terrorism in turkey

We are scheduled on a cruise leaving October 23, 2015 beginning in Venice and ending for two days in Istanbul.

Due to the recent terrorist acts and predictions of more to come before the election we are extremely worried about sightseeing in Istanbul as the major tourist sites are deemed to be places to avoid by the US State Dept.

As of this time Regent is not addressing this issue and is only advising of a wait and see approach. We are less than one week away from departure and do now see how we can go.

They are threatening to charge 100% cancellation penalty.

Any thoughts or advise?:

Would not be afraid. Ankara is FAR from Istanbul, which is a terrific city. There were problems in the US this week - does that stop you from leaving your home?

Agree with last poster. Ankara is 281 miles from Istanbul. If it were in the U.S., it would be like not going to Las Vegas because there were problems in Los Angeles.

We were in Istanbul earlier this month (as well as Egypt and Israel). Regent sent a team to check out these areas and they were deemed safe. The Captain has full power to skip a port if the situation in a port changes.

Istanbul was the same as it was the last time we were there. Lots of people in the streets - going to work, restaurants, shopping, etc. There was not a hint of anything going on (unlike Alexandria, Egypt where there were machine guns and a few tanks in the streets). The security at the airport in Istanbul is extremely tight which means getting to the airport earlier than usual.

I know that it appears that Regent is not addressing the issue but it is...... on a daily if not hourly basis. Regent would not put the crew or passengers in harms way. Try not to worry and just look forward to your cruise. The itinerary is great!

Really I don't believe this is an issue one should see how Regent or any cruise line handles. It is, imo, a personal decision on whether one is willing to risk going someplace that might incur danger whether the cruise line decides to go or not. Three days ago one could have said about Ankara the same as is being said about Istanbul, it's a busy, crowded city with people going to work, shopping, restaurants. It's rarely the city that has already been attacked that is as risky as the one we don't know about. Still, I personally would not let these attacks keep me home.

A lot of good points have been posted already.

Things in the world change so very quickly. This was a tragic event but the positive as a traveler is that when these things happen security in cities is increased substantially whether we are talking about Boston, London, Madrid, Sydney, Mumbai, Bangkok; all of which had terrorist acts.

If this was me I would just watch the events closely. I would then make a decision as to whether or not I would alter my plans to tour the city based on that. I remember being in London shortly after the bombings there and we still toured but decided to avoid the Underground for that trip.

I know a couple of months ago when there were all of the demonstrations in Istanbul people were getting nervous about that yet I know people who were in Istanbul as recently as a few weeks ago who felt very safe.

It sounds like you won't be in Istanbul until November and in this world we live in a few weeks is a lot of time.

Keith

Having been to Istanbul four times in the past 12 years, there was no difference that I could see between 2 weeks ago and 12 years ago other than perhaps a few more women wearing a head covering or even burka. But no evidence of any sort of fear among the people . Everyone seemed to be carrying on their daily lives.

And Istanbul is far from Ankara. I certainly never felt worried in Istanbul, or kusadasi or Antalya for that matter.

Concerned55, I would not be taking travel advice from alidor, Travelcat, wripro, Keith1010 or Rachel. Of course, I know you have asked for the advice. I guess they have all had good experiences in Istanbul, but you have to do what makes you comfortable. Comparisons to problems in the United States are ridiculous. In the U.S., you would know where to go or not go. You probably know not to go to East Oakland or West Baltimore at night. You probably speak the native language in the U.S. and so on. This might not be true in Turkey. Although Regent's approach seems to be "wait and see", I do think they are constantly monitoring safety issues in Instanbul (and everywhere else they go). You can take much comfort in that. Personally, I would go on the cruise and stick to Regent tours or tours with other well regarded tour companies. But that's just me.

flukey: For the record, I have no idea where to go or not to go in U.S. cities (other than Los Angeles where I grew up). East Oakland - West Baltimore....... really? Agree that making comparisons with the U.S. is not the best idea -- my Las Vegas/Los Angeles comment was to show the distance between Istanbul and Ankara.

Rachel and I were in Istanbul two weeks ago but that certainly does not mean that there could not be problems today. What I did learn from our recent trip is that the news we are seeing every day is somewhat skewed. After all, showing bombings and destruction is apparently more newsworthy than watching people living happily in Istanbul. We were also 2 miles from Syria -- a border with Israel that has never been crossed (and it is only protected by an electronic fence). 50 km. from where we were there are serious issues but not where we were. There is so much that is not reported in the news.

