Sandcastle, from your post anyone would be forgiven for thinking that I had a problem with the Bahrain stop! Far from it. I was disappointed to hear that it had been pulled as I enjoyed an albeit brief stop there en route to India a few years ago. I was looking forward to a return for restocks on duty free (no good on way out though, apparently no duty free booze imports allowed to MLE?).
You are right, it was Kuoni that I was quoting in my original post, not that i necessarily agree with their reasoning. At the end of the day though, as a humble fare paying punter, I was just looking for some views 'from the sharp end' on the situation rather than relying upon scant info from the tour operators themselves as to how the trip may or may not be affected. Interesting thoughts all round though, I have to say.
(Oh, and yes, I did know about the Islamic bit - have read Lonely Planet and did A level geography)