Apex due in Israel tomorrow

[Presto2]

Whatever re the ships, am sure all of our thoughts and prayers are with those affected - particularly those women and elderly taken hostage and those civilians on both sides caught up in it all.

Watching the scenes on the TV puts a change of itinerary into perspective ...

[hcat]

so sad.. for the victims and their families. 

 

Some who booked a cruise to Israel may have hoped to make it their "lifetime visit" .. Hope maybe they will get  another chance in future yrs

 

Not much you can do abt the new itin but make the best of it..

[swerdjr]

15 minutes ago, hcat said:

so sad.. for the victims and their families. 

 

Some who booked a cruise to Israel may have hoped to make it their "lifetime visit" .. Hope maybe they will get  another chance in future yrs

 

Not much you can do abt the new itin but make the best of it..

We just arrived home from the Apex yesterday after visiting Israel, Egypt and Turkey. We had a wonderful time. Praying for Israel 

[wineoclock]

I feel for the people so much. We were on Apex October last year for my bucket list to Israel and had a wonderful time. But it’s always a possibility that it may not happen. 
 

Im Cypriot so am sorry I didn’t see this earlier to recommend restaurants for dinner. 
 

 

[azbirdmom]

Here's the new itinerary for the next Apex sailing.

 

[deliver42]

I can't see any Israeli port for some time to come.

[Zrf80]

Will Celebrity offer refunds now that the itinerary has changed ?  I know some of us booked the trip for Israel.  Wonder if they’re willing to refund given the circumstances…

[abbydancer2003]

My niece is in Israel for the year right now.  She's in Jerusalem, so hopefully OK.  We spent 10 days there back in 2015.  We loved it.

And I just texted her and she's fine.

[Arizona Wildcat]

35 minutes ago, Zrf80 said:

Will Celebrity offer refunds now that the itinerary has changed ?  I know some of us booked the trip for Israel.  Wonder if they’re willing to refund given the circumstances…

No refund.  

Celebrity has the right to change ports.

[wineoclock]

59 minutes ago, Zrf80 said:

Will Celebrity offer refunds now that the itinerary has changed ?  I know some of us booked the trip for Israel.  Wonder if they’re willing to refund given the circumstances…

It’s always a risk that ports will change. Many years ago on Disney (I think) a stop in Tunisia was changed to a terrorist attack. Safety is paramount. 

[marco491]

All Israel excursions are refunded in full but nothing for the cruise, it’s in the small print. I know they always have something up their sleeve but I think they've done well to pull up a new and fairly decent schedule in the circs. 

[Cruise a holic]

I wish the people of Israel win the war quickly!  So important for them to be safe and secure.  

[hcat]

the 3 Greek ports are all.lovely..Not Israel but safer at this time!

[Miaminice]

.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Miaminice

[Miaminice]

19 hours ago, Presto2 said:

I don't understand why they never use Cyprus as a port and do excursions from Limassol. It is a beautiful country, full of many ancient sites and great people. 

 

They have... we visited Limassol on Apex in October 2022 :-) 

We had a great lunch at a local Taverna. Besides that it was not really the most memorable port though.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

It is going take our friends a week to get flights home , back to Canada 

[Presto2]

36 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

 

They have... we visited Limassol on Apex in October 2022 🙂

We had a great lunch at a local Taverna. Besides that it was not really the most memorable port though.

Pafos is better 😉 Lovely photo

[AI282]

The Celebrity Apex was still scheduled to head to Alexandria. News reports from Alexandria:

 

A policeman in Egypt killed 2 Israelis and 1 Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria

 

An Egyptian policeman opened fire Sunday on Israeli tourists in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least two Israelis and one Egyptian, Israeli and Egyptian authorities said. A statement from Egypt’s Interior Ministry said that another person was wounded in the attack at the Pompey’s Pillar site in Alexandria. It provided no further details.

 

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-egypt-attack-tourism-af8a02136c390721a0fdef647394154c

[CruiseMrB]

According to cruisemapper, the southern Med is empty of cruise ships from west of Tunisia to South of Cyprus to Turkey. Everyone skedaddled. That's a good thing.

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, AI282 said:

The Celebrity Apex was still scheduled to head to Alexandria. News reports from Alexandria:

 

A policeman in Egypt killed 2 Israelis and 1 Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria

 

An Egyptian policeman opened fire Sunday on Israeli tourists in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least two Israelis and one Egyptian, Israeli and Egyptian authorities said. A statement from Egypt’s Interior Ministry said that another person was wounded in the attack at the Pompey’s Pillar site in Alexandria. It provided no further details.

 

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-egypt-attack-tourism-af8a02136c390721a0fdef647394154c

That part of the world is going to be affected for a while. Shocking times unlike we have seen for a generation in terms of the conflict in Israel. 

[Zrf80]

Are they going to cancel Alexandria now as well? If that’s the case Celebrity needs to cancel this cruise altogether.  I don’t think it’s fair if they cancel two major ports of call and replace them with small with smaller venues.  We all paid a lot of money for this cruise.  

[kathy49]

3 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

I wish the people of Israel win the war quickly!  So important for them to be safe and secure.  

nice to think it can be "quick" but this has been going on for decades. This time is one of the most major attacks and retaliation will be in proportion.  I don't think Israel will be on travel agendas for quite some time...just based on history.  Israel feeling safe? Not in most of our lifetimes. Just being realistic.

[bEwAbG]

What happens when major changes like that occur can depend on where you're from and under what conditions you booked.  Check with your TA to see what the options are.  U.S. customers are bound by the "we can change any port at any time" rule.

[calicakes]

23 hours ago, Zrf80 said:

Hi I’m supposed to be on this ship next week.  I believe it will stop at Ashdod / Haifa from Oct 17 18 and 19.  If the situation calms down, will Celebrity still go there, and are we expecting them to just cancel all future port calls to Israel altogether ?

It won't be calm for some time.  100 percent guarantee that Celebrity will cancel all future cruises.

[Cruise a holic]

1 minute ago, kathy49 said:

nice to think it can be "quick" but this has been going on for decades. This time is one of the most major attacks and retaliation will be in proportion.  I don't think Israel will be on travel agendas for quite some time...just based on history.  Israel feeling safe? Not in most of our lifetimes. Just being realistic.

So sad 😭.