Istanbul Bombed

[Shogun]

Hi Folks,

 

First our thoughts go out to the good people of Istanbul, in their hour of pain,

 

will the Emerald still stop or will Princess think the risk to great.

 

yours Shogun

[dforeigner]

I am not sure but there are other places being bombed and Princess still stops there. Acapulco and Cancun (near Conzumel) come to mind.

[flhokie]

I feel for the people of Istanbul. They were definitely some of the friendliest and appreciative people when we visited a few years ago.

 

I have a feeling Princess will still call on Istanbul. When we were on the Grand 3 years ago, a bomb went off in Istanbul within the weeks before we were scheduled to stop there and one went off in Kusadasi days before we were scheduled to dock there. We were told that Princess would not dock if they did not feel the situation was safe. We visited both ports as scheduled. Security was very, very tight for the ship and on tours. We felt perfectly safe.

[Strawberry]

I think it is really hard to say anything about this for sure. About five years ago, we had two cruises that were supposed to stop in Istanbul but ended up not stopping there. For one cruise, we got word several months in advance that the itinerary had been changed. For the other one, we weren't told about the change until we were on board the ship. Changes were both caused because of bombings in Istanbul.

[Pia1913]

I've been to Istanbul several times; even stayed there for 4 days. The area that was bombed was residential and specifically selected because of a pedestrian area congregated by locals. Tourists were not targeted, nor would they ever be in this location. The group that did this knew exactly who and/or what they would hurt.

 

It's highly unlikely that Princess would eliminate the port.

 

Pia