TUI Cruises says its May itineraries ‘can go ahead as planned’ after the Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 5 ships safely departed the Arabian Gulf.
The cruise ships that were stranded due to the Iran war, and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have now departed the key ports in the Arabian Gulf region.
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On Friday, Malta-flagged passenger vessel Celestyal Discovery departed Dubai, becoming the first cruise ship to transit the Strait since the Iran war began. In a statement Celestyal Cruises also said that the Celestyal Journey ship had departed Qatar's capital Doha, confirming the “successful and safe transit of both its vessels” through the waterway.
“Following their successful transit, both Celestyal Discovery and Celestyal Journey are now repositioning to the Mediterranean, where they will commence the upcoming summer season as planned,” Celestyal said.
“We can confirm that all future sailings currently on sale will operate as scheduled, providing our guests and travel partners with confidence and continuity as the company transitions into its Mediterranean deployment.”
MSC Cruises said that the MSC Euribia had also departed Dubai after safely transiting the Strait of Hormuz. “The passage was completed in close coordination with relevant authorities,” MSC said.
The MSC Euribia is en route to Northern Europe and will depart from Kiel, Germany, on 16 May and from Copenhagen, Denmark, on 17 May as originally scheduled.
TUI cruise ships en route to the Med
In a statement issued on Sunday, TUI Cruises confirmed that two of its ships, Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 5, were “heading towards the Mediterranean” after successfully leaving Dubai and Doha respectively. “Both ships are setting course for Cape Town and will subsequently return to their regular schedules,” the cruise line said.
With the stranded ships now repositioning, the originally cancelled voyages of Mein Schiff 4 from Trieste, Italy, from 17 May and of Mein Schiff 5 from Heraklion, Greece, from 15 May will now go ahead as planned
Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises: “The past few weeks have presented us all with extraordinary challenges. I would like to extend my special thanks to our captains, the crews and all the teams on board and ashore who have helped to overcome this situation with great professionalism, caution and dedication.
“We are therefore all the more delighted that we can now swiftly return to regular operations and deploy our entire fleet as planned. The fact that we are now able to offer our guests the cancelled cruises after all is a testament to the solidarity and the efficiency of TUI Cruises."
The TUI crew in Cape Town and Malta will rejoin the ships, which are being prepared for regular operations so that the first guests can be welcomed back on board in Trieste and Heraklion as planned.
