Will La Goulette (Tunis) get pulled ?

[Alan2504]

Tunis, Bardo museum attack:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/mar/18/terror-attack-tunisia-bardo-museum-live-updates

[headhunterke]

They will watch it closely, I'm sure. Many governments now are reevaluating the travel advice to the country. And I think most cruiselines will follow this guidance. But it's too early to tell what will happen. Important will be what Tunisia's response to this attack will be. To be honest, I understand the concern and would ask myself the same thing. But aren't there shootings in every country every day? This is a little more than "just a shooting", but a single event is unlikely to trigger drastic consequences, unless the country will fall into an unstable state, then it's a different thing.

[InTheWASide]

The number of times they've had Tunis on itineraries and then pulled it... I would say it's very likely

[innlady1]

Tunis was pulled from one of our itineraries...back in the fall of '12. It seems to happen frequently. I would suspect it will happen again, given the current situation there. The whole situation with ISIS is very scary...I would love to book another transatlantic but...

[pdmlynek]

I am quite sure that they'll pull Tunis. I don't see how they could not. Passengers will not even book a cruise where there has be a killing in double digits.

 

The only way that they could not is if they were trying to make some sort of a political statement "we will not bow down to terrorists!" That is not going to happen, because cruise lines are in the business of making money, and not in business of making political statements.

[InTheWASide]

I am quite sure that they'll pull Tunis. I don't see how they could not. Passengers will not even book a cruise where there has be a killing in double digits.

 

The only way that they could not is if they were trying to make some sort of a political statement "we will not bow down to terrorists!" That is not going to happen, because cruise lines are in the business of making money, and not in business of making political statements.

 

They make their political statements by cancelling ports and telling the port authority to get their (you know what) together if they want to see them come back some day. Mexico is the perfect example of that :)

[ski ww]

Don't know if they will cancel for good but I'm sure it will be pulled until things are sorted out when ever that is. Don't know if any one remembers the Valley of the Kings shooting many years ago but it opened again.

Allan

[take us away]

Have had a few ports pulled for safety reasons. HAL will never knowingly put their passengers in any situation where there may be anticipated issues. Example is they restructured part of the African circumnavigation cruise last fall for a few safety issues. Now we all know stuff can happen anywhere but I am talking about pulling ports for things like Ebola in western Africa (Senegal, Gambia), rioting in Alexandria and Port Said. Heard (but did not experience) Israeli ports pulled due to possible attacks a few years back.

[cruisemom42]

The number of times they've had Tunis on itineraries and then pulled it... I would say it's very likely

 

Exactly.

 

It's terrible when things like this happen, especially in Tunisia where it seems they've had the best chance of making a go of their "Arab Spring" revolution.

[Harry1954]

It is better to be safe than sorry; however, I hope things improve there. Tunisia is quite an interesting visit and the people are much more 21st century than most of the other countries in the area IMHO.

harry

[sail7seas]

I just heard on the news an Italian Cruise Line (Costa ???) had a ship's excursion at the museum. Hope they are all safe.

[PathfinderEss]

I'm sure it will be pulled again, for how long, who knows. As Harry said earlier, 'better safe then sorry'.

[Alphen]

I just heard on the news an Italian Cruise Line (Costa ???) had a ship's excursion at the museum. Hope they are all safe.

 

According to Dutch new agencies, cruise passengers are among the victims involved. Both Costa Fascinosa and MSC Splendida are still in port at this time, respectively 1 and 4 hour behind their scheduled departure time, which does not indicate very good news!

Edited March 18, 2015 by Alphen

[sail7seas]

According to Dutch new agencies, cruise passengers are among the victims involved. Both Costa Fascinosa and MSC Splendida are still in port at this time, respectively 1 and 4 hour behind their scheduled departure time, which does not indicate very good news!

 

Arghhh, that's terrible news. One can surmise there is some chance guests from one or both ships were involved if they are both late leaving port. Prayers for all .....

 

Edited March 18, 2015 by sail7seas

[prescottbob]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3000614/Tourists-shot-dead-Tunisia-Bardo-Museum.html

[StartrainDD]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3000614/Tourists-shot-dead-Tunisia-Bardo-Museum.html

 

From the referenced article:

"A terrorist attack which left seventeen tourists dead when two gunmen 'hunted down' foreigners, has been hailed as 'a black day for Tunisia'.

 

All 17 innocent victims were foreigners who were deliberately targeted as they exited cruise ship buses by the museum in Tunis.

 

Two gunmen then entered the museum and took 30 more tourists hostage before police swarmed the building and killed the terrorists in a shoot-out which also claimed an officer's life.

 

Twenty-two people were killed: 17 tourists, the two gunmen, a museum security officer, a cleaner, and a police officer. The dead tourists came from Italy, Poland, Germany and Spain."

 

We are booked on Zuiderdam and one of the reasons we booked this cruise was the Tunisia stop. Right now, I can't imagine going there.

