Cruises in the Mediterranean and Suez Canal

[MMDown Under]

I wonder how the fighting in the Middle East is affecting cruises. 

On my first cruise overseas, the Suez Canal was closed.  Our ship from UK to Australia cruised home via South Africa, India and Ceylon.  

[MMDown Under]

Cruise Lines start to cancel Middle Eastern Itineraries.

CC News

[Mareblu]

Yes, they have indeed, but only those to ME ports in countries in the vicinity of this terrible conflict.  We have been following threads closely, because we and our fellow Canberran friends are booked on Oceania Vista's three-weeks Med April '24 cruise.  Turkey is the only destination we are wary of at the moment, especially as their President was whipping up the crowds in Istanbul overnight (our time) with inflammatory and threatening calls.  We were looking forward so much to the deeply meaningful experience of sailing the Dardanelles on Anzac eve, and overnight in Istanbul, but it would seem to be a doubtful stop, at this stage.  Five months is a long time in cruising, so we'll watch and wait.  We have spent many weeks in Turkey a few years ago, but our friends have never been.

[MMDown Under]

16 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

Yes, they have indeed, but only those to ME ports in countries in the vicinity of this terrible conflict.  We have been following threads closely, because we and our fellow Canberran friends are booked on Oceania Vista's three-weeks Med April '24 cruise.  Turkey is the only destination we are wary of at the moment, especially as their President was whipping up the crowds in Istanbul overnight (our time) with inflammatory and threatening calls.  We were looking forward so much to the deeply meaningful experience of sailing the Dardanelles on Anzac eve, and overnight in Istanbul, but it would seem to be a doubtful stop, at this stage.  Five months is a long time in cruising, so we'll watch and wait.  We have spent many weeks in Turkey a few years ago, but our friends have never been.

Unfortunately there are a number of countries involved behind the scenes as well as Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Qatar.  I agree five months is a long time in cruising, so hopefully there will be peace by then. In the meantime, there are a lot of cruise ports in the western Mediterranean.

[Mareblu]

6 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Unfortunately there are a number of countries involved behind the scenes as well as Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Qatar.  I agree five months is a long time in cruising, so hopefully there will be peace by then. In the meantime, there are a lot of cruise ports in the western Mediterranean.

True, Marion, and our cruise will be calling at many of the western Med ports before heading east to Valletta, Greece and Turkey.  I suspect that should we avoid Turkey, a few more Greek isles will be added.

[Ozwoody]

Yes it's a bit of a worry, the WC2024, may have an Itinerary change that includes the west coast of Africa, as Jordan not looking good, and it's possible the canal could be closed to shipping again.

[MMDown Under]

11 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Yes it's a bit of a worry, the WC2024, may have an Itinerary change that includes the west coast of Africa, as Jordan not looking good, and it's possible the canal could be closed to shipping again.

I missed Israel's warning to citizens not to travel to Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.  

[Mareblu]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

Yes it's a bit of a worry, the WC2024, may have an Itinerary change that includes the west coast of Africa, as Jordan not looking good, and it's possible the canal could be closed to shipping again.

Closing the canal would cause havoc for shipping.  So far I haven’t heard mention of it.  Peace in our time🙏🏻

[Ozwoody]

18 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

Closing the canal would cause havoc for shipping.  So far I haven’t heard mention of it.  Peace in our time🙏🏻

I was not saying they were going to close it, but if a shooting was between Egypt and Israel was a serious risk, they would cancel at least all cruise ships through it.

 

The worlds gone mad for some reason, to many people want to kill other people.

WHY? Its crazy!

 

[Mareblu]

40 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

I was not saying they were going to close it, but if a shooting was between Egypt and Israel was a serious risk, they would cancel at least all cruise ships through it.

 

The worlds gone mad for some reason, to many people want to kill other people.

WHY? Its crazy!

 

Yes, I understood that, and sorry if I seemed to be questioning your rationale.  I didn’t express myself well.  I actually agree it could close if this madness continues and/or spreads.

[Ozwoody]

38 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

Yes, I understood that, and sorry if I seemed to be questioning your rationale.  I didn’t express myself well.  I actually agree it could close if this madness continues and/or spreads.

