From Cape Town’s southern arc to Jeddah’s direct Suez Canal transit, cruise lines will soon be choosing between South Africa and Saudi Arabia as Europe-Asia repositioning corridors

For the past two years, the industry conversation around Europe-Middle East-Asia cruise itineraries has been dominated by risk: missile activity in the Red Sea, itinerary scrubs, world-cruise detours, and a long list of re-routings around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. 

Yet as the 2025/26 season takes shape, there are signs of a rebalancing. One path runs north via the Suez Canal to Jeddah, testing a gradual normalisation of Red Sea transits. The other continues south via the Atlantic, with Cape Town evolving from a weather refuge into a deliberate pivot point for east–west repositioning. Both cities, at opposite ends of Africa, could soon be quietly vying to become the ‘default’ bridge between European summers and Asian winters.

The immediate catalyst for this question is the decision by Celestyal and Nicko Cruises to run the Red Sea without passengers, using Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as a key turnaround port.

Celestyal will carry paying passengers through the Suez Canal this November, the first mainstream cruise line to do so in more than two years, while Nicko Cruises will follow a similar approach, but sailing in the opposite direction in 2026. 

Celestyal, repositioning to the Arabian Gulf from Europe for its winter season in the Middle East, will sail with passengers from Athens to Jeddah, before continuing on to the Arabian Gulf without passengers. 

Nicko Cruises will sail from Dubai to Athens as part of its 2025/26 World Cruise, but will disembark passengers in Salalah, Oman, before cruising without passengers to Jeddah, where it will re-embark the passengers and continue the voyage.

Nicko said in a release that passengers will be flown directly to Jeddah on a charter flight, and spend four days in a luxury hotel, with daily sightseeing and excursions offered, while Vasco da Gama runs the Bab Al Mandeb Strait without passengers.

Framed as a limited, closely coordinated trial, it nonetheless breaks a psychological barrier. 

“These will be the first ships for over two years to actually carry cruise passengers through the Suez Canal,” said Lee Haslett, Chief Commercial Officer, Celestyal. “We’ve worked closely with various government authorities, and we believe it’s a very safe part of the world to cruise at the moment.” 

If those voyages proceed smoothly, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t, after the Saudi Arabian cruise line AROYA made the same trip at the end of its debut Mediterranean season, they will strengthen Jeddah’s case as the gateway city for re-establishing Europe–Gulf–Asia itinerary continuity. 

Cruise Saudi has said repeatedly that its strategy is long-term, infrastructure-led, and volume-targeted, and Jeddah’s cruise facilities are being upgraded to accommodate vessels as large as Royal Caribbean’s Quantum-class ships, with marine works such as new bollards and fenders already in place.  

But the industry cannot flip a switch. Even as Jeddah and Suez re-open to test cases, Cape Town has consolidated its role as the safe, commercially productive alternative. Through 2024/25 the Western Cape posted record cruise numbers and passenger spending. 

Wesgro, the tourism marketing arm of the Western Cape government, reports R1.79 billion in provincial GDP contribution for the 2024/25 season, up from R1.32 billion the year prior. 

“The 2024/25 season has been a successful year for Cape Town and the Western Cape’s cruise industry. With record passenger numbers and expenditure, the industry is showing its ability to create jobs and stimulate growth across the province,” said Wesgro CEO Wrenelle Stander. 

Those figures matter, because they show the Cape Town repositioning route isn’t just a safety detour; it’s become an attractive economics-backed corridor in its own right.

Royal Caribbean’s itinerary planning illustrates the split pathways. In 2024, Anthem of the Seas diverted around Africa and made a technical stop in Cape Town. At 168,666 gross tons, it was the largest cruise ship to ever dock in South Africa. In November 2025, Voyager of the Seas will use South Africa as a stepping stone on a Cape Town–Singapore repositioning, this time with passengers, calling in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. 

South African cruise officials have framed the calls as a marker of renewed interest. “This is more than a port call; it’s a statement,” said Marco Cristofolli, CEO of Cruises International. “The arrival of Voyager of the Seas marks the beginning of a new era for African cruising.” 

