MSC Cruises has cancelled MSC Euribia’s repositioning voyage from Dubai to Kiel at the end of her Arabian Gulf cruise season in April, 2025, due to ongoing security fears in the Red Sea.

MSC Euribia was due to depart Dubai on April 5th, 2025, to sail a 28-night voyage through the Red Sea and Suez Canal to the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.

Instead, following the lead of MSC Virtuosa at the end of her 2023/24 cruise season in Dubai, MSC Euribia will now sail without passengers around the southern tip of Africa, likely making a technical stop in Cape Town along the way.

MSC Euribia is one of MSC Cruises’ newest and most advanced cruise ships. She will spend her winter season in the Middle East, cruising 7-night roundtrip itineraries out of Dubai, visiting Oman, Qatar and other destinations in the Arabian Gulf between November and March.

MSC Cruises recently cancelled MSC Musica’s repositioning cruise through the Red Sea at the end of her current South African cruise season, which runs during the same months as Dubai. The cancellation of MSC Euribia’s repositioning also comes after the vessel’s cruise from Europe to Dubai at the start of the season was cancelled.

These itinerary changes stem from the Red Sea region’s growing instability amid the Israel-Iran tensions and ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, including the threat of Houthi attacks on international shipping near Yemen and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic choke point. 

The Red Sea has become increasingly risky for commercial and passenger ships, leading cruise lines to reroute their vessels to safer alternatives, primarily around South Africa when transiting between Europe and Asia or the Middle East.

MSC Euribia is MSC’s newest ship, which launched in June last year. She is the latest in the Meraviglia Plus-class and a sister ship to MSC Virtuosa and MSC Grandiosa. The ship carries more than 6,000 passengers and offers 10 restaurants, 19 cafes and bars, three separate pool areas, four lounges, and a casino, theatre, gym, spa and expansion retail area known as the Galleria.

She will homeport in Dubai from November, 2024 until March, 2025, sailing 7-night roundtrip voyages in the Arabian Gulf, visiting Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas Island, Doha, Muscat and Khasab.