Should we avoid Turkey at this time?

[dgb281]

I know there is no guarantee of safety in any port, but I am wondering if anyone has heard concerns about heightened threat conditions in Turkey, particularly the port of Kusadasi. It sounds very touristy, so perhaps there is more security there? We are considering a cruise of the Greek Isles and Italy.

[Kamloops50]

I know there is no guarantee of safety in any port, but I am wondering if anyone has heard concerns about heightened threat conditions in Turkey, particularly the port of Kusadasi. It sounds very touristy, so perhaps there is more security there? We are considering a cruise of the Greek Isles and Italy.

 

Personally I would avoid the Med and most of Europe until the migrant crisis has settled down.

[Keith1010]

Personally I would have no hesitation to visit Kusadasi and it is very touristy.

 

The only safe bet is to stay home and even then things happen.

 

We love Europe and the Mediterranean and have no plans to change our upcoming travel plans.

 

In this world that we live in it is often the place that you least suspect where a problem will occur including our own backyard such as this weeks event in California.

 

Keith

[maryann ns]

I agree with Keith. You can stay home, watch CNN, etc. and live in fear, or get out there and see the world.

 

There are no guarantees anywhere.

[Wiltonian]

Avoiding Europe as if it were one homogeneous place is, quite frankly, ignorant. Look what happened in California this week, sadly. Statistically, US residents are more likely to be killed by a member of their family while staying at home than they are on a cruise to Europe,

 

I would avoid eastern Turkey. But Kusadasi is a quite different place. I went there last year, and would go again quite happily. Ephesus is astonishing!

 

Stuart

Edited December 4, 2015 by Wiltonian

[cruisemom42]

You can view any US travel alerts or warnings for yourself here:

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings.html

 

The only listed alert regarding Turkey has to do with travel to southeastern Turkey. (Not somewhere on anyone's itinerary at the moment....)

 

Kusadasi is a town completely built around tourism, and I have never heard of any incident taking place there -- well, except for tourists getting fleeced by savvy Turkish carpet sellers. :rolleyes:

[Wiltonian]

Kusadasi is a town completely built around tourism, and I have never heard of any incident taking place there -- well, except for tourists getting fleeced by savvy Turkish carpet sellers. :rolleyes:

 

Don't forget the "Genuine Fake Watches"!

 

Stuart

[OCruisers]

Turkey is not a place we would want to visit at this point.

[maryann ns]

Staying home may be riskier!

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/upshot/in-other-countries-youre-as-likely-to-be-killed-by-a-falling-object-as-a-gun.html?hpw&rref=upshot&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

[happy trailer]

You can view any US travel alerts or warnings for yourself here:

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings.html

 

The only listed alert regarding Turkey has to do with travel to southeastern Turkey. (Not somewhere on anyone's itinerary at the moment....)

 

Kusadasi is a town completely built around tourism, and I have never heard of any incident taking place there -- well, except for tourists getting fleeced by savvy Turkish carpet sellers. :rolleyes:

 

I was in Euphesus at the beginning of November, and felt perfectly safe. But I was told there was a demonstration in Kusadasi a week or so earlier; that doesn't mean there was any impact on tourists, but I think it would have caught most by surprise.

 

I strongly suggest- especially for those planning a land trip- that instead of relying on the general State Department travel website, you check the local Consulate site. For example, while the State Dept may not have any alerts posted for Istanbul, the Consulate site in Istanbul currently has a very strongly worded alert; the first of these alerts was posted yesterday:

 

"Security Message for U.S. Citizens: UPDATE: Security Threat Against the U.S. Consulate Istanbul through December 6, 2015

December 5, 2015 | U.S. Consulate General of the United States of America Istanbul, Turkey

This is an update to a security message sent earlier today. Due to information about a possible security threat against the U.S. Consulate compound in Istanbul, the U.S. Consulate General Istanbul advises all U.S. citizens to avoid U.S. Consulate in Istanbul through the remainder of the weekend until December 6, 2015. We remind you that all U.S. Consulates, the Embassy and Consular Agency in Turkey are closed Saturdays and Sundays.

