Cruise lines with scheduled calls in Israel are changing their itineraries after Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, launched a surprise attack on Israel over the weekend. The fighting quickly escalated to retaliatory attacks in the Gaza Strip.
About a dozen cruise lines were scheduled to call in Israel over the next month. While several lines said they are closely monitoring the situation since fighting broke out Saturday morning, several have begun altering itineraries.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings brands (Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises) will cancel calls in Israel through the end of the year. The company said it will continue to make adjustments to current and upcoming cruise itineraries as needed.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises has amended the Seven Seas Voyager's Oct. 3 and Oct. 15 itineraries. The Voyager's call at Haifa on Oct. 14 and 15 has been canceled and the ship will instead sail to Istanbul, where the sailing will conclude.
The ship's Oct. 15 itinerary will begin in Istanbul instead of Haifa. The ship's calls to Ashdod on Oct. 16 and 17 will be canceled and the ship will instead sail directly to Cairo and arrive on Oct. 18 to resume its previously scheduled itinerary.
Celestyal said it will temporarily suspend calls in Israel until the end of November. "On the advice of our internal teams and the relevant authorities, we have decided to temporarily remove Israel from our Three Continents itinerary until the end of November this year," said CEO Chris Theophilides.
Royal Caribbean International has canceled cruises on Rhapsody of the Seas due to the events in Israel. The line has canceled its four-day Oct. 9 Greek Cyprus sailing and its five-day Oct. 13 Greek Isles cruise. Both were to depart from Haifa.
The Odyssey of the Seas is replacing calls to Haifa on its Holy Lands cruise with calls in Greek isles Crete and Rhodes and Bodrum, Turkiye. The impacted sailings, which both sail from Rome, include a 13-day Oct. 2 cruise and a 12-day Oct. 15 sailing.
The Celebrity Apex is replacing Israel and Egypt visits on 10-day sailings departing Oct. 6 and Oct. 16. It is instead calling at Greek islands Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes and Bodrum, Turkiye.
This is a developing story.
UPDATE: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings brands canceled Israel calls through the end of 2023.