Reflection Turkey Ports Cancelled

Just for info. Just received email Celebrity have cancelled Kusadasi and Bodrum (Turkey) ports on our Reflection cruise 18th July. Have replaced with Rhodes and Sicily.

Lyn

Interesting. Thanks for letting us know. I keep checking the website and nothing has been posted. Wondering if they will cancel for the rest of the season. We are on the reflection Aug 8th

I wonder if Celebrity will make this change for the full season, on Reflection. Our cruise is in October. Time will tell...

Had the same Email, 2 places they replaced the turkey calls will be good no issues

We are hoping the same changes are made for our October cruise on Reflection.

I wonder if Celebrity will make this change for the full season, on Reflection. Our cruise is in October. Time will tell...

Have Central Ohio friends scheduled on the Celebrity Silhouette for later September to go from Rome to Holy Lands, including a stop at Ephesus. Will their Celebrity stop along the Turkish Coast get scrubbed? Or, stay/happen as planned??

During our two stops in 2006 along the coast in Bodrum and Ephesus, we loved both locations, the people there, etc.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 149,336 views for this posting.

We really loved all of the stops we made in the past to Turkey. That being said, Turkey is no longer the same place it once was, especially after what happened last night. For safety sake, we believe they will not be stopping anywhere in Turkey for quite a long time.

Wonder if Celebrity will stand the 20% VAT charges on all onboard purchases for not stopping in a non EU Port, or will they pass the charge on to the passengers.

Obvously it was necessary to scrub those ports from this week's itinerary.

I would think that they would hold off to see how things progress going forward. If it has to be, it has to be but having been to all 4 of those ports, we would rather repeat the 2 Turkey stops vs. Rhodes and Sicily, whether it is Messina or Palermo.

We are on the sailing of the 19th August on reflection. Interesting looking forward as there seems to be no plans of yet to change our itinerary. We have no stop at Bodrum, just Kusadasi, and already stop at Sicily (I was in the same port on the Azamara in September (Messina) and totally unimpressed) so we are watching this very carefully.

We are on same cruise starting July 29th...wondering if Kusadasi will be cancelled also. Pity if it is but in times like this the you would expect the cruise lines to put safety before profit!

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Very interesting. Thank you for posting. I will be on the Equinox for the 25th August sailing. They have already changed our flight home from Istanbul to Athens. I have been wondering what would happen about Kusadasi.

That 20% VAT could be a shock to some. It happened to me on one sailing last year when it was a new rule. We have Classic drinks package, so I assume the VAT won't apply to that as it was free.

I personally don't care about VAT. I don't mind paying 20% extra. I don't want to go anywhere near Turkey!!! Our cruise is coming up and one of the stops is Kusadasi. I'm really hoping the Celebrity will change the itinerary as right now I'm not looking forward to it at all

Have Central Ohio friends scheduled on the Celebrity Silhouette for later September to go from Rome to Holy Lands, including a stop at Ephesus. Will their Celebrity stop along the Turkish Coast get scrubbed? Or, stay/happen as planned?

I'm on the 7 September cruise aboard Equinox... That cruise was initially scheduled to originate in Istanbul with an onboard overnight... The overnight was scrapped back in January and rescheduled for cruise-end at Barcelona... And then, in light of the events at the Istanbul airport back on 27 June, the origin of my cruise--eight trips; four on Equinox and four our Constellation that were scheduled to originate or end in Istanbul were impacted--was relocated, within less than two days, from Istanbul to Athens... For my trip, Crete was substituted for an originally scheduled intermediate port call at Athens on 11 September as a consequence of relocation of our origination port...

We are still scheduled to call at Kusadasi on 9 September but suspect that Celebrity will take a wait/see approach as to continued viability based upon how circumstances unfold in the aftermath of last night's coup attempt... It appears from this thread that Celebrity is addressing potential port substitutions--as they should--in "cruise start date" order...

In the meantime, I suggest that your friends stay tuned to related posts here and/or to travel advisories published on Celebrity's website in the absence of notification... I will say that after Istanbul was dropped several weeks ago for the remainder of this year's European cruise season, it quickly became apparent that Celebrity had made contingency plans--right down to booking dock space--well in advance of enacting them... About 20,000 guests were impacted by that change!

We are on Sept 30 Reflection with a planned stop to Kusadasi

Hope things settle down by then -would hate to miss it

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We are on the sailing of the 19th August on reflection. Interesting looking forward as there seems to be no plans of yet to change our itinerary. We have no stop at Bodrum, just Kusadasi, and already stop at Sicily (I was in the same port on the Azamara in September (Messina) and totally unimpressed) so we are watching this very carefully.

Cruiseyorkshire, I'm on the same cruise as you on the 19th Aug, and agree with what your saying. I was in Messina in April, and didn't care too much for the place, however it was the rest of the ports that I picked the cruise for. Looking at the itinerary, I would suggest it would be an additional Greek island between Mykonos and Rhodes, or a lazy day at sea. They cant change the cruise about too much as people have private excursions booked at most stops, including Kusadasi.

