Red Sea cruises: when will they resume?

[Vallesan]

I just saw this article about MSC cancelling 2024/25 winter Red Sea cruises. I wonder if other lines will follow suit? 
 

https://www.travelmole.com/news/msc-unveils-canary-islands-cruises/?otg=1&nidd=Y2xlaW5AYmx1ZXlvbmRlci5jby51aw==

[Woofbite]

I think they all already have.  We were on Holland America November 1 and I read somewhere that we were the next to last cruise ship through the Suez Canal.  There were two Egyptian and Israeli navy ships ahead of us, (transiting, not protecting us),  and in the Red Sea there was a fleet of U.S. Navy ships around.  A couple of our port calls were cancelled and we visited Oman instead of Jordan.

 

[Harters]

To answer the question posed in the thread title - not any time soon. The military threat from the Houthi movement ( Ansar Allah) is likely to continue for some time. Not  least as it is the de-facto government for the majority of Yemenis, so unlikely to be displaced. 

 

FWIW, that part of the world sparked an interest in cruising for Mrs Harters. She spent her early school years in the part of Yemen that was then known as Aden (and may still be). At that time, P & O's ship, Canberra,  spent its time on journeys between the UK and Australia. It would dock in Aden to re-provision and, each time it  did, her mother would take her to see the "big, white ship" and she vowed that, one day, she would travel on it. Childhood ambition fulfilled in 1988 when, by then, Canberra had converted to being a fulltime cruise ship. 

Edited February 22 by Harters

[MEFIowa]

28 minutes ago, Harters said:

... FWIW, that part of the world sparked an interest in cruising for Mrs Harters. She spent her early school years in the part of Yemen that was then known as Aden (and may still be). At that time, P & O's ship, Canberra,  spent its time on journeys between the UK and Australia. It would dock in Aden to re-provision and, each time it  did, her mother would take her to see the "big, white ship" and she vowed that, one day, she would travel on it. Childhood ambition fulfilled in 1988 when, by then, Canberra had converted to being a fulltime cruise ship. 

Aden and its fascinating history... 

 

"Prior to 1937, Aden had been governed as part of India...During the course of 1955, 5239 vessels called at Aden, making its harbour the second busiest in the world after New York." ... Then the Aden Emergency from 1963-67... Finally a massive British fleet takes everyone away a year early. Followed by the now endless chaos with the communist regime and its successors and civil wars.

[Snaefell3]

Methinks the answer is similar to that of the 1980 "When will Iran release the embassy hostages?" question.

[Vallesan]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

To answer the question posed in the thread title - not any time soon. The military threat from the Houthi movement ( Ansar Allah) is likely to continue for some time. Not  least as it is the de-facto government for the majority of Yemenis, so unlikely to be displaced. 

 

FWIW, that part of the world sparked an interest in cruising for Mrs Harters. She spent her early school years in the part of Yemen that was then known as Aden (and may still be). At that time, P & O's ship, Canberra,  spent its time on journeys between the UK and Australia. It would dock in Aden to re-provision and, each time it  did, her mother would take her to see the "big, white ship" and she vowed that, one day, she would travel on it. Childhood ambition fulfilled in 1988 when, by then, Canberra had converted to being a fulltime cruise ship. 

Interesting! We knew one of the chefs on the Canberra in the ‘olden days’ of cruising and my OH went on a tour of the galley. He was on the Reina del Mar and the Canberra was docked next to him in Tenerife!

 

I think you’re probably right. All the cruise websites seem to be at sixes and sevens at the moment.

 

Looks like the Riviera is sailing to Asia at the end of this year via West  Africa. Not quite sure the west coast of Africa will hold the same appeal as the Middle East: who knows. 

 

Seabourn and Silversea still have ‘Red Sea’ cruises on their websites but I’m sure they won’t be bookable.

 

I guess all lines will be cautious about returning to the Red Sea until things have settled and are ‘proven’, if at all possible, to be settled before they return. Financially this winter must have been a nightmare for all cruise lines who cruise in Asia.

 

We can all only hope for a speedy return to a new ‘normality’ in the region for all concerned.

[pinotlover]

As of January 2023, Egypt made $743 million per month on the Suez Canal. For Egypt that was a helpful chunk of change. Now, not only have they lost a major portion of that, but tourism is now way off. Won’t take long before Egypt decides to invade Yemen and straighten things out.

 

I will highly recommend Uniworld River Cruises for a trip on the Nile and Cairo. They take security seriously, conduct great tours, and the food is overall better than on Oceania. They also have a pre/post cruise extension to Petra.

[Tsunami74]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

 

I will highly recommend Uniworld River Cruises for a trip on the Nile and Cairo. They take security seriously, conduct great tours, and the food is overall better than on Oceania. They also have a pre/post cruise extension to Petra.

