Princess Cruises and Cunard Line have confirmed they are altering cruse itineraries to avoid the Red Sea on the back of an ongoing security crisis that has disrupted global shipping.

The cruise lines announced they would be altering cruise itineraries for their ships in the coming weeks just a few days after parent company Carnival Corporation revealed 12 ships across the fleet had been impacted.

Princess and Cunard are the fifth cruise lines within the Carnival group to confirm cruise itinerary changes following P&O’s letter to guests booked aboard Arcadia informing them that the ship would sail around Southern Africa rather than through the Suez Canal.

Cunard Line reached out to guests booked on a portion of Queen Mary 2‘s World Voyage to inform them that the ship will sail up the west coast of Africa, which doubles some of the existing itinerary and changes a month of the cruise’s route.

“Given recent developments and following extensive consultation with global security experts and government authorities, we have made the decision to reroute our itinerary to bypass the Red Sea and the surrounding area,” the notification explained.

The change in itinerary begins following the ship’s call on Colombo, Sri Lanka on March 31st. From Sri Lanka Queen Mary 2 will head south than northwest to the Middle East and on to the Red Sea, she will instead head for the Cape of Good Hope and up the west coast of Africa.

Although the length of the voyage, as well as the planned disembarkation in Southampton, UK on April 28th, will remain the same, passengers will be visiting some ports twice as Queen Mary 2 sailed the coast of West Africa at the begining of her World Cruise in January.

Ports of call the ship will no longer be visiting include destinations in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Greece, and Spain, while new and duplicate ports include Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia, the Canary Islands, and Portugal.

For guests who had only booked only part of the voyage and planned to debark in Dubai on April 7th, they will continue on with the ship to debark in Cape Town, South Africa on April 13th, with the extra six days of the itinerary complimentary.

Princess Cruises has also announced that Island Princess will no longer be sailing to the Middle East or Asia as part of its current world cruise due to the uncertainty surrounding the conflict in the Red Sea.

Princess Cruises explained the change to guests in a letter on January 30, 2024. 

“Based on the current security environment and future uncertainties in this area of the world, we have made the difficult decision to bypass the Red Sea and surrounding region, including the Suez Canal,” reads the cruise line’s letter.

Instead of heading for the Suez Canal from Asia, Island Princess will instead spend more time in Australia, calling in Melbourne, Australia, on February 16th, Perth (Fremantle), Australia on February 21st, Port Louis, Mauritius on February 29th, and Cape Town, South Africa on March 6th. The ship will remain at sea between the port calls, spending up to seven days at sea between destinations.

Like with Queen Mary 2, guests aboard Island Princess who were planning to disembark in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on March 11th will now be disembarking five days earlier in Cape Town.

Princess Cruises said passengers will be compensated for the shortened itinerary, as well as any costs associated with changing flight plans.

The itinerary changes are a knock to Arabian Gulf cruise sector, which was showing a resurgence of activity, particularly in Dubai, following the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Carnival Cruise Line has decided to reroute itineraries for 12 ships in total across its seven brands, including Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, Seabourn, and AIDA Cruises. MSC Cruises has also made itinerary changes to its own world cruise for the same reason, while its repositioning cruises from Dubai to Europe were also cancelled.