Costa - if you are reading this - do the right thing

[loveopera]

Hi everyone, I've just caught up on cruisecritic. I haven't thought too much about this cruise since it is the last portion of our 3 month trip through the middle east. We were scheduled to do a 2 week land tour of Egypt beginning the 5th of February, and found the tour had been cancelled. We were in Dubai and scurried around to find something to fill in the two weeks.. we ended up in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and back now in Dubai. I realize this doesn't impact any of you, but thought I'd just share what has been going on with us during this time of tension. Perhaps things will calm down now that Mubarak has stepped aside. The cancellations of ports are disappointing, but at least the cruise has not been cancelled.

[UKBayern]

A number of European governments (like Germany and the Netherlands) have yesterday deemed the Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea, such as Sharm, Safaga and Hurghada safe again, as with Luxor. The Italian Foreign Office has this on its website (sorry for Google translate): "In tourist areas of the Red Sea are not recorded recently disorder. The situation is under control for now, although it is advisable to orient travel in these areas necessary caution and preventive information on the evolution of events." Since Costa follows the advice of the Italian foreign office, chances are that before your sailing in March, Costa will decide to call there again.

Non-essential travel to Alexandria, Suez and Port Said are still advised against.