Hi Linda

No I didn't think you were questioning me, I was thinking I hadn't expressed myself correctly, and was trying to be clear, as to what I meant.

 

Regards

John

 

[Blackduck59]

I was just reading on another cruise news site, that Celebrity Edge is in drydock in France after which she will embark passengers as she begins to reposition towards Australia via the Suez canal. So Celebrity expects the canal to be open.

[arxcards]

On 10/29/2023 at 10:53 AM, Ozwoody said:

Yes it's a bit of a worry, the WC2024, may have an Itinerary change that includes the west coast of Africa, as Jordan not looking good, and it's possible the canal could be closed to shipping again.

Those on Island Princess has been informed in the past day or so. They are now skipping the Suez and going via South Africa. They are departing Sydney in 2 weeks, so they are more imminently affected. Hopefully things can settle (a lot) by the time Coral is ready to depart mid year.

 

 

[Ozwoody]

7 hours ago, arxcards said:

Those on Island Princess has been informed in the past day or so. They are now skipping the Suez and going via South Africa. They are departing Sydney in 2 weeks, so they are more imminently affected. Hopefully things can settle (a lot) by the time Coral is ready to depart mid year.

 

 

Unfortunately no, evidently Carnival has advised that a number of their ships across their brands, are being revised, Princess has indicated they are relooking at the WC2024 and an announcement is expected soon. 

Its a bit of a blow for them, be a very tight fiddle re-routing the cruise up the west coast of Africa.

I think it will not only knock out Asia ports, but most if not all Med ports.

Be interesting what they come up with.

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 hours ago, arxcards said:

Those on Island Princess has been informed in the past day or so. They are now skipping the Suez and going via South Africa. They are departing Sydney in 2 weeks, so they are more imminently affected. Hopefully things can settle (a lot) by the time Coral is ready to depart mid year.

 

 

Princess have stated that a revised itinerary for Coral should be released Friday, which would be US time so Saturday our time. It's probably a 100% certainty we won't be going through the Red Sea / Suez.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

Unfortunately no, evidently Carnival has advised that a number of their ships across their brands, are being revised, Princess has indicated they are relooking at the WC2024 and an announcement is expected soon. 

Its a bit of a blow for them, be a very tight fiddle re-routing the cruise up the west coast of Africa.

I think it will not only knock out Asia ports, but most if not all Med ports.

Be interesting what they come up with.

I've been having fun calculating some possibilities for the itinerary change. I posted them on the roll call. Yes, we'll definitely lose Asia and the Med as far as I can work out.

[Pushka]

I'm sorry you likely won't be progressing through the Suez Canal. It's fascinating. Hard to believe we safely did this just a few months ago and into Israel but it shows how quickly the world can change, literally overnight. 
 

On the other hand Africa sounds fascinating and hope they can get some fabulous excursions happening for you. Let us know when you get a chance. It must be horrendous for the various cruise lines to sort out. Viking World cruises are meant to traverse Suez I think in March. They haven't told the World Cruisers anything yet. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

41 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I'm sorry you likely won't be progressing through the Suez Canal. It's fascinating. Hard to believe we safely did this just a few months ago and into Israel but it shows how quickly the world can change, literally overnight. 
 

On the other hand Africa sounds fascinating and hope they can get some fabulous excursions happening for you. Let us know when you get a chance. It must be horrendous for the various cruise lines to sort out. Viking World cruises are meant to traverse Suez I think in March. They haven't told the World Cruisers anything yet. 

I doubt we'll have many stops in Africa as the ship has to travel a much greater distance to get us up to Europe. Island Princess is going Fremantle, St Louis (Mauritius), Capetown, Walvis Bay (Namibia) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. I'm expecting our route to be very similar after a quick run across the bottom of Australia to Fremantle. 

[Pushka]

15 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I doubt we'll have many stops in Africa as the ship has to travel a much greater distance to get us up to Europe. Island Princess is going Fremantle, St Louis (Mauritius), Capetown, Walvis Bay (Namibia) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. I'm expecting our route to be very similar after a quick run across the bottom of Australia to Fremantle. 

