Kusadasi/Ephesus any recent stops on X

WE are looking at Med cruises for next fall, and X has none that stop in Turkey.

Well I did not look at the last week in September.

Any ideas on the likelihood that a stop at Rhodes might be changed to Kusadasi if conditions get more stable?

Have they stopped there on any cruises in the fall of 2016?

WE are looking at Med cruises for next fall, and X has none that stop in Turkey.

Well I did not look at the last week in September.

 

Any ideas on the likelihood that a stop at Rhodes might be changed to Kusadasi if conditions get more stable?

 

Have they stopped there on any cruises in the fall of 2016?

We stopped in Kusadasi in October. We felt very safe. Ephesus was on our bucket list.:)

WE are looking at Med cruises for next fall, and X has none that stop in Turkey.

Well I did not look at the last week in September.

 

Any ideas on the likelihood that a stop at Rhodes might be changed to Kusadasi if conditions get more stable?

 

Have they stopped there on any cruises in the fall of 2016?

I was on Reflection in October and we had two Turkey stops (Kusadasi and Bodrum). They are all off the list now and it's hard to say whether it will be changed because it's such a fluid situation, but I'd say the balance of probability is they'll stay away from Turkey for a bit. Personally I'd have no issue going there. Felt entirely safe and we had a wonderful private Ephesus guide from Turkey.

Change their mind, but as we were told in September, no cruise or only a few were going to Kusadasi. We did a small private tour and that is the only way to see the FABULOUS ruins. Turkey is safer that most think, the Media plays much too big a role in shaping our minds.

Interestingly enough, P&O has just announced that it will not be stopping in Turkey and cruises are being changed. They say that they have taken advice from the Foreign Office. It suits us as we will be going to Rhodes instead.

Interesting though if they have taken advice from the FO.

Interestingly enough, P&O has just announced that it will not be stopping in Turkey and cruises are being changed. They say that they have taken advice from the Foreign Office. It suits us as we will be going to Rhodes instead.

Interesting though if they have taken advice from the FO.

Cunard too have stopped visits to Turkey in 2017.

We were also there in October - had an amazing visit - one of the highlights of the trip - when things settle down I'd like to go back and see more of Turkey. Our Turkish tour guide, when I asked him in private about the situation in Turkey, shared with me that the situation is very serious but the trouble is focused in the North East. He is very concerned about the future of Turkey with the current leadership in place. Not to get into too many details but this was a person with a four year archeological degree, his mother is a teacher and his father is a doctor and was articulate and clearly intelligent. He also said that a couple of years ago there were about 380 cruise ships that came into Kusadasi whereas there were less than 40 scheduled to visit in 2017, and this was before the most recent trouble. We never felt unsafe anywhere on our day trip however people that stayed onboard said there were armed military boats circling the cruise ship all day. Its very very sad as tourism supports many people in Turkey and because of an unstable leader (dictator as he was described) their livelihood is in jeopardy.

We did not do an Ephesus tour this time since this was our fourth time in Kusadasi. I spent about 45 minutes walking around the port shops and it was very apparent that the shop owners were hurting for business. I have no idea what will happen if very few or no ships dock there in 2017. It is a shame how the government in Turkey has let this whole thing get so bad; these folks really depend on tourist dollars and the ancient sites in Ephesus are fantastic to visit. What a shame...

Our May 2017 cruise was originally scheduled to call in Turkey and we even had tours booked. The itinerary was nodified many months ago, substituting Malta for Kusadasi - disappointed!

I doubt that Celebrity will visit Turkey again anytime soon. I was talking to a Celebrity rep at a recent cruising expo and she told me that with the upheaval in Turkey this year there were thousands of cancellations mainly from the USA. One of the reasons for moving the Equinox to the Caribbean was a lack of demand for Europe. I note that the itinerary is now more focused on Western and Northern Europe and less on Eastern Mediterranean.

We stopped in Kusadasi this past October (via the X-Constellation) and had a tour to Ephesus. Felt completely safe and Ephesus was amazing.

It was quite clearly apparent that most lines had cancelled this port of call. The shops were hungry for business and although we understood, it was also a bit annoying.

What was more frustrating were tour operators hacking into our roll calls and posing as "Fellow Cruisers". You could tell by the posts (especially when you checked out their post history and they were cross-posting across all other roll calls) that they were Tour Operators hunting down business. I can empathize with their dire situation (lack of tourists); but being sneaky in our roll calls was a big turnoff.

I do hope one day the lines return to Turkey. It is an amazing country and we have been there twice via Celebrity (2015 to Istanbul and 2016 to Kusadasi).

Heather