Ever cruised somewhere you really looked forward to only to find a Major event taking place that might have an influence?

[DarrenM]

Been looking forward to the overnight stay in Istanbul this June for nearly a year now.

 

To find out yesterday that the biggest, most huge football (Soccer) Match, in the whole of Europe is taking place the same night, in Istanbul.

 

This will undoubtedly mean somewhere approaching 250,000 fans from both countries, Likely to be team from Germany/Spain/England v Team from Italy.

 

AS well as literally thousands of media outlets there too, with cameras all over the place.

 

And with their reputation for violence, if its an English team, I cant say I am overjoyed at the prospect any more.

 

Only good thing is the stadium is approx 20km from the port and main tourist area. 

 

But many fans will not have tickets and will swarm the bars to watch on TV.

[GeezerCouple]

Ouch!  That's a biggie!

 

You DO already have your hotel reservations, correct?

I'd be tempted to book another room elsewhere, also pre-paid, just in case.   Home-made "insurance".

And the further away, the better!

Do you *need* to be right in that area that particular night?

And keep in mind, many of those from out of town aren't arriving just that morning.

 

Yikes.

GC

[Markanddonna]

Cruisers going to Europe might want to "take the temperature" regarding protests on May 1 each year. I encountered one in Barcelona that started off interesting and became a police action chasing protesters, blocking off roads, etc. Smoke bombs set off at Eiffel Tower, etc. 

[DarrenM]

54 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

Ouch!  That's a biggie!

 

You DO already have your hotel reservations, correct?

I'd be tempted to book another room elsewhere, also pre-paid, just in case.   Home-made "insurance".

And the further away, the better!

Do you *need* to be right in that area that particular night?

And keep in mind, many of those from out of town aren't arriving just that morning.

 

Yikes.

GC

The overnight is on the ship. Thankfully.

 

But was looking forward to sampling a bit of Istanbul night life. 

 

Maybe not now.

 

Might be better on the ship.

[cruisemom42]

On my first Med cruise in 2006 there were ongoing protests in Istanbul, we were unsure whether the ship would make the port call, so I researched alternatives (e.g., where other ships that planned to visit Istanbul were diverted to) and was prepared. As it turned out, we made the call. 

 

We also had a close call with port calls to Israel a few years after. Rockets were being periodically lobbed that placed Ashdod off the radar. Again we were lucky that things cooled off before our arrival.

 

[Crew News]

I mistakenly booked a Caribbean cruise out of Port Everglades on Miami super bowl weekend.  Fortunately, Holland America booked the hotel for us and we didn't realize just how far from Fort Lauderdale it really was.  The hotel booking came with transportation from the airport and to the cruise terminal.  With bus transportation very limited due to the super bowl needs, Holland America used a limo service for the 60 mile ride to the ship.  What if we had not booked a hotel through Holland America?

 

Now, checking for local holidays/events is part of my research before booking.

[Subman738]

We flew into Fort Lauderdale prior to a cruise and decided to do a sightseeing trip out of Miami. We booked our sightseeing trip with PLENTY of time to pick up rental car in FLL and drive down to MIAMI. As it turned out there was a marathon race going on in the area that we needed to be for our sightseeing trip and we almost missed our trip as we literally couldn't get there. We could see where we needed to go but all roads were blocked off.

 

[John Bull]

Where are you getting your information from?🤔

There are eight teams still in contention - until that's whittled down to two it's impossible to even hazard a guess at how many supporters will follow them.

The stadium takes care of 76,000 of them, plus I don't know how many thousands of ticketless fans in the adjacent fanzones.

On, and by the way, it's not a given that an Italian team will be in the Final.

And more importantly, the fans of the two English teams (Man. City and Chelsea) most certainly don't have a bad reputation.🙄

 

The stadium is over15 miles from Sultanahmet, as are both of the airports.

That's the equivalent of Heathrow to central London.

And Istanbul is the most populous metropolitan area in Europe - yes, more than London.

