Trouble in Paradise…..

As we all know cruising is the best type of holiday to see the world. Events happen worldwide all the time but what if something happens in a destination that you should be visiting on your cruise?

All cruise lines are well know know for putting your safety first or they should be and this has happened a number of times recently.

Norwegian Cruise Lines have pulled out of visiting Tunisia due to the country not allowing guests to leave the ship due to their nationality, here is what Norwegian Cruise Lines had to say:-

The government of Tunisia refused to allow Israeli nationals the right to disembark Norwegian Jade in the Port of La Goulette, Tunis on Sunday, March 9, 2014. In response to this discriminatory act, Norwegian Cruise Line announced today that it has cancelled all remaining calls to Tunisia and will not return.

“We want to send a strong message to Tunisia and ports around the world that we will not tolerate such random acts of discrimination against our guests,” said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line’s CEO. “We are outraged by this act and the fact that we were not notified in advance of this practice. We apologize sincerely to our guests who were affected and want them to know that we have taken the appropriate action in response.”

Norwegian Cruise Line employs more than 90 different nationalities and welcomes people of all nationalities aboard its vessels. The Company does not condone or tolerate discrimination of any type and with these cancellations hopes to send a message to those who do that such acts are completely unacceptable.

I totally agree with this as we advise customers what visa’s etc they require to visit certain ports and for a country to not allow people in as and when is an outrage! Maybe Tunisia will have a re-think as will lose lots of money from the cruise trade.

There is also the unrest in Ukraine at the moment and cruise lines visit Odessa, Sevastopol &  Yalta as one of their ports of call.  Cruise lines are monitoring the situation between the Ukraine & Russia as they will need to make a decision about these visits should the unrest affect their passengers.

Black Sea cruises are very popular for those cruisers who want a different itinerary from the Western Mediterranean so if things have to change this will upset a lot of people.

Events in Ukraine could affect cruises to the Black Sea this summer.

Current Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice is to avoid all travel to the Crimea, which is at the heart of Black Sea cruises.

With ships not due to sail there for some weeks, cruise lines will be watching developments closely and will, if necessary, amend itineraries.

But there’s not much opportunity to find alternative ports of call.

It’s Ukraine that everyone wants to visit.

Odessa is a cosmopolitan city with a splendid opera house and the magnificent Potemkin Steps leading from the harbour to an impressive tree-lined boulevard above.

Sevastopol is the gateway for excursions to the Charge of the Light Brigade’s Valley of Death and the Cold War submarine pens at Balaclava, recently visited by Jeremy Clarkson and his Top Gear cohorts.

Yalta is the home of the Livadia Palace, venue in 1945 for the Churchill-Roosevelt-Stalin summit meeting that re-drew the map of Europe at the end of the Second World War.

While cruise lines anxiously await developments, chances are their sales figures are moving nowhere.

Meanwhile, passengers who have already booked will also be keeping an eye on the advice.

If the unrest settles down – think of the discounts on those cruises!

Lots of cruises also visit Russia, St Petersburg  is very popular but if the trouble continues even these cruises could be affected along with River Cruises that visit these destinations.

Just like last year with all the trouble in Egypt – cruise lines pulled out of cruising the Red Sea from Sharm El Sheikh again this was for the safety of their passengers & only a handful are starting to visit there again. Thomson Cruises are still not operating there & it used to be a big seller.

I will keep an eye on the updates and let you know of any changes.

All this said – what would you prefer? I would love to hear your views on this.