Sirena June 13 cruise Egypt cancelled

[azevedan]

We are now 0 for 2 in our cruise attempts to get to [E]gypt....maybe the third time's the charm?

 

If you want to be much more likely to actually get to your desired location, take a land trip. Tour groups are still operating (and not cancelling) land-based trips to Egypt.

 

We went to Egypt on a (very) small group tour in 2012 and had a wonderful time with no issues. We had booked an Eastern Med cruise because of its Egyptian ports. They were pulled before we departed. Even though Azamara gave us the option of no-cost cancellation past final payment, we took the cruise anyway. Enjoyed it, came home, and planned a land trip to Egypt (and Jordan). As a benefit (for us, not the Egyptians), tourism was way down so deals were to be had. (Probably the only time we'll travel with A&K.) We ended up being very glad we had NOT been limited to what we could see during a port stop or two. We spent 2 days in Cairo, visited Abu Simbel, spent 3 days cruising the Nile and touring the fabulous sites of Luxor, Karnak (probably my favorite), Valley of the Kings, and many others.

 

Only you can judge whether your comfort level and sense of safety would make visiting any given country a desired trip. I will add that I think a small, private tour group represents a much lower profile than a cruise ship with hundreds of passengers and large tour groups. In any event, if you really want to see a place - to have enough time to see it, and to have it be much more likely that the trip won't be cancelled - plan a land trip.

 

My $0.02

[CorgiNole]

Hello.

 

We are now 0 for 2 in our cruise attempts to get to Rgypt....maybe the third time's the charm?

 

Hope this answers some questions,

Nancy

 

I am 0 for 2 trying to see Istanbul. Our cruise this spring was moved from Istanbul to Athens (fortunately we had not purchased airline tickets at the time of the move). Someday we will try Istanbul on our own. Egypt is also on my list of places I'd love to visit and I'm hoping one day that I will feel safe enough to go.

 

K

[canuck.qc]

As you, I was booked on Sirena but cancelled before final payment, the falling CDN dollar and dreadful news helped me make up my mind. I've booked a month long land tour from Frankfurt to Milan, seems like a safer alternative. Also looking at a land trip to China in the spring. We've put cruising on hold for awhile..I'm too much of a control nut to have that happen to me!:eek:

[PaulMCO]

We stopped in Port Safaga (Luxor), Egypt in late April this year. Prior to that O cancelled all stops in Turkey. Whether O considers this safer than Cairo/Alexandria is questionable. Things have not changed.

 

I just had some customer's from Egypt (Cairo) come to my company and they actually think the security situation has improved over last year.

 

Yesterday I returned from a trip to Tel Aviv -- and things do not seem tense despite the recent attack in Tel Aviv.

[Jancruz]

I would doubt this theory VERY much - although I agree that O probably knew about the cancellations before the current cruise (how long before - I don't know)

These people would lose all their money for cancelling just before the cruise (or past their final payment) unless they had a "cancel for any reason" policy - which generally few people have.

I doubt that too many people would be willing to part with that much money just for missing Egypt.

JMO

 

Paul, you are absolutely correct..no reason to withhold info as people couldnt cancel anyway without huge penalties..

I was told Egypt was canceled for security reasons..

Jancruz1

[Travelcat2]

The general belief by those on board is that Oceana knew ahead of time it was getting cancelled but waited until people arrived on board to tell them in fear of a mass amount of people cancelling the cruise. No one really knows for sure, or how far in advance they knew, but one person who was on board for the first 10 day cruise prior kept asking why they had no info on shore excursion for Egypt and kept getting told "were waiting for it to download from corporate".

 

Very surprised that passengers on board think that Oceania was withholding information. IMO, anyone that books a cruise that includes the Middle East knows the high risk of port cancellation(s). It is their choice to book it. With all of the information available on the news, why do passengers think that Oceania owes them a specific reason?

 

It makes perfect sense that the onboard crew was awaiting information from corporate. Although the captain has the power to cancel any port, at any time, corporate keeps track of minute to minute terrorism alerts.

 

We were in Istanbul, Egypt and Israel 8 months ago. We were surprised that we were able to visit all three countries. We were slightly uncomfortable in Alexandria with all of the guns around (armed guards on excursion buses, etc.) - we even saw a tank on a side street. The only port that was cancelled was Lesbos (for obvious reasons - no one had to tell us why).

[RachelG]

We were on the same trip as travelcat. While I did not feel particularly unsafe in Egypt, it is definitely a potentially volatile area, and I think if Oceania had intell that indicated a possible lack of security , they were smart to cancel. I was actually surprised that we made both stops in Egypt. I did feel very sorry for the average people living there who had depended on tourism for their income in the past.