Would you shun London when Wimbledon was on? Or the Boat Race ? Or Notting Hill Carnival? All have attendances in excess of your quoted 250,000, and the London Marathon attracts over 1,000,000..

 

Those fans who overflow into the city will be looking for places with alcohol and TV.

Most Muslim places don't serve alcohol (try the places on the lower level of the Galata Bridge), and most restaurants & their clientele don't want the distractions of TV.

The fans will find places that suit them, very few will cause any problems - altho the level of drunkenness might  actually get somewhere towards the UK norm..

 

"AS well as literally thousands of media outlets there too, with cameras all over the place"

There won't be TV teams swarming the city - and what does it matter if there were? I trust you'll be taking your own camera.

 

I'm concerned that you're already halfway to not enjoying your time in Istanbul simply because of how you're imagining it will be. 

It won't be anything like what you're fearing, and it's one of my favourite cities in the world.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, John Bull said:

Where are you getting your information from?🤔

There are eight teams still in contention - until that's whittled down to two it's impossible to even hazard a guess at how many supporters will follow them.

The stadium takes care of 76,000 of them, plus I don't know how many thousands of ticketless fans in the adjacent fanzones.

On, and by the way, it's not a given that an Italian team will be in the Final.

And more importantly, the fans of the two English teams (Man. City and Chelsea) most certainly don't have a bad reputation.🙄

 

The stadium is over15 miles from Sultanahmet, as are both of the airports.

That's the equivalent of Heathrow to central London.

And Istanbul is the most populous metropolitan area in Europe - yes, more than London.

Would you shun London when Wimbledon was on? Or the Boat Race ? Or Notting Hill Carnival? All have attendances in excess of your quoted 250,000, and the London Marathon attracts over 1,000,000..

 

Those fans who overflow into the city will be looking for places with alcohol and TV.

Most Muslim places don't serve alcohol (try the places on the lower level of the Galata Bridge), and most restaurants & their clientele don't want the distractions of TV.

The fans will find places that suit them, very few will cause any problems - altho the level of drunkenness might  actually get somewhere towards the UK norm..

 

"AS well as literally thousands of media outlets there too, with cameras all over the place"

There won't be TV teams swarming the city - and what does it matter if there were? I trust you'll be taking your own camera.

 

I'm concerned that you're already halfway to not enjoying your time in Istanbul simply because of how you're imagining it will be. 

It won't be anything like what you're fearing, and it's one of my favourite cities in the world.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

Excellent post JB

An enormous amount of hyperbole in the original post. The moment I read about the 250,000 fans I knew that it was sheer nincompoopery! 

[SPacificbound]

Istanbul is one of my favorite cities in the world also! 

 

"Night life" is not what I think of in Istanbul. It is a beautiful city, best seen in the light of day.

 

 

[Ashland]

We've port stopped many times in St Thomas...so can't say we were looking forward to it specifically, but on one of our visits there was a huge festival going on. Shuttle bus from Crown Bay had to take back street which took so much longer and once into town it was "jammed" packed with locals..most all shops were closed...and the smell of grass and partying was crazy !!!!!!. We had extended family with us that included two kids so we quickly got out of there and shuttled over to Havensight instead. WHEW !!!

[DarrenM]

On 3/21/2023 at 8:02 PM, John Bull said:

Where are you getting your information from?🤔

There are eight teams still in contention - until that's whittled down to two it's impossible to even hazard a guess at how many supporters will follow them.

The stadium takes care of 76,000 of them, plus I don't know how many thousands of ticketless fans in the adjacent fanzones.

On, and by the way, it's not a given that an Italian team will be in the Final.

And more importantly, the fans of the two English teams (Man. City and Chelsea) most certainly don't have a bad reputation.🙄

 

The stadium is over15 miles from Sultanahmet, as are both of the airports.

That's the equivalent of Heathrow to central London.

