LauraS
March 22nd, 2011, 01:50 PM
Cruise Critic has just posted the following news:
Two More Cruise Lines Return to Egypt
Read the entire news article... (http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4424)
aplmac
March 23rd, 2011, 07:34 PM
excerpt from a CNN Travel webpage
of March 23, 2011 2:48 p.m. EDT
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The political unrest in parts of North Africa and the Middle East (http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/21/middle.east.africa.unrest/index.html)
-- including an uprising in Egypt, anti-government protests in Bahrain and a revolt in Tunisia --
is having an impact on cruises.
Carnival Corporation, which operates brands such as Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises,
said there was a significant slowdown in demand for voyages to that part of the world.
More than 280 cruises had to be "reset" -- or given new itineraries --
and the company estimates this disruption to its business will result in about $44 million of lost revenue,
said Howard Frank, Carnival's (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Carnival_Corporation) vice chairman and chief operating officer,
during an earnings conference call on Tuesday.
"We pulled out of just all North African stops, in Tunisia and Morocco and Egypt,
and we've pulled out of -- actually, in some cases, we've had to pull out of Israel
because we got a lot of resistance," Frank said.
"People are just concerned about going to that part of the world."
There have been many booking cancellations, added Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival.
The company is hopeful the nervousness will settle down
and the cruises will go back to a normal booking pattern, Arison said.
.
Krazy Kruizers
March 25th, 2011, 07:52 AM
i would still be a little at ease going there right now
sure glad we went there years ago