Cruise news: Turkey CUT from THREE major cruise lines’ itineraries in 2017

These leading names in the cruise industry follow the likes of Azamara, Celebrity Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises and Holland America Line, which have all pulled Turkey from itineraries this year.

There are now only a few remaining cruise lines who will call in at Turkish ports, excluding Istanbul.

These include luxury cruise line Silversea – it still calls in at Kusadasi, Marmaris and Canakkale on some cruises. 

Celestyal Cruises, based in Greece, is also still stopping at Kusadasi and Cesme.

Royal Caribbean has announced it is replacing Kusadasi with Kotor in Montenegro or Rhodes, Mykonos or Chania in Greece.

This will be the case for all cruises in 2017, with shore excursion costs for Turkey refunded.

Princess has also confirmed it will pull Turkey out of all 2017 itineraries and passengers will be refunded for all shore excursions.

However, the line hasn’t as yet announced which ports it might use as alternatives.

Similarly, Uniworld has confirmed it is scrapping stops at all Turkish ports for 2017, but has yet to provide an alternative.

Turkey, previously a hugely popular destination with British tourists, was subject to a number of terrorist attacks last year.

There was an attack in Istanbul airport in June 2016 that resulted in 42 deaths and, on December 11, a twin bomb attack on police outside a football stadium in Istanbul killed 38 people.

On January 1 2017, there was an attack on the Reina nightclub in Ortakoy, Istanbul; 39 people were killed and 69 injured.

After the attacks in the summer, cruise lines started pulling out of trips to Istanbul, including Crystal, Disney and MSC Cruises.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued this official advice: “There is a high threat from terrorism. Terrorist groups, including Kurdish groups, Daesh (formerly referred to as ISIL) and far left organisations, continue to plan and carry out attacks. 

“There is a heightened risk of terrorist attack against the aviation industry in Turkey. You should co-operate fully with security officials at airports.

“The Turkish authorities have successfully disrupted attack planning in the recent past and have said that security has been tightened in response to recent attacks. But further attacks are likely and could be indiscriminate.”

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Daily Express :: Travel Feed

Post Author: martin

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