Will Celebrity cancel Turkey ports for 2024

[mahasamatman]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

I would hesitate to go because Turkey supports a terrorist group. 

 

According to some, so does the U.S.

[zitsky]

Plenty of Middle East countries have a bad reputation for human rights.  I’ve gone to Turkey but there are places like Dubai that I don’t plan to visit.

[hcat]

14 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I would hesitate to go because Turkey supports a terrorist group. 

Latest comments by Turkey's Pres have made support of Hamas clear. .Was not aware they were so aligned..

 

On our cruise, there was no politics and we were treated well..like special guests.  Like other ports, they just wanted us to spend money and buy rugs  (very hard sell).  Seems things have changed!

[vjmatty]

17 minutes ago, hcat said:

Latest comments by Turkey's Pres have made support of Hamas clear. .Was not aware they were so aligned..

 

On our cruise, there was no politics and we were treated well..like special guests.  Like other ports, they just wanted us to spend money and buy rugs  (very hard sell).  Seems things have changed!

True, there is a big difference between Turkish people and Turkish government. The people are kind and friendly, not interested in hostility or politics. Even as a Greek I’ve had no negative interactions, and I’ve been to many regions in Turkey on numerous occasions.

 

I was in Cappadocia a few years ago and  talking to one of the restaurant owners who was Turkish-American, born in NJ. He told me some of the local government officials were giving him a hard time about the cafe umbrellas having beer logos on them. Also cities like Istanbul, which is so diverse it could be Earth’s capital, have just about every religion represented in different neighborhoods.  You’re not going to see the level of monotheism as you’d find in Hamas run countries, regardless of what the president says.

 

Turkey lives on tourism and relies on its international population. It’s trying to get into the EU. The joke is that Turkish Airlines is already a member, and when our recent flight home to NY from Venice on October 16 had its stopover in Istanbul, airport security was at a level I’ve never seen, even since 9/11. Multiple passport checks at the gate, manual carryon searches, and you couldn’t leave the gate area once you’d been processed. There were some Hasidic passengers also waiting to board, and I figured if they felt safe enough to travel through Istanbul, who was I to worry my Greek Orthodox ass 🤷🏻‍♀️

[someguyfl]

13 hours ago, zitsky said:

Plenty of Middle East countries have a bad reputation for human rights.  I’ve gone to Turkey but there are places like Dubai that I don’t plan to visit.

I've been to both Turkey (Ankara) and U.A.E (Dubai and Abu Dhabi). I'm American and a secular Jew.

I can say that before going to UAE, I had read a lot of things about how repressive they were, human rights issues, etc, etc ... And then I went there ... The locals I interacted with were from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds, everyone was friendly to me, and the ones I asked about what they thought about life in UAE, all seemed to love it there...

I'm not going to go as far as to say that I think it's a perfect country -- obviously no place is -- but keep in mind that media will highlight problems in any country, and even when looking at USA, we have major problems here with human trafficking for both sex slavery and plenty of other abuse in the agriculture/food prep industries ... 

 

English is very widely spoken, so you will be very aware of what's going on around you.

The government there clearly is trying to make improvements over time, and I consider them to be a civilized country with different problems than we see in North America and Europe ... but overall ... a comparable place.

UAE has an official peace agreement with Israel, and I'm happy to say I have Emirati friends. The younger Emiratis seem to generally be pretty secular.


As far as Turkey goes ... Erdogan is a dictator. The country is poorly run. The country has major problems with hyperinflation, corruption, crime, extremism, anti-semitism, etc etc... I have friends from (and in) Turkey. None of them have nice things to say about the government. Most will comment about how the food is great (it is), and there are great deals to be had if you have foreign currency (also true), and there is beautiful nature (I don't personally know, I only saw Ankara) ... English is not very widely spoken, so you will lose a lot of situational awareness. To get an idea of how poorly spoken English is in Turkey ... In Ankara - the Capital - I had problems ordering breakfast at the hotel restaurant, a hotel which caters to international travelers.

