so confused on what to do now

[wilkeliza]

My understanding is that trip insurance doesn't actually cover terrorist attacks. I mean, it might help if your flight was grounded and you lost a day of expenses. But not actual cancellation due to an attack or fear of attack.

It depends on the policy. Some cover terriorism and acts of G-d others don't. Funny enough a hurricane sometimes falls under the acys of G-d category so aren't covered under those policies.

 

[MunFam]

My understanding is that trip insurance doesn't actually cover terrorist attacks. I mean, it might help if your flight was grounded and you lost a day of expenses. But not actual cancellation due to an attack or fear of attack.

It depends on the kind you buy. You can buy insurance with "cancel anytime" coverage as well as other types of "disaster" coverage. I always use Travel Guard.

 

[Westcoastwild]

It depends on the kind you buy. You can buy insurance with "cancel anytime" coverage as well as other types of "disaster" coverage. I always use Travel Guard.

Good to know, so definitely something for the OP to consider. (I have no idea if mine covered terrorism. I know nothing in my budget covered aog which I wasn't worried about- I just wanted health coverage and delay coverage).

 

[MUN]

weve had the Med. cruise planned since the rate came out (it was to celebrate the end of my cancer treatments)

but now weve heard there warning people about possible terrorest attack this summer in Europe which has us worried and of course final is due next week

now I notice that theres a British Isles cruise for next Sept and I would love to go there England Ireland and Scotland

so now we dont know what to do--I know (well sort of ) thats theres no way they can predict where a terrorist will hit but just the fact that France is one of the spots and we have a port there--we also know that no cruise ship will sail into possible danger but its a little unerveing when your going someone when theres warnings out


so Id like to hear your thoughts

would you pay for the cruise thats due next week--if we cancel after that date we lose our deposit
even with the warning in the back of your mind


or change plans wait another year and do the British Isles-hopefully things will have settled down by then

I just dont know what to do--weve been talking about this for the last 5 years since I found out I had cancer --lucky it was caught so very early "all" i needed was surgery and 5 years of followups I have my last one next month and dr said last visit that by the time you reach 5 years its like it never happened-minus a few parts!!!)

so Id appreciate any advice or concerns

thanks all

If it concerns you so much, perhaps you should stay home, and avoid all unnecessary travel, "until things have settled down".

MUN

 

[Bsmitty]

weve had the Med. cruise planned since the rate came out (it was to celebrate the end of my cancer treatments)

but now weve heard there warning people about possible terrorest attack this summer in Europe which has us worried and of course final is due next week

now I notice that theres a British Isles cruise for next Sept and I would love to go there England Ireland and Scotland

so now we dont know what to do--I know (well sort of ) thats theres no way they can predict where a terrorist will hit but just the fact that France is one of the spots and we have a port there--we also know that no cruise ship will sail into possible danger but its a little unerveing when your going someone when theres warnings out


so Id like to hear your thoughts

would you pay for the cruise thats due next week--if we cancel after that date we lose our deposit
even with the warning in the back of your mind


or change plans wait another year and do the British Isles-hopefully things will have settled down by then

I just dont know what to do--weve been talking about this for the last 5 years since I found out I had cancer --lucky it was caught so very early "all" i needed was surgery and 5 years of followups I have my last one next month and dr said last visit that by the time you reach 5 years its like it never happened-minus a few parts!!!)

so Id appreciate any advice or concerns

thanks all

congratulations on nearing the end of this ordeal you've suffered. I also went on my post cancer DCL cruise last year & it was amazing!! I just wanted to say that I empathize with the cancer journey & also the need to celebrate the heck out of it once you're released for travel! Good for you & I'm rooting you on!

 

[bumbershoot]

We certainly wouldn't tell others not to come visit the U.S.

I do. It's way more dangerous here than it is in Europe. I have no idea why people come here. Boggles my mind.

I'd love to hear any comments that someone living there might be able to add.

DH works with a ton of Europeans. They are living their lives, loving where they live, and having a great time. And inviting us over since they know we'll be safer there than here.


