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Due to the situation in the Red Sea, shipping companies are adjusting their timetables. Alternative routes will be taken for some trips – others will be canceled entirely.
Munich – Due to the tense security situation, more and more providers are canceling cruises through the Red Sea. Aida Cruises started at the end of January and in the spring trips with the ships “Aidabella”, “Aidablu” and “Aidaprima” were canceled. Since then, many other shipping companies have followed suit. In some cases, even autumn cruises are affected.
More and more cruise operators are foregoing trips through the Red Sea
According to the portal, cancellations took place in March and April Ships and cruises nine other providers travel their ships through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. These include well-known shipping companies such as Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Marella Cruises and Hapag Lloyd Cruises. On April 15th, the German tour operator Phoenix Reisen announced that the leg of the world tour that began in Dubai on April 21st would not go to Savona in Italy as planned, but would end on May 14th in the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia. In addition, TUI Cruises canceled the “Mein Schiff 5” cruise from Dubai to Heraklion departing on May 23rd.
The Gulf region is an important route for shipping. But since the beginning of… GazaDuring the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas, the Yemeni Houthis – out of solidarity with Hamas – repeatedly attack freighters with alleged Israeli connections in the Red Sea. More and more ships are avoiding traveling through the sea and taking the longer journey around Africa towards Europe.
The first shipping companies are canceling cruises in the fall
Although an international alliance with warships protects the trade route, cruise operators see too high a risk for crews and passengers. They don't seem to have any hope that the Middle East conflict will end soon either. The first shipping companies have now canceled cruises planned for autumn.
“Due to the ongoing tense security situation in various regions of the Middle East, we decided early on to adapt the transfer trips to the winter sailing areas of 'AIDAprima' and 'AIDAstella' planned for autumn 2024 to a new routing,” it says on the Aida website .
From the end of October to the beginning of December, the ships will not sail through the Red Sea on 14 trips to the United Arab Emirates, but rather the longer route around Africa. “This requires more extensive timetable changes and several trip cancellations,” Aida continued. Guests who have booked for this will be informed and deposits paid to date will be refunded, with the exception of travel cancellation insurance.
The autumn timetable has been adjusted for the following cruise ships, among others:
- MSC Euribia: October 19, cessation of operations in Kiel; Resumption on November 16th from Dubai
- Anthem of the Seas: Departing October 2nd ends in Southampton four days early; Departure on October 14th to Civitavecchia and onward journey on October 23rd canceled
- AIDAPrima: Nine cruises to and from Dubai between October 26th. and 1.12. cancelled
- Norwegian Dawn: No cruise to and from Dubai between November 6th and December 8th
- Norwegian Sky: No travel to and from Dubai between November 19th and December 20th
MSC Cruises is completely canceling trips with the “MSC Euribia” from Kiel to Dubai
Also MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International, which recently started with the “Icon of the Seas” is the largest cruise ship in the world have already changed routes for the fall or canceled trips entirely. This is what the “Anthem of the Seas” sounds like Ships and cruises do not sail their cruises from Northern Europe to Southeast Asia through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
The ship will sail around Africa, but only to transfer to Dubai without guests. As a result, two cruises in October had to be canceled. MSC Cruises is completely canceling trips from Kiel to Dubai on the “Euribia” between October 19th and November 15th. If you have already planned a cruise, you should contact the provider to find out how things are going.
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