HOly Land Cruise in the midst of Egypt late October???? Would YOU go?

[luv2cruise391]

Thanks for all the input. I do hope to still plan on going.

Keep the thoughts and suggestions coming!

 

This may not be the right place to ask, but do you think we would be any "safer" with private tour operators versus the cruise line? We have our Israel tours booked privately because we all are somewhat mobility limited. Ages 55, 63, 75, 85, 85! We def want our private tours in Jerusalem and the Galilee area to make the most of what WE can see and do and not be worried about impeding others or possibly in some large groups - waiting on others.

I am still leaning towards private tours for the 5 of us in all ports because HAL's are SO expensive.

 

I have not looked much at private tours in our other ports, but those of you have done any of these ports lately, please recommend who you used! We are interested in seeing as much of the Protestant Christian sites as possible in ports that have such.

[whogo]

What do you think?

 

I respect your opinion, glad to have you as a Cruise Critic member, value your contributions, but wonder if you, as a Holland America employee, are following the spirit of the Cruise Critic guidelines: "Our Cruise Boards are meant to be a cruiser's exchange of advice and tips where cruisers can talk about their travels -- not a marketplace for advertising and selling services. There are thousands of cruise professionals online and if we didn't insist on a non-solicitation policy the cruise boards would be very quickly overrun with nothing but ads."

 

Then again, I was happy to see the rule breaking thread about the discount club's travel services.

[Aussie Gal]

We too have a lovely long cruise booked on HAL for October which originally had 2 Egyptian ports but were changed to Haifa and Limassol, similar to yours. There is no way we would cancel this cruise. We have everything in place and we are using private tours in all our ports and know that if there is any sign of trouble HAL would immediately move us to another port.

 

Go along and enjoy yourselves. Life is very short and if we had waited until the world was completely safe, we would never have left our country and ventured abroad. What a waste that would have been as my DH and myself have seen so much of the world from Pole to Pole and from East to West. Even if something happens whilst we are away to either of us, we will have been doing something we loved and that is travelling and exploring new horizons.

 

Jennie

[Copper10-8]

I respect your opinion, glad to have you as a Cruise Critic member, value your contributions, but wonder if you, as a Holland America employee, are following the spirit of the Cruise Critic guidelines: "Our Cruise Boards are meant to be a cruiser's exchange of advice and tips where cruisers can talk about their travels -- not a marketplace for advertising and selling services. There are thousands of cruise professionals online and if we didn't insist on a non-solicitation policy the cruise boards would be very quickly overrun with nothing but ads."

 

Then again, I was happy to see the rule breaking thread about the discount club's travel services.

 

I respect your opinion also! Thanks for sharing!:)

[HokiePoq]

We have cruised the holy land a number of times on Princess, Celebrity, HAL, Cunard and NCL. We were there on NCL in April, our ports for Eygpt were dropped before the cruise, similar to your cruise and the price of the cruise was reduced. This is not unusal when there is unrest.

 

We are also booked on Celebrity for October 2014. We take changes in ports for these cruises in stride consequently.

 

There is no way I would want the cruise line to go to Egypt given current unrest. For some that will be a big disappointment.

 

Once one accepts no Egypt... it is possible to have a fantastic cruise to Israel, Turkey, Greece and Italian ports which are common on these itineraries. We have visited Istanbul, Cyprus and Crete as well when Egypt was dropped.

 

So I suggest you go and enjoy yourself, knowing that the cruise line will not put passengers in harms way.

 

Completely agree. Wouldn't want to miss out on Israel. We, too, were there with NCL on a cruise that had dropped Egypt. Felt safe the whole time in Israel and our overnight to Jerusalem made this cruise our all time favorite.

[Aussie Gal]

Copper,

 

I have been off the HAL boards for a couple of years and didn't realize that you were now on HAL ships. Are you a Guest Speaker and if so will you be on the Noordam in October? I would love to meet you.

 

Jennie

[Copper10-8]

Copper,

 

I have been off the HAL boards for a couple of years and didn't realize that you were now on HAL ships. Are you a Guest Speaker and if so will you be on the Noordam in October? I would love to meet you.

 

Jennie

 

Hi Jennie; as a Guest Speaker I would no doubt bore people to death and get fruit thrown towards me;) I will not be on NODM in October but I'll be on NADM for New Year's; looking forward to same!

[innlady1]

I agree with Copper 10-8 who has been a valued member of these boards since I joined. Not only are his posts valued by other members but he seems to have the ability to give his opinion without making personal attacks on the OP or other posters.

 

I hope OP decides to give it a GO and enjoy the ports that will be included. JMO Cherie

 

Same here...he's been posting way longer than he's been a HAL employee...I would take anything John says "to the bank".