And lest anyone think I'm being in ANY way political, I've been saying the same sorts of things through ALL administrations. I first traveled internationally to Ireland at the very end of The Troubles. Yes the Troubles were over, but it was still tenuous. And I still felt safer there than here. This country is simply more dangerous on a daily basis than many others. Statistics don't lie in this case. This is regardless of anything political whatsoever. We're huge with huge highways and have giant cars at the very least.

 

[elvispursley]

I do. It's way more dangerous here than it is in Europe. I have no idea why people come here. Boggles my mind.

Touche! There certainly is the fact that many EU countries have tougher gun control laws than we do. I've told DH many times he needs to put in for a lateral transfer to Oslo with his company (or New Zealand, but alas, his company doesn't have a big branch there)

 

[AquaDame]

weve had the Med. cruise planned since the rate came out (it was to celebrate the end of my cancer treatments)

but now weve heard there warning people about possible terrorest attack this summer in Europe which has us worried and of course final is due next week

now I notice that theres a British Isles cruise for next Sept and I would love to go there England Ireland and Scotland

so now we dont know what to do--I know (well sort of ) thats theres no way they can predict where a terrorist will hit but just the fact that France is one of the spots and we have a port there--we also know that no cruise ship will sail into possible danger but its a little unerveing when your going someone when theres warnings out


so Id like to hear your thoughts

would you pay for the cruise thats due next week--if we cancel after that date we lose our deposit
even with the warning in the back of your mind


or change plans wait another year and do the British Isles-hopefully things will have settled down by then

I just dont know what to do--weve been talking about this for the last 5 years since I found out I had cancer --lucky it was caught so very early "all" i needed was surgery and 5 years of followups I have my last one next month and dr said last visit that by the time you reach 5 years its like it never happened-minus a few parts!!!)

so Id appreciate any advice or concerns

thanks all

I haven't read the other responses so I'm sorry if I repeat too much. We are already paid in full for our Norwegian cruise next month and I admit the "DANGER, DANGER!" of the announcement caught me off guard at first. Then I remembered that they have been putting these out for a long time now - the most recent one expired I think in November? There was certainly one the last time we were in Europe. There is absolutely no guarantee there wont be another warning out next year either.

The odds of you being caught up in something is so small... I'm not good at spouting exact odds but if you like I could spout off several things that are just as scary sounding if not more so with a greater chance of happening to you on this trip. There is always the classic you are more likely to die in a car accident on any given day.

Disney will NOT knowingly put you in danger. They have pulled out of ports before. If there is even a whiff it will be happening where they plan to be they won't dock there. Right now they don't know when, or where, or even if something will happen. The summer holidays and lovely weather just brings so many more people out and about it makes it easier for them to target groups of people so they have to tell everyone to be vigilant.

I'm not saying it won't happen. Frankly I'm hoping we've seen our last attack but that is a heck of a long shot. I'm just saying I fall onto the side of 'I want to live my life and you can't stop me with fear mongering". If I gave into every worry I've had without credible intel backing it... I wouldn't have done a small fraction of what I have.

 

[Dug720]

I haven't read the other responses so I'm sorry if I repeat too much. We are already paid in full for our Norwegian cruise next month and I admit the "DANGER, DANGER!" of the announcement caught me off guard at first. Then I remembered that they have been putting these out for a long time now - the most recent one expired I think in November? There was certainly one the last time we were in Europe. There is absolutely no guarantee there wont be another warning out next year either.

The odds of you being caught up in something is so small... I'm not good at spouting exact odds but if you like I could spout off several things that are just as scary sounding if not more so with a greater chance of happening to you on this trip. There is always the classic you are more likely to die in a car accident on any given day.

Disney will NOT knowingly put you in danger. They have pulled out of ports before. If there is even a whiff it will be happening where they plan to be they won't dock there. Right now they don't know when, or where, or even if something will happen. The summer holidays and lovely weather just brings so many more people out and about it makes it easier for them to target groups of people so they have to tell everyone to be vigilant.

