Would a Civil War spoil your holiday?!

We all know what a dangerous place the world can be and most of us can say our holiday plans have at some point been influenced by the events going on around the world, be it due to extreme weather conditions, terrorist activity or civil unrest. Only recently certain cruise operators have amended their itineraries due the political situation in the Ukraine and Crimea.

I recently read of a situation where a cruise ship was actually hit by missile shrapnel off the coast of Israel. The AIDAdiva (a German arm of the Costa Cruises brand owned by Carnival Corporation) was on a week-long eastern Mediterranean cruise from Antalya in Turkey when shrapnel from rockets landed on deck as it left the Israeli port of Ashdod. This was due to the escalation of the long running conflict between Israel and Palestine, and recent reports said more than 70 rockets were fired into southern Israel from Gaza, explosions in Ashdod, Israel’s fifth largest city, could be seen from the ship.

According to a recent press statement released by AIDA Cruises last stated:

“No-one was injured and there was no damage to the ship, all 2,700 guests and crew members of AIDAdiva are doing well… however, small particles that may come from defence missiles, as experts have estimated, were found on the open deck. They do not constitute a danger and were secured immediately by the crew.”

Really?! Seriously?!

Parts of defence missiles from a nearby Civil War found on deck ‘do not constitute a danger’?! I’d hate to think what AIDA Cruises considered to be dangerous!

Despite the fact this region is so safe to cruise AIDA Cruises said it is “discontinuing port calls to Israel in July and August. Ships that had been scheduled to visit Ashdod will instead call at Santorini, Greece.” – Phew!

A sensible move I think. I know none of us want to be dictated to in terms of where we can travel to, and ultimately the choice and risk  is up to ourselves but missile sharpnel? Best avoided I think.

Besides in this day and age surely AIDA would be opening themselves up to a host of compensation claims if someone actually did get hurt. I guess they can’t win as I’m sure some of those passengers who were due to travel to Ashdod in August have already got their compensation letters already typed up due to this recent itinerary change.

Where do you stand? Do situations like this enhance the ‘travel experience’ by seeing the world as it actually is? Do you prefer nice serene holidays where consumers are sheltered from all the real things that tourist boards don’t want you to see?

I know the aforementioned AIDA situation is a little extreme but would we really prefer a watered down travel experience, seen through the eyes of  rose-tinted holiday brochures?

Let me know what you think.