[Alphen]

From the referenced article:

"A terrorist attack which left seventeen tourists dead when two gunmen 'hunted down' foreigners, has been hailed as 'a black day for Tunisia'.

 

All 17 innocent victims were foreigners who were deliberately targeted as they exited cruise ship buses by the museum in Tunis.

 

Two gunmen then entered the museum and took 30 more tourists hostage before police swarmed the building and killed the terrorists in a shoot-out which also claimed an officer's life.

 

Twenty-two people were killed: 17 tourists, the two gunmen, a museum security officer, a cleaner, and a police officer. The dead tourists came from Italy, Poland, Germany and Spain."

 

We are booked on Zuiderdam and one of the reasons we booked this cruise was the Tunisia stop. Right now, I can't imagine going there.

 

You should have no worries there, cruise companies are usually over cautious in these cases, rather than taking the smallest bit of risk!

[headhunterke]

I am quite sure that they'll pull Tunis. I don't see how they could not. Passengers will not even book a cruise where there has be a killing in double digits.

 

And yet shootings like this also happen in the States and in my country as well. Last year there was a major shooting by a single man in the Jewish museum in Brussels who killed several people. And not 1 government instance addapted the travel advice for our country. Only the Jewish communities themselves were extra cautious and important places got extra protection. But apart from that, I don't think a lot of tourists had second thoughts. Same thing with the attack in Canada last year. 2 days in a row and I did not hear many people changing plans for that.

 

It is however as you said, it will be important to watch how Tunesia as a country responds to this.

If the country falls back into the depth where they were in the midst of the revolution, then yes, they should pull this port as soon as possible, no doubt.

 

As for Tunis being pulled in 2012, that was pretty logic. The country was still not in a very stable condition after the Arabic Spring of 2010

Edited March 18, 2015 by headhunterke

[Minoushka]

Time to pull out of all arab countries.....none are safe

I think the terorists just killed the very lucrative travel industry in those countries ...no cruise line or land operator will riskor should risk peoples lives again ...once too often ......

Sad sad sad for poor tourists and good Tunisians whoese livelihood has been taken away bty terrorists

This year is not good for Europe at all too many threats coming from all sides

[InTheWASide]

Costa has said 14 passengers are currently unaccounted for:

 

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/12357-costa-reports-14-missing-passengers-after-tunis-attack.html

[4friends]

We have a cruise next month with a scheduled stop at La Goulette/Tunis. One of our roll call members emailed HAL and was told no itinerary changes yet, they are monitoring the situation. I can't see them keeping this port but I am not prepared to take that level of risk, so would choose to stay onboard if they kept it.

[sammiedawg]

We were there in 2009, I think ( I'm trying to remember if this trip was before or after my daughter's wedding) on the Noordam. We were not particularly interested in the port but joined a short tour. We walked briefly in the old city and drove to the American cemetery which was beautiful.

Today's incident sickens me. IMHO there will be more trouble for tourists in the Med this season. We made the decision to avoid this area for a while after one last glorious trip last fall.

[InTheWASide]

We have a cruise next month with a scheduled stop at La Goulette/Tunis. One of our roll call members emailed HAL and was told no itinerary changes yet, they are monitoring the situation. I can't see them keeping this port but I am not prepared to take that level of risk, so would choose to stay onboard if they kept it.

 

I would definitely do the same.

 

And if it turns out that the 14 unaccounted for are among those seriously injured or dead I would fully expect ALL Carnival Corp brands if not the entire industry to back out of Tunisia like they previously did with Egypt

[cruisemom42]

Tunis was pulled from one of our itineraries...back in the fall of '12. It seems to happen frequently. I would suspect it will happen again, given the current situation there. The whole situation with ISIS is very scary...I would love to book another transatlantic but...

 

Ah yes, I remember the kerfuffle in fall 2012. Folks on this board fell all over themselves telling me my ship would never make calls in Tunisia about 6 weeks after the event that precipitated the warning.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1706205&highlight=tunisia

 

My ship made both calls as planned.

 

The Prinsendam (on which my parents were sailing) did not make its scheduled call to Tunisia (Sousse, if I remember correctly, not Tunis).

[Shih-tzu]

I have been "cruise dreaming" the last couple of weeks looking at Bermuda, Caribbean and Mediterranean cruises. As one continent that I haven't visited yet has been Africa, I was viewing the cruises that stopped at this port.

 

Just in the last week or two, I ran into an article (and now I wish I could remember where) that the author said it wasn't "IF" cruise ships or tours were attacked but a matter of "WHEN" and indicated that the Mediterranean could be at a risk this year due to ISIS. (Unfortunately the analogies they kept using were the USS Cole type of attack which means remaining on the ship wouldn't mean you would be safe either and the Achille Laura(sp?)). I also believe they did mention that Africa and Eastern Med are higher risk. I read the article and thinking what they were saying made sense in a way and never gave it any more thought.....until today.

 

My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been killed or injured in this attack and their families.