Explora cancels next winter's Middle East sailings

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The Explora II will sail the Mediterranean instead of the Persian Gulf next winter.
The Explora II will sail the Mediterranean instead of the Persian Gulf next winter. Photo Credit: Explora Journeys

Explora Journeys has canceled its Middle East cruises for next winter because of the Iran war and will instead sail the Mediterranean.

The Explora II had been scheduled to sail the region from November to March. Countries on the itineraries would have been the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt.

The Explora II will now sail the Western Mediterranean and North Africa during that time, and ports will include Funchal, Portugal; Casablanca, Morocco; and Ibiza, Spain. Explora plans to share more details about the itineraries by the end of this month.

It is offering 10% fare discounts through April 30 for impacted clients who rebook on one of the new itineraries as well as a $500 excursion credit per guest.

The Explora I and Explora V are scheduled to sail the Red Sea and Arabian Peninsula in the winter of 2027-2028. 

Celestyal cancels more cruises

Celestyal Cruises, meanwhile, has canceled four more Europe cruises due to delays in its repositioning from the Middle East to the Mediterranean.

The Celestyal Discovery will no longer sail its three-night Greek islands cruise departing April 3 nor its four-night Greek island cruise leaving April 6.

Two Celestyal Journey cruises were also canceled: a seven-night sailing through Greece, Italy and Croatia and a 14-night Mediterranean sailing. Both were scheduled to depart April 4. The cruise line has not yet canceled the April 11 seven-day cruise that was scheduled to overlap with the 14-night sailing.

Celestyal had already canceled four cruises in March as its ships remain stalled in Dubai and Doha, Qatar.

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