And Istanbul is the most populous metropolitan area in Europe - yes, more than London.

Would you shun London when Wimbledon was on? Or the Boat Race ? Or Notting Hill Carnival? All have attendances in excess of your quoted 250,000, and the London Marathon attracts over 1,000,000..

 

Those fans who overflow into the city will be looking for places with alcohol and TV.

Most Muslim places don't serve alcohol (try the places on the lower level of the Galata Bridge), and most restaurants & their clientele don't want the distractions of TV.

The fans will find places that suit them, very few will cause any problems - altho the level of drunkenness might  actually get somewhere towards the UK norm..

 

"AS well as literally thousands of media outlets there too, with cameras all over the place"

There won't be TV teams swarming the city - and what does it matter if there were? I trust you'll be taking your own camera.

 

I'm concerned that you're already halfway to not enjoying your time in Istanbul simply because of how you're imagining it will be. 

It won't be anything like what you're fearing, and it's one of my favourite cities in the world.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

Thanks for the response.

 

As a footballer fan, of my local team, I DO know a bit about this. Of course it depends on which teams get there.

 

Manchester City fans dont have a reputation but Chelseas certainly do.

 

Either way it wont stop my enjoyment, but to say it wont have some impact for some is a little simplistic. 

 

All of the teams left in the tournament have huge fan bases, and will travel in large numbers without tickets. Football supporters are a very special breed.

 

I DId say the stadium was a fair distance away so had covered that.

 

Thanks for the concern, but it wont stop my enjoyment one bit.

 

Theres a sneaky part of me that wouldnt mind getting a ticket, but dont tell the missus.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, DarrenM said:

All of the teams left in the tournament have huge fan bases, and will travel in large numbers without tickets

Not so sure about that in this case.  Turkey is not that easy, or cheap to get to, compared the likes of Rome or Barcelona,  so the fans without tickets are less likely to make the trip on spec.

[DarrenM]

You may well be right. 

 

But knowing English football like I do, and I assume like you do, if an English club gets there, they will do almost anything to make the trip.

 

Its probably the biggest game in their history. This tournament gets bigger every year.

 

I know a couple of Turkish travel agents have got offers on.

 

And are recommending bars to fans travelling without tickets.

 

This is a generalisation just now of course as we dont know which teams are going to get through.

 

Very good chance of it being Engish v Italian though.

 

But accept I may well be overstating everything.

[maggiev]

Going to Alaska for a one & only trip & not being able to enjoy Denali due to the road closure is a HUGE disappointment 

 

[donaldsc]

41 minutes ago, maggiev said:

Going to Alaska for a one & only trip & not being able to enjoy Denali due to the road closure is a HUGE disappointment 

 

 

When was your trip?  

 

DON

[klfrodo]

Learning the 5 P's during my military days has served me well through the years.

In the unlikely event, those fail me then the ability to adapt and overcome never has.

Edited March 24, 2023 by klfrodo

[Crew News]

19 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

Learning the 5 P's during my military days has served me well through the years.

In the unlikely event, those fail me then the ability to adapt and overcome never has.

Amen.  I had the same education. Making the best of a bad situation is just second nature now.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Crew News

[cruisemom42]

11 hours ago, maggiev said:

Going to Alaska for a one & only trip & not being able to enjoy Denali due to the road closure is a HUGE disappointment 

 

 

That reminds me of another epic-scale fail. 

 

I booked a special tour of Romania, one that would take me to the ancient capital of the Dacians (Roman times) called Sarmizegetusa. It was to be the highlight of the trip for most. Only problem is that it is at the top of the mountain with only a single road -- we were to take 4x4 vehicles there. But the local government closed the road for paving the entire time that we were in the vicinity. There was much disappointment -- the tour manager even looked into the possibility of renting a helicopter to transport us to the top but -- nowhere to land (it's a protected archaeological site).

 

I'm really not sure I'll ever get back to Romania. 😠

 

So if they ever tell you to take a land tour if you REALLY want to be sure of seeing a particular place, give them a dirty look for me.

