If Israel Ports get cancelled?

The situation in Israel is not new unfortunately and it does not seem that there will be a peaceful solution anytime soon. My father was a Commander in the Navy and a Lt. Commander in the Naval Reserves as a Chaplain for over 25 years having joined the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. He was on ships in the Pacific for most of the war and so for most of his reserve service his aim was to get his summer cruise to include Israel and the Holy Land. Seven times he had orders that would allow him to visit the Holy Land and seven times the Naval ships were pulled out of the area/stood down/stood up whatever but always in the whole 20 year period he did not step foot in Israel because of hostile situations. I have only "thought about and ready to put deposit down" twice -- but so far war heated up each time. BIL a Biblical Scholar did get to Israel once and had 2 cancellations when he tried to lead student groups there. My DMIL tried once and went once to Israel to visit husband's Jewish relatives but didn't particularly like it! :p Gotta wonder at the luck of that being she got there and all the trying on my side of the family is for naught. Doubt if I will get there in my touring life -- Not unless miraculous PEACE breaks out. From my mouth to God's Ear.

I have been in Israel 24 times in the last 35 years for a total of about year spent there. I have never felt unsafe and there were no WARS any of those times..

I still feel safer there than in many other places I have traveled. Thank God their tourist business has grown to be very important over those years and hopefully when this latest conflict is over it will continue to do so. Don't give up on visiting one of the most interesting, beautiful and important places in the world.

Is Oceania considering offering some kind of compensation for cancelling Israel ports? In my opinion, they should as Haifa was the main reason to book this cruise for many of us. Oceania knows that. While I understand the safety reasons, they should realize how disappointed we are. Board credits, beverage package, upgrades would be some options to be given to cruisers who decide not to cancel the upcoming cruise . Thank you.

I wouldn't hold your breathe. Those of us on the black sea cruise were not offered anything when they cancelled Sevastapol, Yalta and Odessa, the main reason you go on a black sea cruise.

The situation in Israel is not new unfortunately and it does not seem that there will be a peaceful solution anytime soon. [sNIP] My DMIL tried once and went once to Israel to visit husband's Jewish relatives but didn't particularly like it! :p Gotta wonder at the luck of that being she got there and all the trying on my side of the family is for naught. Doubt if I will get there in my touring life -- Not unless miraculous PEACE breaks out. From my mouth to God's Ear.

My sympathies at your attempts to visit Israel. And how ironic that the one relative who did get there didn't like it!

I can't imagine not liking it ... I had to be dragged kicking and screaming. I always knew I'd be on the bus that got blown up. But when we went in November 2006 we had an absolutely wonderful trip. One of the best we've ever taken. Such an interesting country, and seeing major sites of three major religions is fascinating.

We were lucky in that my husband's cousin is a Sabra who is a licensed tour guide and she took us all over Israel. Often our car was parked in the middle of what seemed like a thousand buses.

I would love to go back, although I admit that I don't think I would do so at the present time!

When I was checking out hotels on Trip Advisor I saw two reports for a Beersheba hotel: one was favorable, the other said "the friendliest staff member was the guy with the uzi at the front door". We booked it anyway and the staff was just great. But we were lucky -- things were quiet during our visit.

I wish you luck on finally getting there. It's a beautiful country with SO much to see.

And my sympathies to all of you who are so disappointed with recent itinerary changes. I do know from personal experience how frustrating that can be.

Mura

I have been in Israel 24 times in the last 35 years for a total of about year spent there. I have never felt unsafe and there were no WARS any of those times..

I still feel safer there than in many other places I have traveled. Thank God their tourist business has grown to be very important over those years and hopefully when this latest conflict is over it will continue to do so. Don't give up on visiting one of the most interesting, beautiful and important places in the world.

I absolutely agree! It would be a shame if folks here did not press on and go see Israel in person. An amazing place.

Aloha, I absolutely agree.

However, I wouldn't go to Israel eight now ... and as I've said before, I advocate for a land tour. We were especially lucky in that Howard's cousin took us around and we didn't have to depend on a typical tour. But a typical land tour for 1-2 weeks is still superior (in my view) to a view days in port on a cruise. And the ports are up north, there's lots to see in the rest of the country. Plus we were able to visit Petra from Eilat. You can't do that on a cruise (at least I haven't seen an itinerary that lets you do so).