 

We strongly encourage U.S. citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance, be aware of local events, and take the appropriate steps to bolster your personal security."

 

(You can view the alert here: http://istanbul.usconsulate.gov/mobile/sm-12052015a.html)

 

I'm still planning trips to Europe and the US, but I will continue to do what I have been doing for years- checking the local consulates' sites (I check both the US and Israeli Consulates' sites).

 

BTW, I learned of the message from the Istanbul Consulate from online Israeli news sites, which were highlighting the alert. It's not the first time we've had alerts being reported at the same time that posters on Cruise Critic were emphasizing that there were no current alerts for those same areas.

[cruisemom42]

I was in Euphesus at the beginning of November, and felt perfectly safe. But I was told there was a demonstration in Kusadasi a week or so earlier; that doesn't mean there was any impact on tourists, but I think it would have caught most by surprise.

 

I strongly suggest- especially for those planning a land trip- that instead of relying on the general State Department travel website, you check the local Consulate site. For example, while the State Dept may not have any alerts posted for Istanbul, the Consulate site in Istanbul currently has a very strongly worded alert; the first of these alerts was posted yesterday:

 

"Security Message for U.S. Citizens: UPDATE: Security Threat Against the U.S. Consulate Istanbul through December 6, 2015

December 5, 2015 | U.S. Consulate General of the United States of America Istanbul, Turkey

This is an update to a security message sent earlier today. Due to information about a possible security threat against the U.S. Consulate compound in Istanbul, the U.S. Consulate General Istanbul advises all U.S. citizens to avoid U.S. Consulate in Istanbul through the remainder of the weekend until December 6, 2015. We remind you that all U.S. Consulates, the Embassy and Consular Agency in Turkey are closed Saturdays and Sundays.

 

We strongly encourage U.S. citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance, be aware of local events, and take the appropriate steps to bolster your personal security."

 

(You can view the alert here: http://istanbul.usconsulate.gov/mobile/sm-12052015a.html)

 

I'm still planning trips to Europe and the US, but I will continue to do what I have been doing for years- checking the local consulates' sites (I check both the US and Israeli Consulates' sites).

 

BTW, I learned of the message from the Istanbul Consulate from online Israeli news sites, which were highlighting the alert. It's not the first time we've had alerts being reported at the same time that posters on Cruise Critic were emphasizing that there were no current alerts for those same areas.

 

The way I read the information regarding Istanbul is that it is only a warning to avoid the consulate -- which is not near any areas tourists are likely to frequent.

 

I do look at consulate sites as well as the specific country information on the US site and also the UK travel warnings -- I prefer the latter above all as I find them to be the most specific. They will rarely suggest avoid an entire country when there may be concerns only in one small area.

 

I guess we all find a level of information that, for us, best matches with our knowledge gained from other sources, experiences, and tolerance for risk.

[cole]

We were in Kusadasi this past October and at the beginning of our private tour, our great tour guide showed us a map of Turkey and pointed out how far Kusadasi was from the southeastern border, where the refugee crises seems to be and Istanbul where the latest incident occurred. It really gave us a good perspective as to where we were compared to where the turmoil was occurring. Of course, as we know from recent incidents - you can't always be guaranteed that something would happen. By the way, we loved Kusadasi!

Cole

[sylmack]

We just got back from Turkey and Kusadasi in November.

 

No problems observed at all. It was by far the friendliest port. We did see a grand total of 3 refugee families who we spoke to at length.

Edited December 7, 2015 by sylmack

[no fuss travel]

We did a land tour of Turkey in October and ran into no problems at all. Perfectly safe. Our tour guide told us to take our usual caution when out and about, but that applies to wherever you travel and even when you go out at home. Turkish people are lovely and very friendly. Istanbul was fascinating and Kusadasi was perfectly safe to wander around.