Red Sea Reroute

[Dancer Bob]

Several of us have had Red Sea transit cruises cancelled, I presume the insurance companies have such high rates the ships are going to deadhead back. A number of us are curious about Africa and rerouting via Cape of Good Hope. The original cruise was 21 days Dubai-Genoa. Would it be feasible, something like 28 days Dubai to the Canaries, with a few port stops, maybe along the east coast, Capetown, Cape Verde? How would the cost structure compare? Do megaships have problems with sea-keeping because they are so high? Do LNG ships have the range for this?

[Rob_H]

I don't know about megaships, but yes many cruise lines are re-routing via West Africa and South Africa.

 

For examle the Norwegian Sky was going to be leaving New York on Oct 21, 2024, to Barcelona, then Israel, then the Red Sea to Dubai, then Mauritius, before heading across the Indian Ocean to Singapore for an Asia season. 

 

The Israel disembarkation/embarkation port got changed to Athens months ago.  Then when it became clear the Red Sea wasn't going to get sorted any time soon, those trips were cancelled, the three cruises from Barcelona to Mauriius.

 

In the past couple of weeks, new cruises were added to replace them.  After Barcelona the Sky will make it's way slowly to Lisbon via the Canaries, then a 21 day West Africa from Lisbon to Cape Town, then east Africa to Mauritius to arrive as originally scheduled, to continue to Asia.

 

There are many port stops on the replacement cruises so there shouldn't be any problem with bunkering or supplies. We'll be on these cruises, from New York to Mauritius.

 

For your cruise, 21 days to get from Dubai to the Mediterranean via South Africa would be tight, it couldn't have many port stops.  It would work better if they took a bit longer and split it into two, probably at Cape Town.

 

Edited March 22 by Rob_H

[MBP&O2/O]

Ballpark ...we used to take about 30 days from the Arabian Gulf to Europe or the other way round.

Where from/to could make a couple of days difference.

This was a base speed of 15 knots.

The only 'stop' was a very brief stores r/v with a launch off Robben Island.