We are on the September 19th sailing and suspect that both Bodrum and Kusadasi will still be exempt from ports of call. Indeed it is unfortunate as we were lucky enough to experience these areas two years ago on another cruise, and spent time in Istanbul as well - all very beautiful and culturally enlightening. We cruised after 9-11 and Istanbul was exempt from one of our ports of call and a few years later - was on the list again as things became more steady and safe. As things settle, and positively thinking they will, these ports of call will be favoured again by the cruise lines. Better to be safe and there are so many beautiful ports in the region to see that just being on a ship and enjoying the holiday will be awesome.

We are on the September 19th sailing and suspect that both Bodrum and Kusadasi will still be exempt from ports of call. Indeed it is unfortunate as we were lucky enough to experience these areas two years ago on another cruise, and spent time in Istanbul as well - all very beautiful and culturally enlightening. We cruised after 9-11 and Istanbul was exempt from one of our ports of call and a few years later - was on the list again as things became more steady and safe. As things settle, and positively thinking they will, these ports of call will be favoured again by the cruise lines. Better to be safe and there are so many beautiful ports in the region to see that just being on a ship and enjoying the holiday will be awesome.

Good points!

We are missing our Istanbul Port on our Sept 7th sailing due to it being canceled and changed to Athens as our embarkation Port. I was struck by the fact that people were being shot and killed a few minutes walk from the Hotel we had booked in Istanbul and of course subsequently canceled.

The situation in Turkey is extremely volatile what with the attempted Coup, recent Istanbul Airport attack, a number of bombings in the Cities, the Kurds and the most recent lone wolf attacks.

I don't doubt Celebrity have Insurance issues regarding their passengers not to speak of their Billion dollar Ships. What would you do as an owner? Like you, I agree and hope stability comes back to the region but in the interim I see see them cancelling all Turkey Ports. In fact, I note 2017 sailings have already been moved from Kusadasi to Malta. I would expect a decision following the Reflection one to come in the following few days.

I was really hoping to see Istanbul and Ephesus that's in large part why I booked this Cruise. I will however, understand if Celebrity in their wisdom decide to make Port changes in the interests of their passengers, crew and their own assets.

Good points!

 

We are missing our Istanbul Port on our Sept 7th sailing due to it being canceled and changed to Athens as our embarkation Port. I was struck by the fact that people were being shot and killed a few minutes walk from the Hotel we had booked in Istanbul and of course subsequently canceled.

 

The situation in Turkey is extremely volatile what with the attempted Coup, recent Istanbul Airport attack, a number of bombings in the Cities, the Kurds and the most recent lone wolf attacks.

 

I don't doubt Celebrity have Insurance issues regarding their passengers not to speak of their Billion dollar Ships. What would you do as an owner? Like you, I agree and hope stability comes back to the region but in the interim I see see them cancelling all Turkey Ports. In fact, I note 2017 sailings have already been moved from Kusadasi to Malta. I would expect a decision following the Reflection one to come in the following few days.

 

I was really hoping to see Istanbul and Ephesus that's in large part why I booked this Cruise. I will however, understand if Celebrity in their wisdom decide to make Port changes in the interests of their passengers, crew and their own assets.

Wanted to add the following from the Toronto Star today

"Nearly 3,000 accused plotters already have been detained and new purges in the military are expected to remove any sympathizers among soldiers and officers. This continued internal turmoil could be a challenge for the armed forces as they battle Kurdish rebels and support the campaign against Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL."

The key line I thought was "continued internal turmoil".

Another point is that medical/life insurance does not cover EVERY country, such as war torn ones and countries with civil unrest. If there are travel advisories regarding Turkey, and your cruise is still stopping there, I would suggest contacting your insurance provider to ensure you will be covered. Same goes for terrorism, many policies exclude it.

Another point is that medical/life insurance does not cover EVERY country' date=' such as war torn ones and countries with civil unrest. If there are travel advisories regarding Turkey, and your cruise is still stopping there, I would suggest contacting your insurance provider to ensure you will be covered. Same goes for terrorism, many policies exclude it.[/quote']

 

I do hope common sense prevails and we just don't go there!

Tourist charter flights from Western Europe to the Turkish vacation resorts by Thomas Cook, TuiFly, Transavia and many other airlines have already resumed. It's seems business as usual again for holiday makers. (With Istanbul being the one exception.)

USA Today is reporting that the FAA has banned all commercial and private U.S. flagged aircraft from flying into or out of Turkey

Just wanted to note that when we booked our Med cruise on the Reflection for next summer we saw that Kusadasi was no longer on the list of ports. They replaced that stop with Malta. This was 3 weeks ago. So it looks like some stops in Turkey were already being removed for future cruises.

Jim

Current UK Foreign office advice on Turkey.

The situation in Turkey appears to be calming following an attempted coup overnight on 15-16 July. The security environment, however, remains potentially volatile. Following earlier disruption, flights to and from airports in Turkey are returning to normal, although some disruption remains and you should check with your airline or tour operator before travelling. You may need to turn up at the airport earlier than normal to get through the additional security checks in place.

If you are in Turkey, please follow the advice of the authorities, closely monitor travel advice and contact your airline or tour operator.

In Ankara and Istanbul we advise you to avoid public places, in particular demonstrations, and remain vigilant. Take sensible precautions if you are in the vicinity of any military or security forces. Roadblocks are in place in some areas.

The coastal resorts do not appear to be significantly affected at present. You should check with your airline or tour operator before travelling to the airport. Continue to exercise vigilance in resort areas.