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Several Dubai trips aboard the Virgin Voyages’ ship ‘Resilient Lady’ have been scrapped for the season as the company reroutes its cruise liner citing Red Sea concerns.
The rerouting has affected several voyages, including the April 11 Singapore-to-Dubai Crossing spanning 14 nights, and the April 25, Dubai-to Athens-Crossing, also a 14-night voyage.
In a statement, Virgin Voyages said that after connecting with global security experts, the company remained ‘concerned about potential escalations in this part of the world over the next 12 months and the risk that this presents for safe passage through the region’ and took the decision to make changes to cruise ship's repositioning voyage from March 27.
The ship will instead depart from Sydney on a new route that will include extended time at sea with calls in Eden and Fremantle (Perth), Australia before sailing directly to Africa, with calls in Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia, Morocco, Malta, and Greece.
Virgin Voyages, headquartered in Florida, is the latest company forced to reroute its passenger cruise in recent weeks following the escalation of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping vessels travelling through the Red Sea in response to Israel’s war with Gaza.
As a result, several passenger cruises from Dubai and Abu Dhabi have also been impacted for the season, with operators either cancelling or rerouting their ships in the Middle East.
Similarly, many shipping groups have also either ceased operations in the area or rerouted traffic around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, which has resulted in significant delays of goods and spiralling costs.
In response to the attacks, a US-led coalition has retaliated by several targeted attacks on the Houthi militia in Yemen in recent weeks.
(Reporting by Bindu Rai, editing by Brinda Darasha)