[Hgwells01]

I am on the Noordam cruise in a week, OP check how it goes for us, Istanbul has calmed down, we too are going to Israel and not Egypt, I will post a trip report on how things go for us. Keep an eye on conversations in here and go and enjoy yourself, I'm going too!

[AlohaPride]

I can see how your hubby is reluctant to let you travel all that way in uncertain times. I'm not sure I'd go, but then I have three very young children who would be with me, so all my decisions are colored by them. I also don't plan to go to Mexico any time soon with my girls. I have no doubt HAL will do all they can to keep her passengers safe. I just tend to be overly cautious.

[Randyk47]

Right now the only Med bordering country, at least those typically visited by a cruise line, on my wife's no-visit list as dictated by her work is Egypt. Israel is typically on the Department of States' warning list but that usually doesn't put them on the no-visit list unless there's one of the periodic uprisings, riots, etc. Istanbul has been problematic for us over the past several months as it's been off and on the list...off as I type this...so we avoided Istanbul when booking our upcoming Med cruise. Interestingly I got an email, a generic one sent to all past customers, from my travel insurance broker this weekend. Nothing specific about any country but it was a reminder that there are limitations on what most insurers cover and that basically a Department of State warning was not sufficient to cancel travel and file a claim. An outright bar to travel might but the broker warned to read the fine print.

[luv2cruise391]

I am on the Noordam cruise in a week, OP check how it goes for us, Istanbul has calmed down, we too are going to Israel and not Egypt, I will post a trip report on how things go for us. Keep an eye on conversations in here and go and enjoy yourself, I'm going too!

 

A recent review would be great - i will be looking forward to hearing how your cruise on the Nordam goes!

 

Our insurance states "A terrorist event happens at your U.S. or foreign destination within 30 days of the day you're scheduled to arrive." Specific requirement: For locations outside the US, you're not covered if there's been a terrorist event at your destination in the 30 days before your plan's effective date. (except as stated in first sentence)

[sandikin]

Remember their insurers will prevent them going anywhere unsafe!

[Crusin Kelly]

we started out on the Cunard Holy Land cruise last November, with planned stops in Ashod and Alexandria - when we arrived on-board they passed out notes that we would not be going to Isreal (2 nights) - something about rockets flying over the areas where we would be. :eek: So the odyssey began . . . not knowing where we were going and when we would get there... ports shuffled - Antalya(great history museum!) and Rhodes (ancient walled city) added in the next few days... then 2 sea days southbound to Egypt... 15 miles offshore - a u-turn :confused: - something about a new president and riots in the streets and strikes at the port. Another day and a half we make an unscheduled stop in Malta. Three places not on the original itenerary - three places we would not have picked off a map to visit - three delightful port cities we are certainly glad to have visited in addition to Santorini, Limasol, Mykonos and Ephesus.

 

I am a "planner" - change/uncertanty is not in my nature... BUT, we did really enjoy the stops. Crown Gem of the whole trip was the co-cathederal in Malta - a building almost more magnificent that even St. Peter's in the Vatican. :)

 

Cunard, HAL (and the others) will not put their assets (ships and passengers) at risk - a lovely time will be had.

 

Discount the disappointment of not seeing the places you paid for... :(

[mamaofami]

I agree with Copper 10-8 who has been a valued member of these boards since I joined. Not only are his posts valued by other members but he seems to have the ability to give his opinion without making personal attacks on the OP or other posters.

 

Exactly!

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[stlouistravelers]

I would go. I was in Germany in the 80's when the press was reporting on how dangerous it was with the Bader Meinhof gang blowing stuff up. We never even knew it was going on if we had not read the news papers. The cruise line has a vested interest in making sure passengers are relatively safe.

[Randyk47]

I would go. I was in Germany in the 80's when the press was reporting on how dangerous it was with the Bader Meinhof gang blowing stuff up. We never even knew it was going on if we had not read the news papers. The cruise line has a vested interest in making sure passengers are relatively safe.

 

I too was in Germany during that time. I remember an almost panicked call from my in-laws about a news report they'd seen on TV. Apparently it gave them the impression we were literally barricaded in our homes and offices with armed troops protecting us. Now I admit we were on heightened alert but we pretty much lived normally and were out and about and certainly didn't see the situation nearly as dire as the news made it seem. About that same time I tried to visit Egypt with a German university tour. I was forced off the tour by my command but not because of the situation in Egypt but because of unrest in Greece. Unfortunately the tour went through Greece to get to Egypt and I was barred from even touching down in Athens to change planes. Me and Egypt just can't get our stars aligned. :)