 

But in any event, I'd certainly feel *far* safer going to UAE than Turkey.

In both countries - respect that you are in a place with very different laws and much stricter punishments. Do not bring illegal drugs. Do not buy drugs. Do not steal things. Do not go into religious places dressed immodestly. Treat people with respect. If you follow those rules, generally, you will do fine in either place.

[cruisemom42]

On 11/15/2023 at 10:26 AM, someguyfl said:

English is not very widely spoken, so you will lose a lot of situational awareness. To get an idea of how poorly spoken English is in Turkey ... In Ankara - the Capital - I had problems ordering breakfast at the hotel restaurant, a hotel which caters to international travelers.

 

English is much more widely spoken along Turkey's western coast where there are many resorts and tourist destinations (not to mention cruise ports), as well as in Turkey.

 

I've been to Ankara and the interior of Turkey as well. You're correct that English is less common there. 

[Cruiscs]

On 11/3/2023 at 2:55 PM, bbtondo said:

Just checked my cruise for Sept 2024.  Turkey is off the itinerary.  I am happy with this, because I didn't want to go to Turkey anyway.  Any guesses what Celebrity will replace that stop with?  Another sea day?  

Which itinerary? Silhouette is still sailing to Turkey in Spetember

[sofietucker]

On Azamara in Sept 2023, we had 4 ports in Turkey, plus spent a few days in Istanbul on the front end. We love this country, probably our 5th time in Kusadasi. No unrest, no terrible traffic (stayed in Sultanahmet, used the tram, etc. We did note that the city buses had electronic signs "STOP WAR" and one of our Uber drivers wore a tee-shirt with "Teach Peace" (I have that bumper sticker!). Cesme, Canakkale were very laid back & plenty of English speakers. Some other pax took a pre-cruise excursion to Cappadoccia and loved it. 

[Moby Jones]

On 11/5/2023 at 3:12 AM, zitsky said:

Other than Turkey supporting Iran and Russia (and Hamas?), I don’t see a reason to avoid Turkey.  It’s not like Americans are being kidnapped there.

 

Did we all tell people to not come to the USA whenever a party is in power that we don’t like?  I hear from time to time travel alerts about the USA.

I visit the US regularly. Statistically I'm far more likely to be murdered there than pretty much anywhere in Europe or the Middle East. 

We have a land trip booked to Turkey in April. I have no reservations or fears about visiting there at all. We've been to Istanbul before and loved it. It's one of the most interesting cities in the world and never had any kind of issues whatsoever.....

[Moby Jones]

On 11/15/2023 at 1:03 AM, zitsky said:

Plenty of Middle East countries have a bad reputation for human rights.  I’ve gone to Turkey but there are places like Dubai that I don’t plan to visit.

Dubai too is a really interesting place to visit. It's exceptionally clean and modern. Violent crime is extremely rare. The extreme wealth can be a little ostentatious but it's still worth a visit IMHO. 

However if you are an openly gay man as suggested in a previous post it would be best avoiding. Even checking into a room with a same sex partner could cause you very real issues. Sadly they are a few decades behind the civilised world in that respect. Even a man kissing his wife in public can end up with both in jail! 

 

[SouKnoMe]

Sorry to hear this. I loved Kusadasi. Turkey is such a beautiful country.

[jsoble]

Cricketlover,
Did you confirm with Oceania directly that Turkey is off the itinerary?
I can tell you that I just spoke with my travel agent and as well directly with Oceania Cruises and they both said Turkey is still on the itinerary.  We are on the Vista cruise from May 1 thru May 11th and there is not mention at all of a change in itinerary.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I am surprised that Oceanic is still sailing a cruise from Dubai to Barcelona this May 

[cruisemom42]

38 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I am surprised that Oceanic is still sailing a cruise from Dubai to Barcelona this May 

 

They are notoriously slow about updating itineraries and changing them last minute (sometimes completely different itinerary to what is published).