How safe it is to travel to Israel now?

[Ivy86]

My cruise will be stopping at Haifa and Ashdod. 

[wineoclock]

I’m hoping very safe. Mine is too. Israel is the main reason I’ve chosen my cruise as I’ve been to all the other ports except for one. 

[calliopecruiser]

There is a constant civil war there - sometimes cooler, sometimes hotter.  Currently cooler. 

[Markanddonna]

I was in Israel in 2019 and felt quite safe, safer than in many USA cities.  You will see a lot of military presence with their guns over their shoulders. Israel takes security VERY seriously, as they must. Unless something really serious happens between then and now, I wouldn't worry. 

[wineoclock]

Any danger and I’m certain the cruise lines will not stop at the ports. I’ll be gutted as main reason we have picked this cruise. 

[John Bull]

For many years we put a cruise or land-vacation in Israel on the back-burner, waiting for the political situation to settler down.

The we realised that if we waited until it was settled we'd be waiting forever, so we took the plunge and booked an RCI cruise which included a day in Haifa and two days in Ashdod.

 

It worked out well, from Ashdod we shared a car rental and drove across the Negev Desert to Masada & the Dead Sea then to Jerusalem where we overnited in a hotel, next morning explored the walled city on foot, & returned to Ashdod. From Haifa we shared a van tour to Cana, Nazareth, a kibbutz, River Jordan baptisms and the Sea of Galilee. So many ionic places & no problems,

But a few weeks later a couple of other cruises bound for Ashdod had to divert due to tensions - that's the luck of the draw. 

 

The situation is very fluid - if it looks good to book now, by the time the cruise sails it might be considered unsafe and the ship will go elsewhere. Conversely if the situation is bad when you book, it will probably be safe by the time your cruise comes around.

 

Ashdod and Haifa are very different - Ashdod is close to Gaza and other Palestinian enclaves and tensions can rise in Jerusalem, whereas Haifa is in the north and Palestinians & Israelis co-exist very much more peaceably.

Consequently Ashdod is much more frequently missed due to tensions than Haifa, and most cruise ships whose visit to Ashdod is cancelled will instead try to port at Haifa if there's a spare berth and tensions haven't reached Haifa.

Jerusalem can be visited from Haifa altho its a much longer journey, and if its a late change of port its probably best to do so on a ship's excursion.

 

So there's always the risk of a late change, but a cruise is much more flexible than a hotel-based vacation due to hotels being notoriously unseaworthy and difficult to send to a neighbouring country.

 

JB 🙂

[wineoclock]

We have private excursions booked so I’m really hoping it all works out! The ships excursions were already sold out when we booked our cruise so no choice but to book private excursions 

[Markanddonna]

3 hours ago, wineoclock said:

We have private excursions booked so I’m really hoping it all works out! The ships excursions were already sold out when we booked our cruise so no choice but to book private excursions 

May I ask what cruiseline? It has been like pulling teeth to get NCL to post excursions to Israel. 

[wineoclock]

It’s With Celebrity on 17/10/22 but we only booked 3 weeks or so ago & excursions had already sold out. 

[Markanddonna]

On 9/5/2022 at 6:22 PM, wineoclock said:

It’s With Celebrity on 17/10/22 but we only booked 3 weeks or so ago & excursions had already sold out. 

If you haven't booked everything, consider Guided Tours Israel, Ephesus Shuttle, and EKOL travel for Istanbul.  Not sure of your itinerary.

[wineoclock]

Thank you Guided yours were also sold out so have gone with Travel-Israel so  🤞 for Israel stops. 

We’ve been to Ephesus before so going to a winery instead. And no Istanbul this time! 

[mpk]

On 9/5/2022 at 3:04 AM, John Bull said:

The we realised that if we waited until it was settled we'd be waiting forever, so we took the plunge and booked an RCI cruise which included a day in Haifa and two days in Ashdod.

 

Thanks for posting your experience.  Was it easy to get off the RCI ship at Haifa and Ashdod?  I read a post that said something like tickets were needed to get off, and lots of delays.  Don't recall what cruise that was, but the gist was that it was port security, not a ship relatied delay.

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, mpk said:

 

Thanks for posting your experience.  Was it easy to get off the RCI ship at Haifa and Ashdod?  I read a post that said something like tickets were needed to get off, and lots of delays.  Don't recall what cruise that was, but the gist was that it was port security, not a ship relatied delay.

 

 

Our last experience was 2019, cruise with just one Israeli port..

Itinerary was Ashdod overnight.

Got changed last-minute to Haifa overnite (reason unknown)

Not fun. 

Day One We all had to go to the cruise terminal with our  passports to get a stamped paper to go with our passports. Had to do it by a set time (?10am?), even those of us who weren't going ashore. Ludicrous line.

When we disembarked later that day, no delay, no problem. Ditto Day Two

 

JB 🙂

[wineoclock]

I would imagine the first day is more difficult as everyone trying to clear customs 😬😬