Dubai bound cruise ships scatter as Cyclone Kyarr barrels toward Arabian Sea

A Category 4 cyclone, the strongest storm in the area for more than a decade, has impacted the cruise itineraries of multiple cruise ships sailing to or from Dubai and across the Indian Ocean.

Cyclone Kyarr was upgraded to a Category 4 tropical cyclone on Wednesday, with winds of around 250kph (155mph), making it the most severe cyclone in the region for the last 12 years.

Categorised as an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm by the Indian Meteorological Department, the cyclone has forced Costa Victoria to alter her repositioning cruise itinerary ahead of her new cruise season in Mumbai.

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“Since October 25^th the meteo-marine bulletins provided by the relevant and specialised authorities showed a worsening of the weather conditions expected for this week due to Cyclone Kyarr,” a spokesperson for Costa Cruises told Cruise Arabia & Africa.

“Therefore the itinerary for Costa Victoria on her 28 day re-positioning cruise to the Indian Ocean from Venice to Mumbai was altered for safety reasons,” the statement added.

Costa Victoria’s planned call in Muscat on Monday was cancelled and she instead spent the night in port overnight in Salalah before making a run for Male in the Maldives on Sunday.

Costa Victoria at the time of writing was scheduled to arrive in Male as planned on November 1^st. She’ll stay overnight before visiting Colombo in Sri Lanka and Goa in India ahead of her arrival in Mumbai for the new cruise season.

Costa Victoria will homeport in Mumbai, offering 7 and 14-night cruises to Male until the end of February.

Two other cruise ships potentially impacted by Cyclone Kyarr are AIDA Cruises’ vessels AIDAvita and AIDAbella.

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AIDAbella is currently on a 19-night cruise from Palma de Mallorca, Spain to Dubai. She was en-route from Salalah, Oman to Muscat as scheduled at the time of writing.

The current projected path of Cyclone Kyarr shows it veering away from the Arabian Sea toward Africa overnight, suggesting AIDAbella may be spared the worst of it.

AIDAvita is another cruise ship the German cruise line has in the region. The ship departed Dubai on Tuesday bound for Singapore.

The leisurely 20-night itinerary has the ship calling in Muscat on Thursday before heading out across the Arabian Sea for India.

If the projected trajectory of Cyclone Kyarr holds true, this means AIDAvita will miss the storm altogether without any changes to her itinerary.

Cruise Arabia & Africa has reached out to AIDA Cruises for comment.