While we think violence, political strife and terrorism in countries thousands of miles away don’t affect us personally, it’s not always true.    Especially those booked booked on a luxury Eastern Mediterranean cruise this year.

ISRAEL: Princess Cruises canceled the Pacific Princess‘ scheduled port call in Haifa, Israel today after an international incident erupted this week.  Israeli commandos rappelled onto the deck of a Turkish cruise ship, the Mavi Marmara, sailing between Istanbul and Gaza with humanitarian supplies.    The result was the death of 11 passengers, scores of of injuries.  According to USA Today, other cruise ships also have planned port calls in Israel this week, but none have announced plans to bypass the country.

GREECE: A strike by Greek seaman went off as scheduled, resulting in some ships cancelling port calls and others being stuck in port unable to leave.  According to Reuters, “Only three out of five cruise ships expected at Piraeus arrived on Monday morning. Passengers disembarked normally, but dozens of protesting seamen and members of the Communist labour group PAME blocked the gates of the port preventing other tourists from boarding the cruise ships.”

JAMAICA:  Riots in Kingston, Jamaica which resulted in the death of 44 people still haven’t driven cruise ships away.  Ships carrying passengers only dock in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios located in other ports of the island.  However, if the violence and rioting grows outside the capitol, the cruise industry will rethink stopping in Jamaica

We have our own terrible crisis, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which won’t directly affect ships sailing from Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans.   However these ships attract passengers who live within driving distance of the port.  And if the local economy tanks and the cruise lines can’t get enough passengers to justify staying in the region, the ships will be moved to other cruise ports.