I'm not saying it won't happen. Frankly I'm hoping we've seen our last attack but that is a heck of a long shot. I'm just saying I fall onto the side of 'I want to live my life and you can't stop me with fear mongering". If I gave into every worry I've had without credible intel backing it... I wouldn't have done a small fraction of what I have.

All of this!!

I'm a firm believer in the "when it's your time, it's your time" philosophy. Meaning if there is a plane crash and people all over the news are all "I missed the connection!" or "I changed my flight at the last minute" or whatever, it simply wasn't their time. If it was, and they weren't on the plane, something still would have happened - all that would have changed is the manner of it.

Bottom line: no one is getting out of life alive. Personally I'd rather live every moment to the fullest and see and experience all I can than live in fear and only see the inside of my apartment because I was too worried about "the sky is falling" cries to do anything.

 

[laceltris3]

The odds of an attack are small.

The odds of an attack in a port of call when you are docking at that port of call are much lower than your odds of a car accident driving to the grocery store tomorrow.

ACTUAL FACTS:
From 9/11/2001 to 12/31/2014, 3,066 Americans have been killed in terror attacks outside of Afghanistan and Iraq. 2,961 occurred on American soil, and the bulk were on 9/11. Which is to say, Americans dead in terror attacks on non-US soil = 105 over a 13 year period.

In 2014, 32,675 persons in the US were killed in car accidents. Yes, that's a single year.

I just want to say the raw numbers you point out are fairly meaningless and do not give an accurate representation of the risk. Almost everyone I know drives every day, but relatively few Americans have passports, much less travel abroad. Unless you convert those numbers to an occurrence per capita, it is a misleading representation of risk.

I am not necessarily agreeeing that you have to consider relative risk, but that's not what your numbers do.

 

[Anisum]

My instinct would be to go but I also travel frequently. I would rather live my life than worry about what could be around the corner but that's just me. I certainly understand your concerns though I don't necessarily share them.

With regards to your specific cruise, I personally find Disney has been very responsible in the past when it comes to ensuring the safety of those cruising with them. Last year they completely changed the itinerary of an 11 or 12 night cruise because it went to areas in Greece and Turkey.

That being said, with regards to flights if you are entering or leaving the European Union (of which Spain, France, and Italy are all members) they have pretty strict rules about compensation for cancelled or delayed flights so I wouldn't worry too much about losing money in this scenario. You can read more about your right to compensation here.

With regards to safe practices while travelling I always enroll in the state department's S.T.E.P. program. You can read about it here. I'm not sure it's really a necessary precaution but it brings my family comfort.

 

[cheermom2four]

I will admit I'm one that hesitated briefly when that travel warning came out and we have our upcoming Med cruise in 4 months. Yes, there is a travel warning for Europe. But in all honesty, it could happen anywhere. Just be diligent about your surroundings. Am I worried, no. Concerned, yes but I'm concerned about just driving into work every day on the highways I drive surrounded by crazy drivers. I want to show my kids the world but want to do it in person, not through a book. We will just be more aware of our surroundings and hope that nothing happens.

OP, you are wanting to celebrate finishing cancer treatments! Thats such a big defeat and one I have celebrated in my past. I really hope you enjoy celebrating no matter what you decide to do. Just be aware of your surroundings and enjoy whatever trip you decide to take!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I just want to say the raw numbers you point out are fairly meaningless and do not give an accurate representation of the risk. Almost everyone I know drives every day, but relatively few Americans have passports, much less travel abroad. Unless you convert those numbers to an occurrence per capita, it is a misleading representation of risk.

I am not necessarily agreeeing that you have to consider relative risk, but that's not what your numbers do.

Even so, the per capita of a less than 10 person a year average is going to be ridiculously low.

People worry a lot about things that are very uncommon, like stranger child abduction, terror attacks and plane crashes when the common risks are much less flashy and on TV, like food borne illness, car crashes and the like.

