{"id":36186,"date":"2026-03-25T21:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/36186\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T21:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:51:08","slug":"cruise-lines-cancel-sailings-as-six-ships-reportedly-remain-stuck-in-the-middle-east-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/36186\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruise Lines Cancel Sailings as Six Ships Reportedly Remain Stuck in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

Six cruise ships reportedly remain stuck in the Persian Gulf amid military conflicts in the Middle East<\/p>\n

Approximately 15,000 passengers were stranded in the region but largely have since been repatriated through charter flights and other travel arrangements<\/p>\n

As a result, cruise lines operating in the region have canceled or adjusted itineraries as ships remain unable to leave<\/p>\n

Six cruise ships currently located in the Persian Gulf are reportedly stuck in the Middle East without a way to leave.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Feb. 28, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. participated in a joint attack with Israel against Iran. In retaliation, Iran launched a series of subsequent drone and missile strikes across the region, including areas like Israel, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).<\/p>\n

At the time, six cruise ships across four different companies were believed to have been impacted by the conflict, according to Euronews<\/a> and CruiseHive<\/a>. Those vessels included the MSC Euribia, TUI\u2019s Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 5, Celestyal Cruises\u2019 Discovery and Journey as well as the Saudi-based AroyaManara ship.<\/p>\n

The vessels were forced to remain in port<\/a>, as they would have to pass through the Strait of Hormuz to find safer waters. Airspace in the region was also shut down, making return flights home nearly impossible for travelers.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two cruise ships anchored in Doha, Qatar, on March 2
Credit: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

According to a March 6 report from The New York Times<\/a>, approximately 15,000 cruise passengers were stuck in the Gulf<\/a> as a result.<\/p>\n

Since the conflict, cruise companies have worked to return their guests home through private charters and another means of travel.<\/p>\n

In a statement previously shared with PEOPLE on March 6, a representative from MSC Cruises confirmed the company launched a \u201cdedicated flight operation\u201d that included at least five charter flights to repatriate guests on board the Euribia ported in Dubai, UAE.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The ‘MSC Euribia’
Credit: Finnbarr Webster\/Getty<\/p>\n

The cruise line confirmed all guests, over 1,500 in total, were flown home by March 9, according to a statement shared with TravelWeek<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a March 18 statement, Germany-based TUI Group confirmed all guests returned home safely about two weeks after the conflict began. The company says most guests, on board the Mei Schiff 4 in Dubai and the Mein Schiff 5 in Doha, Qatar, were directly transported via 12 TUI Airlines flights and 26 organized charter flights.<\/p>\n

Although the passengers have largely returned home, the ships themselves remain stuck in the region.<\/p>\n

According to CruiseMapper<\/a>, the MSC Euribia, the Celestyal Discovery and the Aroya Manara still remain in Dubai. The Celestyal Journey and the Mein Schiff 5 are located in Doha while the Mein Schiff 4 is in Abu Dhabi, UAE.<\/p>\n

As a result, the cruise lines have updated their itineraries and canceled sailings.<\/p>\n

In a March 25 update<\/a>, TUI announced the Mein Schiff 4\u2019s scheduled sailings up until April 11 could not take place. Similarly, the Mein Schiff 5 has canceled its sailings up to April 24.<\/p>\n

On the same day, Celestyal Cruises announced<\/a> it would have to cancel three voyages, including two Mediterranean sailings on the Journey and one Greek Island sailing on the Discovery.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two cruise ships anchored in Doha, Qatar, on March 2
Credit: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

For MSC\u2019s Euribia<\/a>, the soonest sailing is a roundtrip voyage out of Kiel, Germany, on May 2.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Aroya Cruises cancelled the rest of their cruising season entirely in a March 7 statement<\/a>. The company also confirmed all of its passengers in Dubai disembarked on March 7.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

PEOPLE has reached out to MSC Cruises for further comment.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Six cruise ships reportedly remain stuck in the Persian Gulf amid military conflicts in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[2362,16164,16165,2935,2365,16166,2368,2936,39,864],"class_list":["post-36186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-persian-gulf","tag-celestyal-cruises","tag-charter-flights","tag-conflicts-in-the-middle-east","tag-cruise-lines","tag-cruise-ships","tag-euribia","tag-mein-schiff","tag-msc-cruises","tag-persian-gulf","tag-president-donald-trump"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116292031809645036","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}