I can only imagine how freight companies must be managing this extra travel and delay and Egypt must be bleeding money as their daily income from ships traversing the Suez is tens of millions of USD. 
 

I think you enjoy sea days anyway and no doubt there will be lots to keep you occupied. 

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I doubt we'll have many stops in Africa as the ship has to travel a much greater distance to get us up to Europe. Island Princess is going Fremantle, St Louis (Mauritius), Capetown, Walvis Bay (Namibia) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. I'm expecting our route to be very similar after a quick run across the bottom of Australia to Fremantle. 

In their favour, Island Princess was already going south from Sydney to Fremantle, so their itinerary changes from that point on. With Brisbane as a turnaround port on Coral, that adds several days of navigation in comparison, and they must be weighing-up whether to fly passengers to Sydney or a Melbourne alternate. I have no idea on the numbers boarding in each of the three starting ports. It stinks that your long made plans have been jumbled, but good that you will get a few months notice to plan things for the altered ports. Compared to Island, that is a godsend.

 

I was curious to see if Princess was reselling the altered leg for Island. Not available on their site, but I can still book to board in Auckland on Monday to cruise to Dubai. Why o  why do they never tick all of their boxes.

 

Probably a 100% certainty - I like that .

[Drumbeat16]

The QM world cruise is now rerouting around South Africa rather than through the Suez. Obviously disappointing for passengers booked on the Dubai - Southampton leg but it seems there is no option to ensure passenger safety.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

In their favour, Island Princess was already going south from Sydney to Fremantle, so their itinerary changes from that point on. With Brisbane as a turnaround port on Coral, that adds several days of navigation in comparison, and they must be weighing-up whether to fly passengers to Sydney or a Melbourne alternate. I have no idea on the numbers boarding in each of the three starting ports. It stinks that your long made plans have been jumbled, but good that you will get a few months notice to plan things for the altered ports. Compared to Island, that is a godsend.

 

I was curious to see if Princess was reselling the altered leg for Island. Not available on their site, but I can still book to board in Auckland on Monday to cruise to Dubai. Why o  why do they never tick all of their boxes.

 

Probably a 100% certainty - I like that .

I think the highest percentage of passengers board in Sydney, then Brisbane, then Auckland but I don't know the exact percentages. I very much doubt they would use Melbourne as a alternative. 

 

Island did have changes to its Australian itinerary. I think they lost Adelaide and Port Lincoln but gained Melbourne. Something like that anyway.

[arxcards]

47 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I think the highest percentage of passengers board in Sydney, then Brisbane, then Auckland but I don't know the exact percentages. I very much doubt they would use Melbourne as a alternative. 

 

Island did have changes to its Australian itinerary. I think they lost Adelaide and Port Lincoln but gained Melbourne. Something like that anyway.

Yes, they dropped Burnie & Adelaide. Their advantage is still that they have a much more direct route to Cape Town via Fremantle than Coral has with Brisbane as a key port.

[OzKiwiJJ]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

Yes, they dropped Burnie & Adelaide. Their advantage is still that they have a much more direct route to Cape Town via Fremantle than Coral has with Brisbane as a key port.

But if they went Auckland, Bay of Islands, Brisbane then Sydney Coral would have a more direct route. 😊

[arxcards]

8 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

But if they went Auckland, Bay of Islands, Brisbane then Sydney Coral would have a more direct route. 😊

Not sure if it can be done, as it will be absolutely necessary to keep the same 30th April scheduled date for Sydney to keep with flights and accommodation already held by a large number of passengers embarking the world cruise as well as a majority disembark for a shipload at the end of a 35 night cruise around the Pacific. 4 days to go Auckland to Sydney via Brisbane would be more than a challenge, and it also alters the plans of those boarding in Brisbane by 3 to 4 days.

 

I think it is likely they will go to schedule till Brisbane, then head south back past Sydney for a day & service stop in Fremantle, then across the Indian Ocean. It would seem likely that to keep to the date for Dover, Coral will have to have an extra sea day or two in comparison to Island.