Are turkey ports still a go for 2017?

[cervezadrinker]

Thinking of booking the Adriatic, Greece, turkey cruise and was wondering if anyone heard of NCL canceling the turkey stops like holland and princess has. One cruise has a stop in kusadasi and the other has a stop in santorini. Trying to decide which cruise I should take. Which is stop is better?

[littlelulu01]

Thinking of booking the Adriatic, Greece, turkey cruise and was wondering if anyone heard of NCL canceling the turkey stops like holland and princess has. One cruise has a stop in kusadasi and the other has a stop in santorini. Trying to decide which cruise I should take. Which is stop is better?

 

In the past, NCL has been much more cautious than HAL when it comes to Turkey. Last year they replaced Kusadasi with an extra stop in Santorini pretty early on. I think it was in January for the 2016 med sailings. I would be very surprised if they keep Turkey but who knows. It takes them a while to find a replacement port and I would guess they are currently working on that before they notify passengers.

 

Last year the Jade sailed this itinerary and it could be booked as a b2b or as a 14 nt. For the 14 nt, the Jade ended up with two days in Santorini. The problem with squeezing an extra Santorini date in was the extreme overcrowding. Santorini keeps saying they are going to limit the cruise passengers but I think this is the 3 year in a row they've said that and still allowed an insane amount of overcrowding on the days the Jade and some others squeezed in an extra day due to Turkey replacement. You never know if the Jade will replace Turkey with Santorini this year again or be able to get a better port with less crowding.

 

It's probably a toss up. NCL has some of the best itineraries and port times but when it comes to replacement ports it's anyone's guess what you'll get for a Turkey replacement. You could get a sea day, a Santorini day or a great new replacement. There's even a slight chance you may end up with Kusadasi which in my opinion is the best of any options but the least likely to come through. Having been to Santorini a few times now I think on an overcrowded day it's got to be the worst case scenario.

[zqvol]

Thinking of booking the Adriatic, Greece, turkey cruise and was wondering if anyone heard of NCL canceling the turkey stops like holland and princess has. One cruise has a stop in kusadasi and the other has a stop in santorini. Trying to decide which cruise I should take. Which is stop is better?

 

Very different stops. Kusadasi is the stop for Ephesus, which is the must do excursion. Very touristy area and in Turkey. I have not heard any reports about violence in that area, but you never know. I love going to Kusadasi, but right now as a US citizen I'm not sure that I would go anywhere in Turkey.

 

Santorini is a stop for the beauty of the island, maybe the beach, or some shopping, but definitely a trip to Oia. It is in Greece, and I haven't heard of anyone canceling Santorini, except for weather related issues.

Edited December 21, 2016 by zqvol

[ew101]

Thinking of booking the Adriatic, Greece, turkey cruise and was wondering if anyone heard of NCL canceling the turkey stops like holland and princess has. ?

 

I just checked- Princess is still marketing trips to Turkey - we just got a brochure in the mail. I know I want to go back, preferably by ship. I can understand the concerns, but there are few places in the world 100% safe from any kind of crime.

Edited December 21, 2016 by ew101