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The cruise line has said that 100% of crew will be required to be fully vaccinated, Sierra-Caro told USA TODAY. However, Royal Caribbean has not yet announced vaccine protocol for passengers sailing from the United States. Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said in the release that while the decision was challenging to make that the safety of passengers, crew and the communities the cruise line visits remains priority. Royal Caribbean International is canceling its first-ever planned sailings from Haifa, Israel due to unrest, the cruise line announced Saturday. Royal Caribbean had been eyeing the chance to offer sailings from Israel "for quite some time," Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean's president and CEO, said in a March press release. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially called the cruise line's decision to sail from Israel an "important economic, touristic moment" for the country.
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There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people. "Due to the unrest in Israel and the region, we have not been able to complete the preparation required to operate," the cruise line said on May 15 in its updated suspended sailings list. A senior enlisted Navy servicemember has been convicted of attempted espionage for delivering classified information to a foreign government, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said Friday. In January, Chief Fire Controlman (Aegis) Bryce Steven Pedicini was charged with multiple counts of attempted espionage for mishandling or disclosing classified information. Pedicini was a former destroyer crewmember who worked on the Aegis system, the Navy's integrated radar and weapons control platform. The most capable Aegis variants can target ballistic missiles in mid-flight.
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That voyage is a 14-night transatlantic cruise to Fort Lauderdale, visiting Alicante, Malaga, the Canary Islands, and Freeport in the Bahamas along the way. The 78,878-gross-ton, Vision-class Rhapsody of the Seas is currently homeported from Haifa, Israel, but the remainder of the ship’s Mediterranean season has been cancelled due to the regional violence. With no sailings for the next few weeks, the ship is available to assist in such emergency evacuation options. The US government, via the embassy in Israel, is assisting US citizens and their immediate family members to evacuate from Israel to Cyprus on Monday, October 16, 2023. The evacuation will be via Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas, which will take travelers from Haifa, Israel, to Limassol, Cyprus.
October 16, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news
It is unclear if the U.S. has plans for any further emergency evacuations from Israel. All the major cruise lines last week suspended their port calls, as did most commercial airlines. It was reported that MSC Cruises chartered an Israeli-owned cruise ship, Crown Iris (40,000 gross tons), and on Sunday the cruise ship spent about 10 hours in Haifa disembarking Israelis that had been on an MSC cruise when the war broke out. The US Embassy in Israel said Sunday the ship would leave Monday and spend about 10 to 12 hours at sea before arriving at the Limassol port in Cyprus, where citizens will be responsible for arranging their own accommodations and onward travel. The US embassy is providing the passage at a fee, but those boarding have yet to be given the bill. “Now, with enhanced safety precautions in place, our ship is providing free passage, including accommodation and food, for Americans in the region wishing to leave and find safer ground,” Liberty wrote.
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The ship had its sailings in the region canceled after the Hamas attack from Gaza Strip on Israel last week and the Israeli response that together have left thousands of Israelis and Palestinians dead. US consular staff are onboard the cruise ship as well as in Limassol to assist with information and travel options. The US Embassy will provide busses from the cruise port to both international airports in Cyprus, one in Larnaca (42 miles / 68 kilometers from Limassol) and the other in Paphos (39 miles / 63 kilometers from Limassol).
Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, on Saturday. But now, the cruise giant will be halting its highly anticipated Israel-based sailings, which would have shuttled fully vaccinated Israelis on three- to seven-night trips to Greece and Cyprus from Haifa, Israel, and back. Royal Caribbean had planned for its new Odyssey of the Seas ship to begin sailing in June out of Haifa, Israel. The cruise series — unveiled in March — served as Royal Caribbean's first fully vaccinated cruise announcement, and would have been the cruise line's first voyage from Israel. Department of State to send a cruise ship to Israel to rescue Americans who have not been able to leave the country.
Royal Caribbean cruise ship helps evacuate Americans from Israel (updated) - Seatrade Cruise News
Royal Caribbean cruise ship helps evacuate Americans from Israel (updated).
Posted: Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
We make sure cruisers are fully prepared for their cruise vacation with tips on ships and ports.Millions of travelers rely on Cruise Hive in the United States, Europe, Australia, and around the world. Rather than flights, the cruise ship is being used for this evacuation because air travel has been largely suspended to Israel at this time, and most US airlines have cancelled flights both to and from Tel Aviv. Its cruise ship, the Rhapsody of the Seas (78,878 gross tons) which had been idled in Cyprus, was dispatched to Haifa overnight. The cruise ship, which was built in 1997, had been operating cruises from Israel that were canceled last week after the war began. The passage to Limassol Port was expected to take approximately hours.
Americans leave Israel on cruise ship bound for Cyprus
Cruise Radio prioritizes well-balanced cruise news coverage and accurate reporting, paired with ship reviews and tips. Under normal circumstances, Rhapsody of the Seas can accommodate 1,998 guests for a typical cruise at double occupancy, and up to 2,416 travelers when fully booked with all berths filled. This is not a typical situation, however, and the numbers of evacuees are yet unknown. Local time and was available on a first-come, first-served basis, according to embassy officials. Royal Caribbean has canceled a series of fully vaccinated cruises from Israel amid the surging Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Several foreigners in the country were stranded as airlines canceled service to the beleaguered country.
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Food and Wi-Fi were available while U.S. consular staff were available both on the ship and at the Limassol Port in Cyprus to assist and provide information about onward travel to the United States. At this time, no other cruise ships have been requested for similar evacuations, but the situation is fluid and new plans may be developed at any time. The next scheduled sailing for the cruise ship is its Sunday, November 12, 2023 departure from Barcelona, Spain.
The move comes as the Israeli military is preparing for an all-out ground assault on Gaza in retaliation for last week’s deadly attacks by Hamas that killed at least 1,400 people, including at least 30 Americans. Many cruise lines changed itineraries following the conflict, in some cases suspending stops in Israel altogether. The State Department has an advisory in place for the region, warning against travel to Gaza and urging travelers to reconsider going to Israel and the West Bank. A Royal Caribbean International cruise ship helped evacuate U.S. nationals from Israel on Monday.
Blinken arrived back in Israel Monday morning to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and opposition leader Yair Lapid, in addition to meetings with Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, per a US official. A senior Turkish official told CNN last week that Turkey is actively taking part in trying to secure the hostages taken by Hamas. The Israeli government on Monday ordered the evacuation of 28 villages in northern Israel within two kilometers of the country's border with Lebanon. Although families are on the move, Sarah’s 14-year-old daughter, Ariella, had reservations about making the trip.
The restrictions on movements have been imposed by the Israeli military after Hamas unleashed a terror attack on Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing 1,400 people and kidnapping scores of others. Every time Noor Barakat goes shopping for food, the prices are higher. Fruit and vegetables that are normally brought in from the north haven’t been coming. The White House said Sunday it had no new travel plans to announce at this time. The ship, "Rhapsody of the Seas," can take up to 2,400 passengers — but a CNN team on the ground saw that the ship was well below capacity. People, young, and old, were processed through a check-in system with American flags dotted along the route.
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