Traveling to Greece During Crisis

What to Know

The State Department alerts U.S. citizens residing in or traveling to Greece of the possibility of disruptions to banking services – including credit-card processing and servicing of ATMs – throughout Greece in light of developments within the local economy.

U.S. citizens are encouraged to carry more than one means of payment (cash, debit cards, credit cards), and make sure to have enough cash on hand to cover emergencies and any unexpected delays.   Greece US Embassy

 Demonstrations & Other Risks

The alert also cautions about being aware of your surroundings at all times.   There might be scheduled and unscheduled political demonstrations as well.  Whenever you are traveling, you should follow this guideline anyway.

It is common knowledge that travelers are being advised to keep extra money with them, which increases the chance of being a target of unsavory individuals or groups looking to take advantage of the situation.    There are various safety methods that you can put in place to keep you and your money safe.

• Divide the funds among members in your group
• Only carry enough with you that you will need that day
• Leave extra money in safe of cruise ship or hotel room
• Use money belts to hide money on your person

Travel Insurance

Hopefully you purchased travel insurance when you booked your cruise or land vacation to Greece.   In our recent blog post, Insurance Awareness Day 2015, we talked about the value of travel insurance protecting against the unexpected.   You might be tempted to cancel your trip, but be aware that unless you purchased a "cancel for any reason" policy, this would most likely NOT be a covered event.   Even so, there are other benefits of the insurance policy which could come into play during your trip, if you were to lose valuables or be injured for example.

Potential Itinerary Changes

As of this writing, cruise lines with upcoming cruises have not altered their plans but we are certain they are keeping a close watch on developments.   The cruise lines number one priority is the safety of ships, passengers, and crew, so should there be any escalation in the wake of the bank closings, plans could be altered.     In similar situations like this, sea days or alternate ports were substituted, often with very little notice.   Be sure that you have provided contact information to your travel professional or cruise line as appropriate.   Should there be cancellations or changes that we become aware of, we'll share that information with you.

Additional Resources

One of the more important ways that U.S. Citizens can keep informed while traveling abroad is by  enrolling in the U.S. Department of State's STEP service.

The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) is a free service provided by the U.S. Government to U.S. citizens who are traveling to, or living in, a foreign country.

STEP allows you to enter information about your upcoming trip abroad so that the Department of State can better assist you in an emergency.

Additional travel information can be found on International Travel (static tab on blog) and Travel Tools (on our website). Topics include: Tips for Traveling Abroad, Travel Warnings, Country Specific Information & Travel Alerts 

We encourage all cruise passengers to be familiar with travel alerts, warnings, tips, and country specific requirements before leaving home.  Make sure that you leave your itinerary with someone at home and that you are adequately protected by travel insurance.

Enjoy Your Cruise to Greece

We were fortunate to travel to Greece a few years ago during our 12-night Mediterranean voyage.   For information about the ports we visited see our blog post:  Diary of Cruise with Chris to Greek Isles

Safe Travels

We highly suggest that you monitor the situation in Greece before and during your visit there.  We wish you safe travels, and for the wonderful people of Greece, we hope that this current financial situation can be resolved quickly.

Protests in Athens Greece

A Peaceful Athens, Greece - 10 Days Earlier

Greece Protests in News Again

Timing is everything they say.   We have just returned from our 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise which included stops in several Greek ports of call, including Athens, Corfu, Mykonos, Olympia, and Santorini. During our stay in Greece, things were very calm and peaceful.    Not so, this week as protests once again have erupted.

According to AP, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou offers to resign in the wake of the protests. Thousands of Greek workers swarmed downtown Athens to protest a package of budget cuts and tax increases for the financially strapped nation.

The European Union (EU) is proposing stiff cuts in an attempt to bail out Greece and other countries that are experiencing financial difficulties. The current Greek parliament is seeking tax hikes, deep cuts in public-sector wages and a fire sale of state assets as part of the current bailout package. Protestors resist this and are seeking a new government and renegotiation of the package.

Ironically, the protests will hurt the one industry that is on the rise in Greece - tourism. Having just returned from the region, that would be a terrible shame as Greece has so much to offer to tourists.

We'll be featuring each of our ports of call in future articles with the hopes that things will calm down and tourism will continue. We are very grateful that our plans were not interrupted by the current outbreak of violence.

Cruise lines will be closely monitoring the situation in the Greek Isles and adjust itineraries as necessary. We'll bring you updates if changes are announced.

 

Carry Proof of Nuclear Medicine Testing

Radiation Monitoring at Cruise Terminals by Customs Officials

Cruise Terminals Are Controlled by CBP

The following story was shared with me over three years ago, but in light of the situation in Japan, it is quite appropriate to share with you now.   Names and other details have been slightly altered to protect the identity of individuals.

When disembarking the cruise ship yesterday, we had a very interesting experience. When we were giving in our customs declaration, another agent came over and asked us to step to the side.

As we had purchased nothing during this short  cruise, I thought it was because I had "zero" on the form for purchases and they were checking this out. But that was not it.

The agent asked me if I recently had anything involving radiation? I mentioned that I had taken my Dad to the doctor the other day and he had some x-rays and one of them was nuclear but not me. He showed me a little gadget on his belt that was glowing red. This gadget was actually a radiation detector and it was going off big time!

Well it actually turned out to be my wife who had a nuclear stress test 5 days earlier and the stuff they inject for this test is radioactive which was still in her system and sending radiation signals out.

Carry Proof of Nuclear Medicine Testing

The man explained, and we are sharing it here, that anytime someone has anything done that involves radiation they should carry something to that effect - the paperwork from the testing lab is sufficient. He never did say how long that stuff stays in one's system. 

He went on to explain that without this someone could be "inconvenienced - his word" when coming back into the country especially for land border crossing, from a longer cruise or coming from many other countries (we only went to Nassau) or if security levels were higher. He was fine once he knew why his detector went off and we were on our way but it sure was an interesting experience and valuable information to pass along.

Anyone undergoing chemo therapy, or any other nuclear medicine testing, should be aware of testing that occurs at border crossings including airports, cruise terminals, and other sites.

Testing is elevated currently due to the radioactivity issues in Japan, so the warning is timely.