Of course, six months ago we didn't know that things would blow up with Gaza as they have. That's something no one can predict ...

My mother took a tour to Israel shortly before the first Intifada erupted. She had a great time. (That was the last real trip that she took.) When we were there in 2006 things were quiet -- which didn't mean our bags weren't searched whenever we entered a restaurant or other building.

Since then there have been many hot times in the area ... can we predict them?

I would say not.

I don't know if typical land tours have the same cancellation penalties that cruises do. If not, that's another argument for using one.

Mura

Mura;

We've comed to the same conclusion, sadly. Been to Israel twice and were really looking forward to this third trip. Got in and out of Egypt before things went back to normal there. Bottom line, there is turmoil in many parts of the world right now. I would rather go to Israel than anywhere in Africa right now. Much more dangerous. Our next Israel trip will be by plane.

I only wish that O had spent a little more effort in choosing how to adjust our itinerary once the decision was made to cancel Haifa. It's a pretty poor replacement plan and I do feel cheated what with so many other options in that part of the world we could have stopped at.

I understand your unhappiness. I'd be there too.

It has seemed to me (not a defense of what Oceania is proposing as alternatives) that it's easiest for the cruise line to switch to Greece and sometimes Turkey when they have this kind of itinerary. And we aren't in a position as passengers to know if Oceania had other options that might have been more popular. It's also not like they can take votes from passengers as to what people would prefer.

When I saw the recent revised itinerary I myself (and we're not on this cruise) would not have been unhappy with the revision because most of the new ports were new to us. We've done Crete and Rhodes before, but that was many years ago and we wouldn't have minded returning. Most of the other ports were new to us, or places we'd not mind seeing again.

But just because we feel that way doesn't mean other passengers do.

When you book a cruise for a specific destination, you are going to be upset if changes occur. But you also need to be aware up front that these changes can happen. It's not as if it's NEW that ports in Israel and Egypt have had to be changed. That's what happened to us with Libya in Nov '05 but in the end we had a fabulous cruise.

Mura

I have been in Israel 24 times in the last 35 years for a total of about year spent there. I have never felt unsafe and there were no WARS any of those times..

I still feel safer there than in many other places I have traveled. Thank God their tourist business has grown to be very important over those years and hopefully when this latest conflict is over it will continue to do so. Don't give up on visiting one of the most interesting, beautiful and important places in the world.

We were there a few years ago and WILL go back. If not next year than in 2 years. Felt very safe. This current problem will not last too long and then the cruise lines will go back. :):)

Delta suspends flights to Israel.

"Delta Air Lines suspended flights to Israel's main international airport today because of reports about a nearby rocket attack, the company said.

Citing "reports of a rocket or associated debris" near Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Delta said it suspended service between its hub in New York and Tel Aviv "to ensure the safety and security of our customers and employees."

One immediate effect: Flight 469, which left New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport with 273 passengers, was diverted today to Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport instead of heading to Tel Aviv as scheduled, the airline said.

"Delta continues to work closely with U.S. and other government resources to monitor the situation," Delta said."

Yes, they can. And the cruise contract allows them to do just that.

That's true. That's the very reason we have not yet booked any cruises in Europe and the Mediterranean.

That's like saying I won't go to New York because there is trouble in LA.

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I read yesterday where the state dept is now saying not to go to Israel. The advice does seem prudent to me. As for Delta, I can not say I blame them.

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Hopefully the war will end soon and all travel can safely be resumed. I am an optimist.

United just followed suit, cancelling all flights to Tel Aviv. US Airways is cancelling flights on a day to day, flight to flight basis.

United just followed suit, cancelling all flights to Tel Aviv. US Airways is cancelling flights on a day to day, flight to flight basis.

Too bad. Hope they can reach some sort of cease fire and then a lasting peace agreement.

The FAA has just stopped all U.S. airlines from flying to Israel for 24 hours.

According to CNN a Delta flight landing almost got into shrapnel that hit a house a mile from the airport. Man it is getting rough in this old world. I really would not be traveling in that area if there was a choice. Of course it might be playing louder on 24/7 TV than the actual danger level. Still if you are warned formally good idea to pay attention to that.