We agree with this!

 

Excellent cruise and pre/post hotel and tour.

[clo]

6 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Aden and its fascinating history... 

 

"Prior to 1937, Aden had been governed as part of India...During the course of 1955, 5239 vessels called at Aden, making its harbour the second busiest in the world after New York." ... Then the Aden Emergency from 1963-67... Finally a massive British fleet takes everyone away a year early. Followed by the now endless chaos with the communist regime and its successors and civil wars.

Care to give the source for your quote? Isn't that required pretty much everywhere?

[Harters]

1 hour ago, clo said:

Care to give the source for your quote?

Google finds multiple references such as Wikipedia:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aden_Colony

 

As often the case in this part of the world, whether Yemen or Palestine, my country has a heavy historical responsibility for its modern problems - not something that I can be the slightest bit proud of. 

[Snaefell3]

5 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Won’t take long before Egypt decides to invade Yemen and straighten things out.

Uhhh...  Yeah, Egypt already wants to, but no.

 

Not unless someone provides sealift with assault landing capability or Israel, Jordan, *and* Saud grant them land passage.

[pinotlover]

2 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

Uhhh...  Yeah, Egypt already wants to, but no.

 

Not unless someone provides sealift with assault landing capability or Israel, Jordan, *and* Saud grant them land passage.

I was being a bit facetious 🙃, but even Egypt, a mostly Islamic country, isn’t going to bleed revenue indefinitely. I expect something to happen there.

[clo]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Google finds multiple references such as Wikipedia:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aden_Colony

 

As often the case in this part of the world, whether Yemen or Palestine, my country has a heavy historical responsibility for its modern problems - not something that I can be the slightest bit proud of. 

We also have plenty to hang our heads over.

[clo]

37 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

I was being a bit facetious 🙃, but even Egypt, a mostly Islamic country, isn’t going to bleed revenue indefinitely. I expect something to happen there.

This is so much bigger than those few countries. Way too many governments have gotten or were involved. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see this go on to the point that more of us are "at war."

[Snaefell3]

32 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

I was being a bit facetious 🙃, but even Egypt, a mostly Islamic country, isn’t going to bleed revenue indefinitely. I expect something to happen there.

There's another set of power player who are quite happy with the status quo: the big container ship operators.  They were looking at idle bottoms that are now earning revenue helping stuff go around Africa.  I'm not sure who has more economic pull: Egypt or MSC + Maersk + CMA GGM + Hapag Lloyd + ....  (and the latter have always been annoyed at the former over Suez tolls.

[ORV]

29 minutes ago, clo said:

We also have plenty to hang our heads over.

But more to hold our heads up high about. But truly in the grand scheme of things England has been at it much longer than the USA. So they've had much more opportunity to influence. For better or worse. 

[clo]

6 minutes ago, ORV said:

But more to hold our heads up high about. But truly in the grand scheme of things England has been at it much longer than the USA. So they've had much more opportunity to influence. For better or worse. 

Let's just not go there, my dear ORV.  

[ORV]

Just now, clo said:

Let's just not go there, my dear ORV.  

Ok, let's stop posting, you first. 

[clo]

45 minutes ago, ORV said:

Ok, let's stop posting, you first. 

Sincerely this is one of the issues that I'm passionate about. I will only discuss with kindred spirits. Best, clo

[Harters]

7 hours ago, ORV said:

England has been at it

Not just England but the whole of the UK. The other three nations don't escape the consequences of empire.

 

Let's not drift into discussing modern politics - it'll only end messily. 

Edited February 23 by Harters

[AMHuntFerry]

"Red Sea cruises: when will they resume?"

My Answer: 2029
(please note that this answer is about as reliable as my sports picks, which reminds me...Go Wales/Cymru!!)

[shank63]

On 2/22/2024 at 10:12 AM, Snaefell3 said:

Methinks the answer is similar to that of the 1980 "When will Iran release the embassy hostages?" question.

When the terrorism and pirating in the region is defeated.

 

[clo]

16 minutes ago, shank63 said:

When the terrorism and pirating in the region is defeated.

 

Which is never IMneverHO.

[Redtravel]

I am surprised that Oceania waited so long to pull ships out of the Suez.  Sadly, sailing in that area is not safe.  I am surprised that they are sailing  Riviera around Africa rather than staying in Asia.  

[daydreamer62]

13 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

I am surprised that Oceania waited so long to pull ships out of the Suez.  Sadly, sailing in that area is not safe.  I am surprised that they are sailing  Riviera around Africa rather than staying in Asia.  

Interestingly Viking and Azamara still have not pulled out so Oceania definitely weren't the last to do so