After saying earlier this week it was canceling Nile River cruises for the rest of March, Viking said Thursday that it would resume departures on March 12.
Viking said it reconsidered after monitoring the U.S.-Iran war and speaking with longtime ground operators in Egypt. Viking also said the current U.S. State Department travel advisory factored into its reversal.
"The official travel advisories have been clarified, and the current advisory for Egypt remains the same as it was prior to the start of the recent conflict," Viking said in a statement.
Egypt was among the countries that the State Department said Americans should leave, according to a March 2 post on X by the department's assistant secretary for consular affairs, though the State Department did not downgrade the country's advisory past Level 2, which encourages Americans to exercise increased caution.
Parts of Egypt are under "do not travel" Level 4 guidance -- Northern and Middle Sinai as well as parts of the Western Desert -- but that warning has been in place for several years.
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo said in a March 4 statement that it is "operating normally."
This week, other operators have canceled Nile departures. Avalon Waterways ceased its Egypt operations for the month of March. Tauck has canceled a few Egypt land-cruise tours -- its Egypt: Jewels of the Nile itinerary is slated to resume after March 15, and Jordan & Egypt: Petra to the Pyramids is paused for March.
AmaWaterways said it has suspended its Jordan and Dubai extensions through March 31.
With eight ships in Egypt, Viking is the largest Western operator of Nile cruises.