HAL Talking Turkey

On the eve of Eurodam's scheduled overnight call at Istanbul, Holland America Line said today they have decided to cancel all calls at Istanbul through the end of the year.

The complete story appeared in the July 21 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

More Lines Rethink Istanbul Calls

Cunard and Princess became the latest two lines to drop calls at Istanbul in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist bombing at the airport.

Details appeared in the June 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Update on Istanbul

The travel industry today dealt with the effects of yesterday's terrorist bombing at Istanbul's airport.
Contrary to the way things looked last night, the airport reopened and was operational today.

Cruise lines are now taking a second look at the wisdom of continuing to call at Istanbul, and three lines have canceled their calls. Others have not yet canceled, but CND believes they are moving in that directions and are now simply finalizing plans before making announcements yet this week.

Details appeared in the June 29 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Istanbul bombing

In light of the terrorist incident at Istanbul's airport this afternoon, the next few days may see lots of changes for passengers on at least three ships scheduled to call at Istanbul over the next few days.

The complete story appeared in the June 28 edition of Cruise News Daily.

If Your Ship Calls in Turkey

Although it got practically no coverage in the US, there was a sizable terrorist bombing in Istanbul Tuesday that killed 11 (including seven police officers from the rapid response team) and injured 36 people, three critically.

What you should consider if your ship is stopping at a Turkish port.

The complete story appeared in the June 8 edition of Cruise News Daily.

More Istanbul Jitters

After already canceling Celebrity Equinox’s overnight calls at Istanbul on August 23 and 24 (and giving the ship just enough time for a turnaround on August 24), Celebrity has decided to cancel Celebrity Reflection’s entire two-day visit on September 4 and 5. Again, security concerns were cited at the reason for the cancellation.

The complete story appeared in the August 26 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Celebrity Modifies Istanbul Call - Other Lines Still Deciding

Technically, Celebrity Equinox’s call at Istanbul wasn’t canceled today, but the call was modified drastically for security reasons.

Istanbul was the turnaround point for the ship, and it was scheduled to arrive on Sunday with passengers on the last cruise spending the night aboard the ship in Istanbul and disembarking Monday. A new group of passengers was to board today, giving them the night and some of Tuesday in Istanbul before the ship sailed at 1pm on Tuesday. It didn’t happen quite like that.

The complete story appeared in the August 24 edition of Cruise News Daily.