[Mary229]

Personally, I try to avoid massive crowds.  Closures due to other causes are not always avoidable, though disappointing, give us a reason to revisit an area. 

[ilikeanswers]

Not a cruise but a land trip. The day we decided to visit Cesky Krumlov it turned out to be the same day a medieval festival closed the whole historic centre to only people with tickets for the festival. I didn't know you could book a whole town for an event😂. When we realised we couldn't get in we were about to go back to our hotel when a fight broke at one of the barricades, the guards left and we decided to be naughty and made a quick dash for it which to be fair there were other tourists who also visiting unaware of the festival rushed in first. With the festival going on it certainly was an unusual experience, (who knew in the middle ages they were into rock music😜) but at least we got to see the town especially as I doubt I will return to Czechia and we gave back to the festival by buying some of their food which was actually quite good. Lesson learnt that day check dates of places visiting in case of festivities. 

[maggiev]

On 3/23/2023 at 7:56 PM, donaldsc said:

We are going in August 2024 & from all I’m reading, the road will still be closed.

 

On 3/23/2023 at 7:56 PM, donaldsc said:

When was your trip?  

 

DON

 

[CPT Trips]

Just back from two weeks in Italy.

We were in Rome the day of a Europa Cup match against a Spanish team. Major tourist sites were barricaded. Spanish Steps were closed and there were barricades around the fountain in the piazza there. Entries into the piazza were well policed, including the fashion police strictly enforcing “no colors.” the steps leading down to Trevi fountain were also blocked. 

 

The next week we were in Naples the day after a Champions League match against a German team. German “fans” came to Naples despite being banned from the stadium. There was violence and rioting both before and after the match. 

As for the finals, the match starts at 10 pm so plenty of time for non-ticketed fans to “warm up.”
 

[slidergirl]

Last July on my Rhone barge canal trip, we were to end in Sete on Bastille Day.  The 11 of us were all excited at the prospect of being docked in Sete and enjoying the festivities and fireworks.  Well, the day before, our Captain gets word that a Seaborn ship was going to take our docking spot and he had to look elsewhere to tie up our little barge.  We were disappointed.  BUT, he found a little spot in Frontignan, a little village up the canal.  Turns out it was the BEST!  Our tie-up was right at the Festival area, next to the bleachers set up for the festivities.  We got to watch the boat jousting matches all day and listen to the bands they had.  Our captain had arranged for a really cool guitarist to play for us after dinner.  We danced on the deck, people were stopping, listening and watching us.  At dark, we had the most fantastic fireworks right there.  The next day we went down to the dock we were supposed to be at for departure - what a disappointment next to what we had the night before.  Another large ship was there and you had to shuttle into town to the place where they had the festivities.  So glad we had that hiccup!  Thanks Seaborn!

[ldubs]

41 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

Last July on my Rhone barge canal trip, we were to end in Sete on Bastille Day.  The 11 of us were all excited at the prospect of being docked in Sete and enjoying the festivities and fireworks.  Well, the day before, our Captain gets word that a Seaborn ship was going to take our docking spot and he had to look elsewhere to tie up our little barge.  We were disappointed.  BUT, he found a little spot in Frontignan, a little village up the canal.  Turns out it was the BEST!  Our tie-up was right at the Festival area, next to the bleachers set up for the festivities.  We got to watch the boat jousting matches all day and listen to the bands they had.  Our captain had arranged for a really cool guitarist to play for us after dinner.  We danced on the deck, people were stopping, listening and watching us.  At dark, we had the most fantastic fireworks right there.  The next day we went down to the dock we were supposed to be at for departure - what a disappointment next to what we had the night before.  Another large ship was there and you had to shuttle into town to the place where they had the festivities.  So glad we had that hiccup!  Thanks Seaborn!

Wow, talk about a silver lining - you hit the jackpot on that change!