More cruise lines cancel Istanbul calls in wake of attack
Several cruise lines including Celebrity and Windstar on Wednesday canceled ship visits to Istanbul for the rest of the year, citing Tuesday's terrorist attack at the city's Ataturk Airport.
Celebrity said two vessels that were scheduled to use Istanbul as an occasional base for Eastern Mediterranean cruises over the next five months instead will operate out of Piraeus, Greece, the port for Athens. Seven sailings are affected.
Windstar's single ship in the region, the 148-passenger Wind Star, also will sail out of Piraeus instead of Istanbul, and the line also is dropping calls at other Turkish ports including Kusadasi, the gateway to the ancient ruins of Ephesus. Sixteen sailings are affected.
Also canceling calls in Istanbul for the rest of the year was Cunard. The decision affects just two sailings of the 2,014-passenger Queen Victoria scheduled for July and August.
Norwegian cancels all Turkey visits by three brands for 2016
Two other lines, Seabourn and Princess, each canceled a single visit to Istanbul scheduled to take place in the next few days.
Seabourn said a cruise on the 450-passenger Seabourn Odyssey scheduled to begin Saturday in the city instead would begin in Piraeus. The line didn't made changes to four other departures from Istanbul scheduled between July 30 and Oct. 22, and the line will continue to call at other ports in Turkey.
Princess said it would drop a call in the city scheduled for July 7 by one of its biggest ships, the 3,600-passenger Royal Princess. Additional calls in Istanbul scheduled for later this year "will be evaluated over the next couple of weeks," the line said in a statement. Princess ships will continue to call at Kusadasi.
The five lines were among just a handful of cruise operators that still had Istanbul and other Turkish ports on the schedule for 2016. Many lines dropped Turkey calls months ago after an earlier string of terrorist incidents in the country.
Crystal Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises all had previously canceled visits to Turkey for 2016. Norwegian, Regent and Oceania also have dropped calls in Turkey for 2017.
The world's two biggest cruise lines by passenger capacity, Royal Caribbean and Carnival, don't send ships to Istanbul but operate cruises that stop in Kusadasi. Both lines plan to go ahead with the Kusadasi visits.
Other than Seabourn and Princess, the only major lines still calling at Istanbul this year in the wake of Wednesday's announcements are Holland America and Silversea Cruises.
In a statement issued Wednesday to USA TODAY, Holland America said it was assessing its schedule of Istanbul calls. There are no Holland America ships scheduled to visit Istanbul until July 23, when the 2,104-passenger Eurodam is set to arrive.
"Should any decisions be made regarding itinerary changes, it will be closer to the scheduled call date and communicated with booked guests and their travel agents," Holland America said in the statement.
A statement from Silversea Cruises issued Wednesday said the line was closely monitoring the situation.
The two Celebrity ships affected by the line's announcement Wednesday are the Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity Constellation. Equinox was scheduled to sail from Istanbul on July 9, July 16, Aug. 29 and Sept. 16. Constellation was sailing from the city on Oct. 10 and 21, and on Nov. 14.
Celebrity said passengers on the sailings who booked flights to Istanbul through the line will be rebooked on flights to Piraeus at no cost. Passengers who have flights to Istanbul that were not booked by the line will be reimbursed for any airline change fees up to $250.
In a statement, Windstar said it was in the process of contacting all affected passengers and their travel agents with details of itinerary changes and will assist with changes to travel plans.
USA TODAY in April sailed out of Istanbul on the maiden voyage of Viking Cruises' newest ship, the Viking Sea. For our first-look tour of the vessel, scroll through the carousel below.
