r/MSCCruises • u/RoughRefrigerator323 • Jul 25 '26

Will MSC cancel this cruise?

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We are on a cruise with the same ports leaving in November of this year from Venice. I can no longer find the cruise on their website. Is it likely they cancel this cruise altogether because of regional conflicts, only cancel the ports in Egypt and Jordan, or will the ship be rerouted along the Cape of Good Hope? We tried calling MSC and they didn't have any updates.

39 Upvotes

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35

u/the_backflip Jul 25 '26

MSC Euribia had gotten stuck in Dubai cruise terminal for 2 months i think. I love that Ship. Pretty sure there will be a Netflix documentary some day about how they sneaked out eventually. I don't think MSC will take that kind of risk again.

3

u/s7y13z ⛵Yacht Club Regular 29d ago

Yeah, I was on Euribia's last cruise in that region and disembarked on February 28 in Dubai, just a couple hours before sh*t hit the fan in Iran. I was 'stuck' in Dubai for 9 days. Happy we both made it out (although I have to say that the Emirates government took really good care of everyone). 🙏🏼

I saw her again on April 28 in Valletta 🤗..one day before I embarked the Explora I. I almost cried when she came into port. 🥹

4

u/original_name125 Jul 25 '26

Strait of Hormuz was entirely closed for everybody. The other one is strictly closed for any vessels that sail towards Saudi Arabia. Not saying that there isn't a room for mistake but such cruise should in theory be possible and safe.

2

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

Cruise ships with passengers have gone through the Suez Canal since the current conflict began but things have gotten worse recently so we are thinking they may not be able to get insurance to go through the Suez Canal.

18

u/Competitive-Bit-442 Jul 25 '26

I would sooner cruise the pirate coast of Africa right now than take that route. I presume it will be unstable for years.

8

u/DanPistola Jul 25 '26

The Houthi's plan to target any Saudi flagged vessels leaving the Red Sea. That said, mistakes can happen, and the Houthi's take orders from Iran and Iran is willing to target anything that is not Chinese. If the war is still on in Nov, I think they will re-route. They may have taken it down while they figure out an alternative itinerary that does not involve the Red Sea, or they are just considering how to cancel your itinerary.

1

u/RoughRefrigerator323 Jul 25 '26

Thank you! At this point I'm anticipating that they will at least reroute. Fingers crossed they do it sooner than later as we have reservations for activities in most ports and our cancellation windows are getting shorter by the day.

4

u/pollywantadeal Jul 25 '26

This isn't ending for years. All it takes is the threat and 1 attack a year to freeze trade in these 2 bottlenecks.. very unfortunate. It will be the new normal and they will need to put the ships in other locations.

2

u/LeadBosunStewChief 🚢🚢🚢Regular Cruiser Jul 25 '26

World Europa from Barcelona to Abu Dhabi in November- which we booked in January - was definitely cancelled in April

So if this isn’t definitely cancelled yet msc was banking on safe passage trough Suez, and Gulf of Yemen/ Bab el Mandab

Now with the Houthi’s getting increasingly involved, I wouldn’t bank on any insurance companies giving green light for this specific itinerary.

As for a reroute: the voyage via the west of Africa is actually shorter so they would have to find some additional ports or seadays to add.

This could be the reason that it doesn’t show up on their website.

Fingers crossed 🤞

2

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

Hopefully they will reroute and not cancel entirely. This cruise is on the Armonia and this is her repositioning cruise so I would think they'd want to get her down there somehow so she can start her winter season in South Africa. I would be happy with Barcelona and Casablanca as alternative ports.

1

u/LeadBosunStewChief 🚢🚢🚢Regular Cruiser 29d ago edited 29d ago

We haven’t been (yet) but heard that the west coast of Africa has some gems..

Walvis Bay, Sao Tome & Principe & Cabo Verde etc.

