Five cruise lines maintain plans to operate in the Arabian Gulf during the 2026-27 winter season despite recent cancellations by Costa and AIDA due to regional uncertainty.
- MSC has scheduled the 5,400 passenger MSC World Europa for seven night cruises to the UAE Bahrain and Doha from late November to early April 2026-27.
- Celestyal is deploying its two ship fleet with Celestyal Journey on Desert Days itineraries and Celestyal Discovery on Iconic Arabia routes include Oman from late November to mid March.
- TUI plans to position the new Mein Schiff Flow in Dubai from mid November for seven night cruises to the UAE Qatar and Oman.
- Aroya is to operate a three month deployment from January to March 2027 with seven night cruises to ports in the UAE Saudi Arabia Qatar Bahrain and Oman.
- Explora has scheduled the Explora II for seven night sailings from December to March across the UAE Bahrain Oman Saudi Arabia and Qatar while extending cancellation periods by forty-five days.
Explora shared: at this moment the cruises remain scheduled to sail as planned with a further update by the end of March and extends the cancellation period for all Middle East sailings by an additional 45 days.
