With an ever-growing number of cruise lines cancelling itineraries transiting the Suez Canal and choosing to re-route ships around the southern coast of Africa instead, Cape Town is looking at an even busier season than last year.
Since January when the security crisis in the Red Sea began, dozens of cruise lines have announced changes to itineraries that were due to transit the Suez Canal, a key waterway linking the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean.
Carnival Corporation alone has confirmed that 12 ships across seven of its cruise brands will be rerouted around Africa instead, visiting ports in the Indian Ocean, South Africa, and on the west coast of Africa, rather than the Middle East.
<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="639" height="332" data-attachment-id="22827" data-permalink="https://cruise-arabia.com/2023/08/04/norwegian-cruise-line-takes-delivery-of-new-prima-class-norwegian-viva/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?fit=770%2C400&ssl=1" data-orig-size="770,400" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown" data-image-description data-image-caption="Cape Town has become a safe haven for cruise lines avoiding the security crisis in the Red Sea.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?fit=300%2C156&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?fit=639%2C332&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?resize=639%2C332&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-22827″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?w=770&ssl=1 770w, https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?resize=300%2C156&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?resize=768%2C399&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cruise_table_mountain-aida-capetown.jpeg?resize=150%2C78&ssl=1 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>Cape Town has become a safe haven for cruise lines avoiding the security crisis in the Red Sea.
MSC Cruises has also announced that three of its cruise ships will no longer be transiting the Suez Canal and will also circumnavigate southern Africa instead.
Some of these vessels are currently sailing homeporting seasons in the Middle East, South Africa and Australia, and were due to reposition to the European market in March, while others are ships that were due to sail through the Suez Canal as part of World Cruise itineraries.
The Red Sea provides access to the Indian Ocean from the Suez Canal, but ships must sail through the Bab Al Mandeb Strait near the coast of Yemen.
<img decoding="async" width="639" height="288" data-attachment-id="6689" data-permalink="https://cruise-arabia.com/2018/10/31/po-cruises-arcadia-to-offer-ocean-liner-esque-cruise-from-dubai-to-southampton-in-2020/queen-mary-2-suezcanal/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Queen-Mary-2-SuezCanal.jpg?fit=1000%2C450&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1000,450" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Queen-Mary-2-SuezCanal" data-image-description data-image-caption="The Suez Canal links the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, but to get to it, ships must first navigate the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, where Houthi rebels have been firing on passing ships.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Queen-Mary-2-SuezCanal.jpg?fit=300%2C135&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Queen-Mary-2-SuezCanal.jpg?fit=639%2C288&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Queen-Mary-2-SuezCanal.jpg?resize=639%2C288&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-6689″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Queen-Mary-2-SuezCanal.jpg?w=1000&ssl=1 1000w, https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Queen-Mary-2-SuezCanal.jpg?resize=300%2C135&ssl=1 300w” sizes=”(max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>The Suez Canal links the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, but to get to it, ships must first navigate the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, where Houthi rebels have been firing on passing ships.
Translating as ‘Gateway of Tears’ in Arabic, the waterway is just a few miles wide at its narrowest point, providing Houthi rebels in the country with an easy way of attacking international shipping with missiles and drones.
Although no cruise ships have been targeted, cruise lines have begun avoiding the waterway out of an abundance of caution after more than 29 cargo vessels have been attacked.
The full list of impacted cruises includes MSC Cruises, and Silversea, as well as the Carnival brands AIDA Cruises, Seabourn, Costa Cruises, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises, and Cunard Line.
MSC Cruises will be sailing via South Africa without passengers when it repositions its ships MSC Opera and MSC Virtuosa from the Arabian Gulf to Europe. The cruise line will sail without passengers, however, so the ships are unlikely to call in SA except for technical stops.
Silversea cancelled two voyages in January on board Silver Moon, including one from Muscat to Dubai and another from Dubai to Mumbai. It also amended the itinerary for a sailing between Aqaba and Muscat, allowing guests to disembark in Athens.
The ship was kept north of the Red Sea to protect it from any Houthi attacks, so there was no need to sail the ship around Southern Africa.
Carnival Corporation, however, has a number of ships belonging to its various cruise lines positioned in Australia and Asia, with no alternative for returning them to the Mediterranean except by circumnavigating Africa.
<img decoding="async" width="639" height="359" data-attachment-id="22000" data-permalink="https://cruise-arabia.com/2023/04/05/queen-mary-2-reaches-south-african-shores-for-first-time-since-pandemic/queenmary2-durban-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1" data-orig-size="800,450" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="QueenMary2-Durban-2" data-image-description data-image-caption="Queen Mary 2 will be calling in Cape Town twice on her amended World Cruise.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?fit=639%2C359&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?resize=639%2C359&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-22000″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?w=800&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/cruise-arabia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/QueenMary2-Durban-2.jpeg?resize=150%2C84&ssl=1 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>Queen Mary 2 will be calling in Cape Town twice on her amended World Cruise.
AIDAprima of AIDA Cruises will set sail from Dubai to Hamburg, Germany, on March 20th and from Abu Dhabi to Hamburg on April 7th, while the Dubai to Mallorca voyages in April have also been cancelled. Like MSC, AIDA will circumnavigate Africa without passengers, making only technical stops.
Similarly, Costa Cruises recently cancelled a cruise that was set to sail from the UAE to Italy over 19 nights, departing on March 9th, and will reposition to Europe via South Africa without passengers.
Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises and Cunard Line are rerouting ships away from the Red Sea and instead sailing around South Africa to avoid the areas affected by Houthi attacks on shipping.
Princess Cruises’ World Cruise aboard Island Princess, which set sail from Los Angeles on January 18th, skipped the Middle East, including the UAE and Asia. The itinerary was revised to include ports of call in Australia, then South Africa and the west coast of Africa, followed by Western Europe and the Mediterranean, before continuing its scheduled Atlantic crossing.
Cunard Line’s World Cruise aboard Queen Mary 2 will also see additional port calls in South Africa added, while P&O’s repositioning voyage in January from Australia to the UK aboard Arcadia was revised to sail via South Africa instead of the Middle East and Suez Canal.In total, around four additional port calls are scheduled for Cape Town due to the crisis in the Red Sea, and this comes on the back of Cape Town’s busiest cruise season to date during the 2022/23 cruise season, making the 2023/24 season set to be even busier.
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Source: Cruisearabiaonline.com
