than Turkey in the Adriatic/E. Med.) to satisfy the VAT tax rule.

 

There were no issues with any of the Greek ports that we visitied.

[wheezedr]

This is a great itinerary and I speak from the experience of having done it last May on the Royal. We were the last princess cruise to stop in Istanbul which was a major reason for our booking. Loved our visit there as well as the stop in Kusadasi. If you make it in, I highly recommend Ephesus shuttles for the tour and if walking up stairs is not an issue then include the terrace houses. As others have noted the refugee crisis in Greece does not affect the ports you would be visiting. Obviously the times can change and affect where you go but I would stick with this itinerary if you can.

[Hlitner]

Turkey remains a very iffy country for port stops. But Greece is not an issue except for a few islands, such as Lesbos, which have never been major cruise ports. The most common ports such as Santorini, Mykonos, Crete and Rhodes are fine. I should mention that we actually did stop at Lesbos in April (on the Prinsendam) and the refugee issue has really had a huge negative impact on tourism for that particular island. It is a sad situation since the island residents opened their hearts and souls to aid the refugees....and are now paying a big financial price. There were rumors that the island residents are being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize which is deserved much more then some of the recent awardees.

 

Hank

[caribill]

Some cruise lines removed Turkey ports from next year's itineraries.

 

Princess, however, still has them on some itineraries in case conditions do improve enough for the ship and its passengers to be safe there.

 

If conditions do not improve, you can be sure that the itinerary will be revised, probably months before embarkation. It might be before or after final payment is due.

[flamomo]

IMO, one of the great things about cruising in the Med is that there are so many relatively nearby options of ports to switch to, should political conditions force the cancellation of a potentially unsafe place like Istanbul.

[lovelyjubbly]

We just did this cruise in September and it was wonderful. We were disappointed we skipped the Turkey stops but understood why. the Greece stops were wonderful.

 

Hi catsdinner,

 

We're sailing on the Royal next July with planned stops in Istanbul and kusadasi. What ports did they replace these with?

[Host Jazzbeau]

Hi catsdinner,

 

We're sailing on the Royal next July with planned stops in Istanbul and kusadasi. What ports did they replace these with?

 

You want one port in a non-EU country, so the ship won't have to charge VAT on onboard purchases. If all Turkish ports are cancelled, you may stop in Albania -- there aren't many choices in the Eastern Med.

[eclue]

Hi catsdinner,

 

We're sailing on the Royal next July with planned stops in Istanbul and kusadasi. What ports did they replace these with?

 

We were on the Royal in August and Istanbul and Kusadasi were replaced with Kotor ( amazingly beautiful place ) and Corfu.

[lovelyjubbly]

Eclue,

 

Already visiting Kotor during second week and yes totally agree that it's a beautiful place. The Turkish ports are between Crete and Mykonos during our first week so hopefully we'll get Rhodes as one of our port replacements :)

[stevenr597]

Unfortunately the whole Eastern Mediterranean has become a powder keg. I think that several cruise ships may still dock at Kudasai, Turkey, but the majority are avoiding both Kudasai and Istanbul. It is a shame because the stops at Turkey have always been the highlight of our sailings. Turkey was a good mixture of the East and the West.

 

However, since the coup, it does appear that Turkey is heading in the direction of an Islamic Dictatorship. Thousands of people have been jailed, and it is my guess that most cruise ships will avoid this beautiful, but troubled country.

 

As for Greece, they are Turkey's little neighbor, and relations between them have never been good. The possibility of a flare-up between these two nations exists.

 

My guess, at this time, you will probably be able to stop at Greek Ports. But the big if, and it is a big one, if the area remains quiet.

 

Personally, I would like to stay on the other side of the Mediterranean, such as Spain.

[Hlitner]

Unfortunately the whole Eastern Mediterranean has become a powder keg. I think that several cruise ships may still dock at Kudasai, Turkey, but the majority are avoiding both Kudasai and Istanbul. It is a shame because the stops at Turkey have always been the highlight of our sailings. Turkey was a good mixture of the East and the West.

 

However, since the coup, it does appear that Turkey is heading in the direction of an Islamic Dictatorship. Thousands of people have been jailed, and it is my guess that most cruise ships will avoid this beautiful, but troubled country.

 

As for Greece, they are Turkey's little neighbor, and relations between them have never been good. The possibility of a flare-up between these two nations exists.

 

My guess, at this time, you will probably be able to stop at Greek Ports. But the big if, and it is a big one, if the area remains quiet.

 

Personally, I would like to stay on the other side of the Mediterranean, such as Spain.

 

While Erdogen is a thorn in the side of the West, he is anything but a fool. Both Turkey and Greece are members of NATO...and as long as that situation continues there is no way that Turkey will get into any major spat with Greece. That being said, there is no love lost between the countries.

 

Hank

[RDC1]

While Erdogen is a thorn in the side of the West, he is anything but a fool. Both Turkey and Greece are members of NATO...and as long as that situation continues there is no way that Turkey will get into any major spat with Greece. That being said, there is no love lost between the countries.

 

Hank

 

Both countries have been members of NATO since 1952. There have been periods of military conflict since then, especially when Turkey invaded Cypress in 1974. There have been additional conflicts up until 1999. Especially since Greece dropped their opposition to Turkey joining the EU.

 

With the actions taken by Erdogen, who clearly wants to turn the clock back prior to the actions and reforms of Ataturk, the admission to the EU is becoming less and less likely. If he is successful in restoring the death penalty in Turkey then the path to EU membership will be dead.

[sperkins921]

We booked this during a huge sale from a well known large volume cruise only travel agent. I (and DH) are SO thrilled to finally do this bucket list cruise. We've been waiting nearly 5 years to do it, and we both have wanted to go to Greece and Turkey our whole lives. That said, we understand that there's a potential for Turkey to removed during our trip.

 

This is the 30 April 17 sailing. Our stops are Katakolon (Olympia), Greece/Volos, Greece (appears to be mainland Greece north of Athens based on the map at the cruise line website), Kusadasi, Turkey/Rhodes, Greece/Khios, Greece with embark and debark in Athens. Since we are stopping at Khios and Rhodes already, what are some other stops that may get put in it's place? Are Kotor, Crete, Mykonos, or Santorini close enough to swap in and still make it to Rhodes on time? Or is the swap more likely to become a sea day?

 

We just booked this on 31 Oct/1 November and already the price on our cabin has dropped $250pp--- so FYI to any others (or if you know anyone booked on this cruise) to check and see if a reprice works in your favor.

[cactusrose]

We board the Pacific Princess, hopefully, in two weeks for a four week TA. We have three Greek ports—Khios, Rhodes and Corfu. We were scheduled for two full days in Istanbul, Princess held onto that stay as long as they could through all the political turmoil, acts of violence, etc. but after Turkey declared Marshall Law I guess that was too much for the line and they cancelled.

They replaced those two days with the port in Rhodes and a port at Kotor, Montenegro.

 

We are on the Pacific Princess for the WC and the ports in Greece and Turkey still don't have any excursions listed, even though it's only about two months until we sail. Does your cruise list excursions for the Greek ports?