Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Princess Statement on Cruise Calls to Israel

From Princess Cruises on June 8, 2010: In response to recent inquiries, we would like to clarify why we cancelled the Pacific Princess' call to Ashdod, Israel on June 2. The ship did call at Haifa, Israel the previous day on June 1.

Just two days prior to our scheduled call to Ashdod, a violent incident occurred between the Israeli Defense Forces and a flotilla of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. This unfortunate event resulted in several fatalities.

Upon careful review of the situation and information provided by the US State Dept and other sources, we were concerned about potential violence in reaction to the incident. Our decision, which was not politically motivated, was made in the best interest of the safety and security of our passengers and crew.

Pacific Princess is scheduled to call in Israel at the end of June, and we expect to maintain the published itinerary. However as with all of our ports of call, we continuously monitor information that may affect our ships' routings. Should a decision be made to make any adjustments, affected passengers would be advised as soon as possible.

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