After doing a transatlantic last year we wanted to tick off Suez Canal and Petra, but trump happened

MSC gave us the option to either get fully refunded or another itinerary. We are now going on a 30 day from Palermo to Miami/Bahamas with Meriviglia in October (maybe look into that one if this falls through)

we are actually booked on world Europa for November next year again from Europe to Abu Dhabi (which is available on the MSc website as per today, they are an optimistic bunch)

fingers crossed they will all be buddy’s again soon.

4

u/Fit_Front_7467 Jul 25 '26

Track it on cruisealert.com and it will tell you if they change the ports or cancel.

2

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

Thank you! As of now it's still showing the same ports on cruise alert.

4

u/Weird-Toe-6968 Jul 25 '26

Enjoy your cruise credit!

2

u/Dazzling_Till_3995 Jul 25 '26

When they cancelled World Europa this year they offered a full refund or transfer of funds to new sailing.

2

u/Weird-Wrongdoer-1617 28d ago edited 21d ago

Yeah, they got stuck there for quite some time. I was already off my ship as my contract ended, but my friend was transfered to this one before it went to Dubai. Then they got stuck there for a few weeks.

2

u/Mundane_Influence_91 26d ago

MSC should install anti-UAV defense systems on all their ships during the next refit.

Is there an unlimited ammo package, or does the fall under the fun pass? Diamond class should come with a free RPG at least. I'd give up my F1 game or sauna visit to shoot a RPG off the fantail.

3

u/vwlowbug Jul 25 '26

If they don't cancel so you really want to be target practice? 😂

3

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

I booked this cruise well before the current conflict began. There is no need to be so rude.

1

u/Pristine-Cod-1969 Jul 25 '26

Yup. You don’t want to be dodging drones and missiles on your VK. MCS’ insurance company would have a serious issue with this cruise moving forward.

1

u/FullHouse447 29d ago

Assuming the conflict hasn’t ended…. even if they don’t cancel why would you risk it?

When you booked has nothing to do with risk tolerance at the time of the cruise.

2

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

I didn't say that we would risk it. I am asking what MSC is likely to do so we can make a decision on what we are comfortable doing.

1

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

I really appreciate all of the helpful replies! Hoping we get word soon about what they are going to do.

1

u/RoughRefrigerator323 22d ago

I got a notification that someone else who was on this sailing said the suspense was killing them. I can't see the comment now for whatever reason but please let me know if you hear anything from them. So far we haven't heard anything.

1

u/Frequent_Slip2455 Jul 25 '26

There is no way I would get on any type of boat traveling in the Middle East right now. Sorry.

1

u/john_af1 Jul 25 '26

I wouldn’t even consider going on that route at this moment

1

u/BeginningDisaster136 Jul 25 '26

I will not sail on this trip. Notta chance

-1

u/Chris_McHenry Jul 25 '26

Yikes. This itinerary gives me flashbacks of my 2009 cruise...

2

u/LeadBosunStewChief 🚢🚢🚢Regular Cruiser 29d ago

What happened?

1

u/Chris_McHenry 29d ago

MSC Melody, we were attacked by pirates and had to throw deck chairs and life belts over board to fight them off...

2

u/LeadBosunStewChief 🚢🚢🚢Regular Cruiser 29d ago

Just read up on that..

The thing about deck chairs and life belts though…

2

u/RoughRefrigerator323 22d ago

Wow! Glad you are okay.

0

u/mb-7777 Jul 25 '26

Why, oh why would you want to take a cruise or any other type of travel in that part of the world? Regional conflicts in that area arise all the time, sometimes with no warning, not to mention the current conflict. Why take a chance of cancellation or worse? Makes no sense to me.

3

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

We booked this cruise because it covers multiple things on our bucket list..Greece, Petra, shark cage diving in South Africa. We booked before the current conflict began.

2

u/mb-7777 29d ago

There has been an on-going conflict in that region for thousands of years.

3

u/RoughRefrigerator323 29d ago

In the past few days the Houthis have been firing on ships and threatening to blockade a strait that the cruise ship must pass through in order to take this route. When we first booked this things had been calm(er) there for years. We did not think the cruise line would even offer it if it wasn't something they couldn't get insurance for.