Will Turkey be Dropped? Another bombing.

[gordylad]

Not just Istanbul......

 

At least 28 people were killed and 61 injured after an explosion hit the Turkish capital of Ankara, the Turkish Health Minister has said.

 

Police said a car bomb was detonated near a military headquarters, sending dark smoke billowing into the sky.

 

A vehicle carrying military personnel is said to have been the suspected target.

Edited February 17, 2016 by gordylad

[DrivesLikeMario]

Argh...I hope not! Ankara is quite a distance from Istanbul and Ephesus, but idiotic bombings like this make everyone a little nervous.

[Minoushka]

Turkey no longer seems safe as a destination..Other cruise lines have already cancelled all stops there .it wont be long before allcruise lines do

[ghstudio]

Don't take this wrong, but I hope Celebrity drops all Turkish stops for safety. There are lots of other places to cruise....why take chances?

[IsanTom]

Don't take this wrong, but I hope Celebrity drops all Turkish stops for safety. There are lots of other places to cruise....why take chances?

 

I second that!

[zoncom]

Agree Turkey should be cancelled completely.You could not pay me to go over there this season.I know it all comes down to money for parent company but it should hurt their rep and business.Been on almost 30 X cruises but they have lost my business. Vote with your pocketbook.

[jbuch02]

Istanbul and Ephesus, both ports frequented by Celebrity cruises, are not within the Travel Warning Area issued by the US Department of State. That area is in South Eastern Turkey along the Syrian boarder.

 

The link below will take you to the most recent warning issued by the USDOS on February 4th. If you click on the reference map, you will see Istanbul and Ismir (adjacent to Ephesis) are not in the warning area.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/turkey-travel-warning.html

 

To put terrorist bombings in perspective, you have an extremely small chance of being killed in such an attack. The percentages are much, much higher of you being killed by some other unpredictable event.

 

http://pressfortruth.ca/top-stories/what-are-your-chances-being-killed-terrorist-attack/

 

Don't get me wrong. Travel can be dangerous. Turkey can be dangerous and that it shares a boarder with Syria, the risks might increase if traveling there.

 

I would add that the target of yesterday's bombing in Ankara was a military one. Did Turkish forces just shell a Kurdish military unit engaged in fighting ISIS in Syria? Yes? Connect the dots. This bombing was very likely Kurdish retaliation for the shelling.

 

The Kurds are a thorn in Turkish President Erdogen's side. There is a lot of tension between Erdogen and the Kurds who want an independent state and this has been going on for decades. There has been speculation that the bombing last October in Ankara may have been organized and carried out by elements sympathetic to Erdogen's policies and opposed to that of the Kurds. In other words it was meant to stir up Turkish support for Erdogen and dislike for the Kurds.

 

Worse things have happened in this complicated world. It is right to be cautious when traveling in it but fearful enough to avoid traveling all together, even in areas that might have a slightly elevated risk? That's for you to decide when you have some facts at hand upon which to base your decision.

[LEtue]

Really sad news and I am glad I got to Kusadasi and Ephesus in Oct 2014.

 

Was hoping to get to Istanbul someday but it doesn't look like that will happen :( Better that the cruise lines drop Turkey rather than risk it.....

[MrsKNZ]

There is danger everywhere. It may be worth, if your travel is being curtailed by something like this, to look at the odds of being killed (I.e not dying through natural causes), in any other way than terrorist attacks, vs odds of being killed by terrorists. I'm thinking it's pretty high. Car accidents, acts of nature, acts of violence not related to specific religious or political terrorism, all of these things are more prevalent the terrorism. And yet, I drive, walk, travel, live, without fearing everything around me that could possibly kill me.

I'm embarking from Istanbul on X in July. And greatly looking forward to it!

[ghstudio]

There is danger everywhere. It may be worth, if your travel is being curtailed by something like this, to look at the odds of being killed (I.e not dying through natural causes), in any other way than terrorist attacks, vs odds of being killed by terrorists. I'm thinking it's pretty high. Car accidents, acts of nature, acts of violence not related to specific religious or political terrorism, all of these things are more prevalent the terrorism. And yet, I drive, walk, travel, live, without fearing everything around me that could possibly kill me.

I'm embarking from Istanbul on X in July. And greatly looking forward to it!

 

Bravado is always good....I admire a stiff upper lip. On the other hand, why cruise to an area where there is unrest, some danger, some risk when there are so many other places to cruise or visit.

 

If you've visited everywhere else, and this is the time to see Turkey...have at it. Maybe this would be a good time to see Vietnam, China, Japan or the Norwegian Fjords.

 

Just sayin.....

