Cruise ship Celebrity Solstice avoids Bali over terrorist attack fears

Not so scary … Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, Hindu temple on Bratan lake, Bali, Indonesia. Picture: iStock

TWO more cruise ships have cancelled scheduled port calls to Bali, because of Australian and UK travel advisories warning of the potential for terrorist attacks.

Days after Celebrity Solstice gave Bali a miss, Royal Caribbean Cruises has announced Radiance of the Seas and Celebrity Millenium will also leave the island off their itineraries.

Celebrity Millenium was due to overnight in Bali on March 16, and Radiance of the Seas was scheduled to visit the following day.

Radiance of the Seas departs Fremantle on Saturday on a 16-night cruise to Sydney, and Celebrity Millenium is travelling from Singapore to Sydney. .

Instead Celebrity Millenium will spend an extra day in Singapore and another in Darwin, and Radiance of the Seas will remain at sea for an additional day.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean Cruises apologised for the impact on guests’ cruises.

“Our guests’ vacation time is precious and we did not take these decisions lightly. “The safety of our guests and crew is always our foremost concern, “ read the statement.

“We will continue to monitor the security situation in Indonesia and will notify guests or their travel agents if there are changes to future sailings that visit Indonesia.”

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said they were not aware of the reasons for the Celebrity Solstice’s change in schedule.

DFAT issued advice on February 25, urging Australian visitors to Indonesia to exercise a high degree of caution due to advanced plans for terrorist attacks.

“The travel advice for Indonesia is aimed at assisting Australians to make their own safe travel decisions,” said the spokesman.

“The advice represents the best assessment of the risks – it is kept under constant review and is updated as required.”

Celebrity Solstice gave Bali a miss on Monday despite the port of Benoa being promoted as part of the Celebrity Cruises’ ship’s 17-night voyage from Fremantle to Sydney.

In a letter to the 2850 mostly Australian passengers on board, Captain Yannis Berdos said “the most recent information received in the past few days indicates that the possibility of an incident has increased”.

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“Also the Balinese New Year is on March 9th, and recent past advisories has named this date as one that would be targeted by terrorists,” said Captain Berdos who teamed up with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in 2013 for the launch of the Smartraveller campaign.

“Based on all of this information we have gathered from various sources, and in discussion with our Global Security team in Miami, we have made a decision to cancel our call to Bali.”

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Captain Yannis Berdos with travel insurance advocate Natalie Hensby and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop at the 2013 launch of the Smartraveller advertising campaign. Picture: Jason McCormackSource:Supplied

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Instead the ship cruised on to Darwin, leaving passengers and Bali tourist operators surprised and disappointed.

Cindy Lugten, who coordinates tourism marketing portal Bali.com, said on March 9 the island was shut down with no planes or ships allowed to enter.

“There will be nobody on the street except for the special Pecalang men also known as the village police, making sure people are staying inside their houses, villas or hotel,” said Ms Lugten.

“It’s a bummer that we miss the opportunity to show the people on board Celebrity Solstice the beauty of Bali and lose out on the money that could have been made.”

Cindy Lugten of Bali.com is hoping other cruise ships don’t follow Celebrity Solstice’s lead. Picture: SuppliedSource:Facebook

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas is the next ship due into Bali on March 17, and yesterday a spokeswoman said they were “continuing to monitor the security situation in Indonesia”.

“As far as I’m aware a decision hasn’t been made on Radiance of the Seas’ upcoming call to Bali, scheduled for 17 March,” she said.

The Sun Princess is also due to call on Benoa on March 28, and again a month later but Princess Cruises did not respond to queries yesterday about whether the visits would go ahead.

Radiance of the Seas, pictured in Sydney, remains uncertain about an upcoming Bali port call. Picture: Supplied / Royal CaribbeanSource:Supplied

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued an advisory for Indonesia last month warning that terrorists may be in the advanced stages of preparing attacks.

Visitors were urged to exercise a “high degree of caution” but not advised against travelling to Indonesia.

Despite the January 14 terrorist attack in Jakarta, record numbers of Australians visited Indonesia in the month.

Australian Bureau of Statistics’ data showed 101,000 Aussies travelled to the country and predominantly Bali — 14.3 per cent more than in January 2015.

In part one of Dateline’s Meet the Terrorists special, three people who lost loved ones in Bali face the man who trained the bombers, Nasir Abbas.