athens is burning..

[aspasia1]

dire situation over there, islands too

 

thousands are told to evacuate,

 

any thoughts on the impact on cruises that have athens as a port of arrival or departure?

[cabo de hornos]

The port of Piraeus is, I believe, still some distance away from the affected areas to the north of the City. The image of the Acropolis in the foreground with the orange lines of fire in the background is dramatic to say the least. And we are planning to spend the night in Athens on 11/8 before heading home. Hopefully, the fires will be out by then an the smoke/smell will have dissipated.

 

While many resources will have to be devoted to the emergency, I would think the port will be in full swing, unless there is an unsafe condition caused by visibility issues - it is fairly tight docking for the larger ships in Piraeus....R-class should have less difficulty. But rest assured that neither the port officials nor the cruise lnes will take any chances. We experienced some, but not all, cancelled tours in Puerto Montt, Chile on our last cruise because of the residual haze from inland fires. I suspect that except for an extreme worst case, docking/departure would be delayed (and you would either be held on board offshore, or have to hold at some land-based point(s) of coordination prior to boarding, but I don't foresee any cancellations because of this situation, yet. Keep checking with Azamara though.

 

Cabo