Four practical issues will likely determine which route, via Jeddah/Suez or via Cape Town, captures more of the east–west repositioning pie over the next two seasons: risk appetite and insurance pricing; itinerary value and shore-product depth; fleet deployment and class constraints; and commercial narratives and demand signalling.

Operators will continue to weigh the single-voyage risk of a Suez transit against the cumulative costs of running south via the Cape. Even with improving signals, security dynamics are not static. The Suez Canal Authority has tried to shore up confidence with incentives for cruise tonnage. The question is whether passenger-carrying transits become routine in winter windows or remain limited to a handful of lines prepared to accept the risk for schedule efficiency.

Jeddah brings immediate access to Red Sea calls, and domestic capacity via AROYA shows the port can support embarkation as well as transit activity. Cruise Saudi has reiterated that development timelines are measured in years. “Everything in cruise has a long lead time—it’s a capital-intensive industry,” as CEO Lars Clasen has said, while maintaining the 1.3 million passenger target by 2035. The port claims readiness for larger classes and continues to sit within a Vision 2030 tourism build-out that includes upgrades in Jeddah Central and heritage restoration in Al-Balad.  

Cape Town, by contrast, offers a proven shorex pipeline, with wine lands, Table Mountain, Garden Route destinations, and open-ocean predictability that avoids convoy scheduling and security concerns in narrow waterways such as the Red Sea. The trade-off is days at sea: around-Africa itineraries adds distance and time, but the spend intensity ashore during South African calls has shown up consistently in Western Cape accounting and job creation metrics, bolstering the case for the southern route when time allows.

Consumer sentiment will influence cruise lines’ planning. Celestyal’s messaging is cautious but clear; the Red Sea voyages are “extremely popular” and are positioned as both practical and symbolic. In South Africa, the narrative has shifted from detour to deliberate: Cape Town’s agencies are public about the size of last season’s impact and continue to pitch the province as a reliable link-node for world itineraries. 

“Beyond the record number of ship calls, the economic impact of cruise tourism is undeniable,” Wesgro says, making the case for retention rather than mere contingency. However, cruise executives remain cautious about the long-term viability of Africa as a permanent repositioning route.

“It’s a very limited itinerary in terms of infrastructure,” said Angelo Capurro, Executive Director, MSC Cruises, refering to the cruise line’s current deadhead repositioning voyages between Europe and the Middle East via South Africa. “There are no ports in West Africa for instance that can take a ship the size of MSC World Europa.”

A further consideration is homeport ambition. Saudi Arabia has made clear that Jeddah is not just a transit stop but a homeporting node for Red Sea deployment, anchored by national-brand capacity (AROYA) and a pipeline of island destinations. If inbound airlift, visas and shoreside processing continue to simplify, Jeddah’s value rises beyond repositioning to year-round itineraries that can connect across Suez when conditions permit.

South Africa, for its part, is improving port operations through public–private partnerships and incremental terminal upgrades, while using Cape Town’s broader destination appeal to capture higher-value shore spend on world and grand voyages. Recent reporting notes the Western Cape’s record vessel calls and passenger throughput, suggesting operators are scheduling South African sectors on purpose rather than by necessity. 

Dual-routing may become the norm, with large multi-brand groups splitting their fleets by risk tolerance and market: one or two ships take Suez under enhanced protocols and security riders, while others reposition via the Cape with richer shore programs and longer cruise lengths. That hedges exposure, diversifies product, and serves different guest appetites—those who prioritise time-efficient repositioning and those who prefer the scenic, sea-day heavy southern arc.

The real competition is not just Cape Town vs Jeddah. It is between two models of reconnecting Europe and Asia: a northern corridor rebuilt on incremental confidence and integrated Red Sea infrastructure, and a southern arc that has proved its resilience and now seeks permanence. Cruise planners may well choose both—depending on ship class, passenger mix, and anticipated geopolitical trends.