Egypt

[pris993]

Has anyone else noticed that Norwegian has cancelled all future Jade cruises to Alexandria, Egypt? I know back in October they cancelled the Holy Land Cruise stops in Egypt between December and April 2013 but now I see there are no 2014 stops either. A month ago the Jade Holy Land cruise for Feb 2014 planned to stop in Egypt. Did I miss an announcement?

 

The announcements are in the international news... the political climate is not good over there.

[4774Papa]

The announcements are in the international news... the political climate is not good over there.

I lived in the Middle East for five years and traveled to Egypt twice as well as Israel and other countries in the area. Egypt is a wonderful place to visit. Egypt had ancient sites when the Romans took over in the first century BC. Many of the ancient sites are well preserved. There is so much to see.

 

However, the country is undergoing a huge political change. Elections put into power the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the father of HAMAS and a radical Muslim movement that is already pushing Christians out of Egypt and out of any role in government. Recently, the MB rammed through a new constitution that enshrines Sharia Law. By the way, the second largest party getting votes was the Salafist party, which is even more radical.

 

Sure, armed security goes with tour groups and an attack on tourists is probably not a high risk. Still, in my opinion, the old government under Mubarak did generally have an handle on security, since it was a police state. The new government does not.

 

The risk is still to high in my opinion. It is sad, Egypt is special and a must see. Hopefully, things will settle down and tourism will be safer in the the future.

[DevCruise]

Here's the other thing. NCL would be dropping 2000-5000 people off in Egypt if it made a port call. Will something happen to them? Who knows. However, in the event something happened, they could easily find themselves in court over it.

 

Not worth the risk from a corporate perspective.

[pris993]

I lived in the Middle East for five years and traveled to Egypt twice as well as Israel and other countries in the area. Egypt is a wonderful place to visit. Egypt had ancient sites when the Romans took over in the first century BC. Many of the ancient sites are well preserved. There is so much to see.

 

However, the country is undergoing a huge political change. Elections put into power the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the father of HAMAS and a radical Muslim movement that is already pushing Christians out of Egypt and out of any role in government. Recently, the MB rammed through a new constitution that enshrines Sharia Law. By the way, the second largest party getting votes was the Salafist party, which is even more radical.

 

Sure, armed security goes with tour groups and an attack on tourists is probably not a high risk. Still, in my opinion, the old government under Mubarak did generally have an handle on security, since it was a police state. The new government does not.

 

The risk is still to high in my opinion. It is sad, Egypt is special and a must see. Hopefully, things will settle down and tourism will be safer in the the future.

 

Agree with you, I would not go at the present time, hope it does get better. I have travelled in Egypt and Israel. Both have wonderful sites to visit.