holy land cruise

[joel75]

hi, fellow cruise mates
my wife and i were looking at the cruise the pacific princess in august of 2012. this particular cruise embarks from venice and debarks in athens and has a 2 day stop in israel and egypt.
I know it is a crysta balll question but, would you or would you not go on this cruise.
i would appreciate any pros or cons, as i have not yet made a decision.
thank you in advance

[green_rd]

Hi Joel,

Welcome to Cruise Mates. I have not done the itinerary you are looking at but it looks pretty interesting.

I know there are a lot of places to post here, I might suggest you repost under the Princess forum and maybe under the Cruise Line Suggestions and Destinations areas.

Good luck

[Rev22:17]

joel75,

Originally Posted by You

hi, fellow cruise mates
my wife and i were looking at the cruise the pacific princess in august of 2012. this particular cruise embarks from venice and debarks in athens and has a 2 day stop in israel and egypt.
I know it is a crysta balll question but, would you or would you not go on this cruise.
i would appreciate any pros or cons, as i have not yet made a decision.
thank you in advance

I would not hesitate to book the cruise -- but do so with the knowledge that any eruption of violence or other unsafe conditions in either destination will cause the cruise line to change the itinerary to avoid the danderous area(s). The ship obviously will take you to a destination that is safe, but you might not get to the ports of call for which you booked the itinerary.

BTW, I would be pretty hesitant to book a land-based vacation in that part of the world. If the situation were to erupt suddenly, those who had booked on a land-based trip would be stuck.

Realistically, I think that the chances of problems in either Egypt or Israel are pretty small at this point. Tourism is a major industry in both countries, so no government in either country can tolerate unrest that would drive tourists away for very long if it wants to remain in power.

Norm.

[johnthed0g]

Nope, why ask for trouble?

[Marc]

I would definitely book that itinerary. In fact, I had a very similar itinerary booked in Oct 10 that ended up being cancelled due to a pod issue. I love travelling to Israel and have yet to be Egypt; but would go if I had the opportunity again.

[johnnyjumpstart]

I took a Celebrity 12 day cruise R/T from Rome this September which featured a 4 day stop in Israel, It was an awesome experience which I highly recommend, particularly the Jerusalem overnight tour, which albeit expensive, feature only 10 passengers and which was really VIP. Originally the cruise was to stop 2 days in Eqypt but that stop was cancelled & Israel's stop expanded. Israel was completely safe, but the cruise prior to our cruise had some issues with missles being shot from Gaza which landed near Ashdod which cause the ship to spend 4 days in Haifa instead. Tensions in the area are heating up again & nobody can say from week to week what it will be like when your ship sails. If it isn't safe then you will go elsewhere.