IMO, the bigger issue here is that a person can certainly cancel their cruise that is less than a week away but they will forfeit their money. I believe that those of us that shared our experiences may help the OP and should not be dismissed so easily.

We are going on a similar cruise next year on the Explorer that covers the "scary" places these days - Turkey, Egypt and Israel. I love to plan trips with out an organized tour and my research skills are excellent however when it came to this trip I needed help - Regent. I can't plan what is going on over there at all and I'm sure the cruise ship is going to avoid yuk to the best of their availability. Could we miss one of the ports - it could happen. I go into NYC all the time - I could time that very badly one day, but I'm not going to sit at home in NJ because a nutcase in a different city, different state, different county,etc decides to have a bad day. We had friends that avoided Paris this year because of the issues in the spring, we have been the Paris a bunch of times and this trip a few weeks ago was great as usual. Enjoy the cruise and don't let the press scare you, because let's face it you could just slip in the tub in Iowa!

We'll be on Voyager departing Istanbul (where we'll spend 2 nights prior to sailing) for Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Oman, and the UAE. Many of these locations have had terrorism incidents over the past few years. Some, like the recent Ankara attack, have been distant from where we'll be and some like an attack in Luxor last year are close to where we'll be.

Are we paying attention to this: yes. Are we concerned: to some degree. Are we thinking of cancelling: no. As earlier posters have noted, there is a degree of danger everywhere (and I do mean everywhere).

Due caution is in order. Register your trip through the State Department STEP program and you'll get all warnings for the locations you'll be visiting without having to check the State Department web site.

Incidentally, the most recent State warning for Turkey (9/3/2015) concerns the area near the Syrian border in southeast Turkey, far from where the cruises go.

Given that of the seven Ports of Call on the 23 October cruise, two are Turkish, how much of a blow would it be if Regent did indeed substitute for the Turkish element?

Some people would consider just being on the Seven Seas Voyager a holiday in itself.

Concerned55, I would not be taking travel advice from alidor, Travelcat, wripro, Keith1010 or Rachel. Of course, I know you have asked for the advice. I guess they have all had good experiences in Istanbul, but you have to do what makes you comfortable. Comparisons to problems in the United States are ridiculous. In the U.S., you would know where to go or not go. You probably know not to go to East Oakland or West Baltimore at night. You probably speak the native language in the U.S. and so on. This might not be true in Turkey. Although Regent's approach seems to be "wait and see", I do think they are constantly monitoring safety issues in Instanbul (and everywhere else they go). You can take much comfort in that. Personally, I would go on the cruise and stick to Regent tours or tours with other well regarded tour companies. But that's just me.

Would you have known not to go to New York on September 10, 2001? It's patently absurd to compare what might happen to you at night in East Oakland or West Baltimore where you are risking being help up to being bombed off the face of the Earth. It can happen anywhere, in the U. S., in any European capitol and soon to come to a theater near you in Moscow or St.Petersburg now that they are bombing ISIS targets too.

Henry is right.

Often when you least suspect it, that is when something tragic happens.

This is why I mentioned earlier it is often after something tragic happens that a city becomes safer as security is stepped up (NYC, Madrid, London) are some examples of that.

Each cruise line monitors the situation and often it is their insurance company that will tell them that they need to cancel a port stop.

Obviously, ports of embarkation and disembarkation are more challenging if the window is getting close.

Keith

I appreciate your views, but unfortunately have spoken to several people who also have been to Istanbul recently and were not comfortable leaving the ship to explore Istanbul.

When originally booked over 6 mos ago region was fairly stable and concerns at a minimum.

Now my wife is fearful of leaving ship and on a 7 day cruise it does not make sense to have to spend 3 days on the ship.

Regent is not doing anything and clearly cannot guarantee safety off of the ship

Really not sure what to tell you. There will always be people that are more afraid than others. Cruise lines have been going to what many consider dangerous ports for years and continue to keep their passengers, crew and ships safe. I personally do not think that Regent should be doing any more than they are doing. Whether you agree or not, cruise lines cannot react every time some passengers get concerned about an issue. It was not long ago that people going to Italy were posting concerns because of the proximity of Italy to countries having difficulties. Last month Greece (and other countries) were having problems with refugees and cruise lines did have to make a port change.