 

[dani24]

My husband works in law enforcement for a major transit agency that also happens to be one of the biggest terrorist targets in our state. They deal with threats ALL the time. Some very specific, some vague, and they also deal with a lot of suspicious activity. That said, despite the fact that hitting this particular target could make the death toll in 9/11 look like nothing, and that striking this target wouldn't be terribly difficult, there hasn't actually been any attacks and we don't avoid using the system at all.

Threats can exist anywhere... but it doesn't mean they are even very likely. Many countries and regions have gotten very reactionary to the slightest things. And there's a lot going on behind the scenes the general public doesn't know about to keep people safe. You can't live your life holed up trying to escape danger. Andthe likelihood that you would be in a particular port on a particular day that a terrorist attack actually happened is incredibly slim. And, even if it did happen, the odds of you being at the site of it are even slimmer. On the contrary, you could go to Britain instead and have something happen. Or you could opt to stay home, and have a mass shooter situation happen, or get into a terrible car accident, or a bolt of lightning could strike you down while you stand in front of your house.

Unless the threat is so severe that the cruise line is refusing to stop at a particular port (because I'm sure they don't want to risk their ships, crew and the bad PR of sending their passengers into a situation they could have avoided), just go and have fun!

 

[oufpat]

We just paid in full for our Sept Med Cruise, I am really looking forward to it and refuse to live in fear. And as above, I'm sure if the cruise line felt the threats severe, they would not stop at the port.

 

[mevelandry]

Putting a travel warning on all of Europe is a tiny bit extreme. I'm doing a non-Disney Mediterranean and am not worried. I'm also going to London and Paris for my honeymoon later this year. Terrorist have been around for a long time in one shape or form so to stop exploring and stop living our lives at the mere thought of a threat seems to be exactly what they want. I guess I still live by what my mom said when she was diagnosed with cancer she would say "I could step outside this hospital and be hit by a bus. When it is my time it is my time so let's have fun while I still can."

So true. I've been hit by a car while crossing the street near my house in December 2015. It's crazy like that.

OP, you should do the cruise you really want to do. If you wanted to do the British Isle cruise just as much and this one makes you feel a little bit more secure, go for it. But if your heart really wants the med cruise, you should go for it. The odds of being the victime of a terror attack are very low. Take precautions but don't prevent yourself from doing the trip you have wanted to do for so long.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

FWIW, here's the 2014 number for departures from the US by citizens, per http://travel.trade.gov/view/m-2014-O-001/index.html:

68,176,355

Now, that number is imperfect, because it doesn't include visa holders/residents, and it doesn't de-duplicate (i.e., I left the country more than once that year, I would be in that number 3 times); it also doesn't drop Afghanistan or Iraq out of the Asia numbers (although I suspect both were pretty low!). But if we even just take the 105 over a 13 year period, and not just the 2014 number of Americans killed in terror attacks abroad not in Afghanistan (32), the percentage is, as predicted, ridiculously low (0.00005%) -- like, lower than permissible lead concentrations in your tap water low.

Deaths per 100,000 departures is much lower than deaths per 100,000 population via car crash or miles traveled (IIHS: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/state-by-state-overview).

There is no way to completely normalize risk assessment between the two. But, generally speaking, crossing the street is riskier than most things people fear daily.

 

[mom4fun]

If things do become worse, Disney will cancel ports. In the meantime, get great travel insurance so if you need to make changes, you can.

 

[cadien]

I can relate to your concerns, OP. We had a 2017 Istanbul trip planned for years but have postponed it. But I'd be comfortable with my odds on a general Med cruise.

 

[gotomu212]

To put the shoe on the other foot my relatives in Europe are terrified to visit here because of the general threat of a mass shooting. They cannot understand how we send our kids off to school, visit movie theaters or malls, and go about our daily lives. Yet I'm not fearful in my daily life. We have had family conversations about what to do in a shooting and left it at that.

Terrorism is about perception and making it seem like there's danger around every corner, when the actual number of events/impacts are very minimal (not to say that even one death is trivial just that one death out of 380 million is isolated). I wouldn't cancel plans for Europe over this alert. I would be aware of my surroundings (as you should always be when traveling).