[MrsKNZ]

I've travelled UK, Europe, US, Australasia and the Pacific Islands. There's nowhere in the world completely safe. Especially in election years! There is NO place in the world where you are completely safe from random acts of violence, regardless of the particular reason behind it. Our definition of terrorism, is their definition of patriotism. So I don't let either definition affect me [emoji4]

[boscobeans]

There is danger everywhere. It may be worth, if your travel is being curtailed by something like this, to look at the odds of being killed (I.e not dying through natural causes), in any other way than terrorist attacks, vs odds of being killed by terrorists. I'm thinking it's pretty high. Car accidents, acts of nature, acts of violence not related to specific religious or political terrorism, all of these things are more prevalent the terrorism. And yet, I drive, walk, travel, live, without fearing everything around me that could possibly kill me.

I'm embarking from Istanbul on X in July. And greatly looking forward to it!

 

I understand and can appreciate you point. I however am willing to live with the more commonplace dangers and the odds they present. Rather than adding one more thing that presents me with odds against my life I choose to avoid that additional threat just as I have over my life time, lived mostly in New York City, avoided high wire crossings over Niagara falls or walking into those darkened alleys after midnight. At 70 my quest for adventure is more along the lines of a warm beach or palm tree shaded bar with the understanding that even at those places there is always a certain amount of danger.

Edited February 18, 2016 by boscobeans

[reedprincess]

I understand and can appreciate you point. I however am willing to live with the more commonplace dangers and the odds they present. Rather than adding one more thing that presents me with odds against my life I choose to avoid that additional threat just as I have over my life time, lived mostly in New York City, avoided high wire crossings over Niagara falls or walking into those darkened alleys after midnight. At 70 my quest for adventure is more along the lines of a warm beach or palm tree shaded bar with the understanding that even at those places there is always a certain amount of danger.

 

Using that logic, I would never visit the US, given the rampant gun violence, home grown terrorists, and the foreign terrorist threat.

Yet somehow, no one ever brings that up around here after a particular violent act. Should we have stopped cruising from the West coast due to the San Bernardino violence? Perhaps have dropped the East coast after the Boston bombings, the chopping of police officers in New York, 9/11, the sniper shootings in DC and surrounding areas, Ft Hood, and so on... Yet somehow, the US keeps encouraging visitors to keep coming, that somehow it's a one-off event, etc... I would think we could extend the same view to other overseas areas.

Everyone has to evaluate their own safety and risk tolerance. Obviously we shouldn't put ourselves in specific harm's way if we can help it, ie I wouldn't be touring Syria just now, but I also won't be writing off an entire area for violence that is hundreds of miles away, just as I don't write off the entire US due to the violence there.

[MrsKNZ]

Using that logic, I would never visit the US, given the rampant gun violence, home grown terrorists, and the foreign terrorist threat.

 

Yet somehow, no one ever brings that up around here after a particular violent act. Should we have stopped cruising from the West coast due to the San Bernardino violence? Perhaps have dropped the East coast after the Boston bombings, the chopping of police officers in New York, 9/11, the sniper shootings in DC and surrounding areas, Ft Hood, and so on... Yet somehow, the US keeps encouraging visitors to keep coming, that somehow it's a one-off event, etc... I would think we could extend the same view to other overseas areas.

 

Everyone has to evaluate their own safety and risk tolerance. Obviously we shouldn't put ourselves in specific harm's way if we can help it, ie I wouldn't be touring Syria just now, but I also won't be writing off an entire area for violence that is hundreds of miles away, just as I don't write off the entire US due to the violence there.

 

 

Absolutely agree!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The_Big_M]

Using that logic, I would never visit the US, given the rampant gun violence, home grown terrorists, and the foreign terrorist threat.

Yet somehow, no one ever brings that up around here after a particular violent act. Should we have stopped cruising from the West coast due to the San Bernardino violence? Perhaps have dropped the East coast after the Boston bombings, the chopping of police officers in New York, 9/11, the sniper shootings in DC and surrounding areas, Ft Hood, and so on... Yet somehow, the US keeps encouraging visitors to keep coming, that somehow it's a one-off event, etc... I would think we could extend the same view to other overseas areas.

Everyone has to evaluate their own safety and risk tolerance. Obviously we shouldn't put ourselves in specific harm's way if we can help it, ie I wouldn't be touring Syria just now, but I also won't be writing off an entire area for violence that is hundreds of miles away, just as I don't write off the entire US due to the violence there.

 

Spot on.

[boscobeans]

Using that logic, I would never visit the US, given the rampant gun violence, home grown terrorists, and the foreign terrorist threat.