Going on Regent sponsored excursions or private excursions should not be an issue in Istanbul. As close as I am to my DH, if he wanted to stay on the ship and I wanted to go out -- I would go out (not by myself but with a tour). Also, staying on the ship isn't so bad -- it is a vacation on its' own.

My best suggestion is keep on top of government warnings (this is the best site http://istanbul.usconsulate.gov/citizen_messages.html ) - pay attention to where the problems are actually happening (not in the tourist areas like the Blue Mosque, etc.) and try not to let others feed into your fear.

As harsh as this may sound, your choices seem to be to either cancel the cruise and lose your money, go on the cruise and hide on the ship or go on the cruise and take excursions/tours. Really hope that you take the last option:o

Just want to add that we have been to almost 90 countries and Istanbul remains in the top 5. Please don't let fear ruin your trip.

I hear where the OP is coming from. For years, I avoided going to a country that my fellow citizens visited regularly because of the crime and murder numbers. Finally, friends convinced me to give it a try and I went to Florida. I wasn't murdered in a drive by, gangs didn't rob me and I loved state. But in comparison to Canada, for me, the US was a risk I didn't want to take.

On a Mediterranean cruise 3 years ago, I was in Ephesus, Turkey, when the Syrians shot down a Turkish fighter. I wasn't worried as I knew the cruise line would ensure our safety, at the very least, for insurance reasons. Istanbul was fantastic, and is on my list to return. Athens had riots before we arrived (I call this my failing economies cruise) but when we were there, Athens was calm and wonderful. Spain had issues, but it didn't affect us.

In summary, I am a coward, but I do want to see the world. And I am on this board because my sense is, Regent would be ideal for me in its service. I want a line that takes control of the vacation if their are problems in any given site (yes, I was in Bangkok for riots last year, yet did not see one and had a great time. I always figured that if you had a riot, the city was affected. In Bangkok, it turns out a riot can happen a few blocks away and have no impact on your shopping. Go figure!) I want to visit Egypt, Jordan and Turkey again, so am eyeing up a Regent cruise.

Regent will not follow the itinerary if it in any way hurts their reputation or their assets. If there were any danger, ports would skipped. Ports are skipped because winds are too high for tenders. They would definitely skip if they thought their passengers were in more danger than winds.

and all was fine. There was nothing out of the ordinary. We used a tour guide we knew from before, but ships tours would be just fine.

I would not cancel and lose my money. If things heat up there, I am positive that Regent will substitute the ports.

This is my opinion only.

In the end, it's not just a Regent decision as often the insurance company will dictate a change of this magnitude which his even more complex because Istanbul is not just any port stop on this cruise but is both a disembarkation port on the voyage that concerned55 is on and also an embarkation point for the following cruise so a change carries a large financial impact with respect to flights, etc and other items such as provisions.

Unfortunately we live at a time where individuals can do a lot of destruction vis-a-vis terrorist activities. On the other the good news is that we live in a time that so many more people can travel around the world than ever before and get to see places first hand that many who preceded us never had the opportunity to see.

I hope that things are calm when you are there.

Keith

Just want to add that we have been to almost 90 countries and Istanbul remains in the top 5. Please don't let fear ruin your trip.

I didn't realize Istanbul was a country! Lol ;)

I didn't realize Istanbul was a country! Lol ;)

Can't believe that I said that:o

Travelcat2, I think you just confused Istanbul with Texas. It is Texas that thinks they are another country. And I even live in Texas. :)

Keith

Keith, we had a couple from Texas behind us on an excursion that were infuriated that they could't carry a hand gun, we were completely gobsmacked that it could be allowed in the first place. Is that common practice or one of a kind?

Texas is an interesting place and, if memory serves, would like to be its' own country:) Istanbul, on the other hand, would probably do well as a separate country since many of the problems they have in Turkey (not to be confused with a Thanksgiving turkey) are in other areas of the country.

Back to the subject - really hope that the OP reports back that they enjoyed Istanbul as much as the rest of us.

We are sailing from Istanbul in two weeks time on Voyager. We recently did an Istanbul to Istanbul on Mariner and whilst we have no concerns about Turkey, we are more wary of the current situation in Israel.

We have three days there are two long excursions booked, the way it has kicked off lately I would imagine that Regent have the situation under review.

Whilst we appreciate it is a case of Palastinians v Israelis, the attacks are somewhat indiscriminate. These conflicts quite often occur in these parts but it has been stepped up a great deal in the past week.

Interesting times.....