Yet somehow, no one ever brings that up around here after a particular violent act. Should we have stopped cruising from the West coast due to the San Bernardino violence? Perhaps have dropped the East coast after the Boston bombings, the chopping of police officers in New York, 9/11, the sniper shootings in DC and surrounding areas, Ft Hood, and so on... Yet somehow, the US keeps encouraging visitors to keep coming, that somehow it's a one-off event, etc... I would think we could extend the same view to other overseas areas.

Everyone has to evaluate their own safety and risk tolerance. Obviously we shouldn't put ourselves in specific harm's way if we can help it, ie I wouldn't be touring Syria just now, but I also won't be writing off an entire area for violence that is hundreds of miles away, just as I don't write off the entire US due to the violence there.

 

After travelling the world, seeing both paradise and hell, in my younger days and having lived in the United States with all the every day problems you so clearly have listed for seventy years, I am now not looking for anything that will increase my threat level beyond a day at the beach (I know there is danger there as well...).

 

You, all, are free to decide where and when you visit and that is wonderful and I hope you all have as many safe and memorable experiences wherever you may go, as I have of all the places I have been lucky enough, for the most part, to visit.

 

bosco

[reedprincess]

After travelling the world, seeing both paradise and hell, in my younger days and having lived in the United States with all the every day problems you so clearly have listed for seventy years, I am now not looking for anything that will increase my threat level beyond a day at the beach (I know there is danger there as well...).

 

You, all, are free to decide where and when you visit and that is wonderful and I hope you all have as many safe and memorable experiences wherever you may go, as I have of all the places I have been lucky enough, for the most part, to visit.

 

bosco

 

I don't find numerous terrorist attacks, whether homegrown or foreign, to be "every day problems". That' was the point. If you're comfortable with the chances of an attack where you live, why would it be any different elsewhere - especially as some of those attacks have been in your hometown, as opposed to the current Ankara bombing, which is over 300 miles from Instanbul?

As noted, we all make our own choices in regards to safety. I've watched the US for years, experienced your attacked year in and year out and still visit - does that make me crazy to consider such a dangerous place? Maybe, but i'll take my chances after doing due diligence, just as anywhere else in the world.

Safe travels to you - and further, safety at home foe you as well!

[SPacificbound]

Using that logic, I would never visit the US, given the rampant gun violence, home grown terrorists, and the foreign terrorist threat.

Yet somehow, no one ever brings that up around here after a particular violent act. Should we have stopped cruising from the West coast due to the San Bernardino violence? Perhaps have dropped the East coast after the Boston bombings, the chopping of police officers in New York, 9/11, the sniper shootings in DC and surrounding areas, Ft Hood, and so on... Yet somehow, the US keeps encouraging visitors to keep coming, that somehow it's a one-off event, etc... I would think we could extend the same view to other overseas areas.

Everyone has to evaluate their own safety and risk tolerance. Obviously we shouldn't put ourselves in specific harm's way if we can help it, ie I wouldn't be touring Syria just now, but I also won't be writing off an entire area for violence that is hundreds of miles away, just as I don't write off the entire US due to the violence there.

 

Well said.

[Cruise Junky]

We're supposed to be hitting Ephesus in May. One of Celebrity's first Turkey stops. We're watching our itinerary closely. I really don't want to lose Turkey as then we don't leave the EU and VAT would apply to our cruise.

[Host Jazzbeau]

We're supposed to be hitting Ephesus in May. One of Celebrity's first Turkey stops. We're watching our itinerary closely. I really don't want to lose Turkey as then we don't leave the EU and VAT would apply to our cruise.

 

And Ephesus is very far from any of the spots where there has been violence in Turkey [at least since St. Paul visited there!]

[Cruise Junky]

And Ephesus is very far from any of the spots where there has been violence in Turkey [at least since St. Paul visited there!]

 

Exactly. I've been twice before so I wouldn't be heartbroken about missing it but I would certainly feel for my fellow passengers who are looking to experience it for the first time.

[wales4ever]

You can drop Turkey for yourselves if your frightened of going there. Just don't book a cruise that is traveling there. Simple...

[Mumsy148]

Think I will just wait and see what is happening in Turkey closer to my September cruise this year. No point in second guessing and cancelling if nothing else happens in the touristy areas [emoji41]

[bigbenboys]

I'm currently in Konya, Turkey. I'm planning to be home next week some time. I need to be in Seattle by March 3rd. Our next cruise on March 5th. I have seen a little more military presents here in Konya is morning. Life goes on as normal here.

[DYKWIA]

Turkey has been almost completely removed from the 2017 schedules. Of Celebrity. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Celebrity and the other cruise lines, who haven't already pulled out of Turkey this year, are considering options.