MSC and Celestyal Cruise Ships Transits Suez After Escape from Persian Gulf
After getting their cruise ships out of the Persian Gulf, two cruise lines elected to send their ships through the Suez Canal to speed their repositioning and return to commercial service. Most cruise ships, like other segments of commercial shipping, have been avoiding the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb due to the Houthis having menaced shipping and continuing safety concerns.
The Suez Canal Authority reported that MSC Cruises’ MSC Euribia (184,000 gross tons) made the northbound transit on Sunday, April 26. The LNG-fueled cruise ship sails under the flag of Malta. It was reported to be operating with a skeleton crew of just 192, versus a normal complement of approximately 1,700 crewmembers.
It was the cruise ship’s first transit of the Suez Canal. The ship is now underway in the central Mediterranean, bound for Malta, where she is due to arrive tomorrow, April 28. She is sailing to Kiel, Germany, where she will resume cruises on May 16, and Copenhagen on May 17.
The transit of the MSC Euribia also gave an indication of the continuing decline in transits at the Suez Canal. The authority reported she was one of 45 vessels to transit on Sunday, which in total represented about 1.7 million net tons. Before the attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea, the Suez Canal typically had 60 or more ships in a day, and on two occasions in 2022 and 2023, handled more than 100 ships in a day.
Celestyal Journey making the Suez Canal transit for her return to the Mediterranean (SCA)
MSC was following behind Celestyal Cruises, which also sent both of its cruise ships through the Suez on their return from the Persian Gulf. The company reported today, April 27, that both the Celestyal Discovery and then the Celestyal Journey had completed the Suez Canal transit. The Celestyal Discovery has completed a stop in Turkey and is bound for Greece, and will resume cruising on May 1. The Celestyal Journey is heading to Turkey and is scheduled to resume cruises on May 2.
The Saudi-owned cruise ship Aroya also transited the Bab el-Mandeb on her way to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where she will resume cruises. In June, she is scheduled to transit the Suez Canal to start cruises from Turkey.
The Aroya was the first cruise ship to make the Suez Canal transits after the Houthis disrupted operations. She went through the canal with passengers in September 2025 during a repositioning from Turkey to Saudi Arabia. She had previously made the transits in December 2024 and June 2025.
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The Suez Canal Authority hopes to attract cruise ships back to the transit as part of its larger strategy to rebuild its operations. It reports that between 2021 and 2024, 69 cruise ships had transited the canal with approximately 38,000 passengers. They had generated approximately $15.8 million in revenues for the Suez Canal Authority.
The German cruise line Mein Schiff, however, elected to send its two cruise ships around South Africa after the escape from the Persian Gulf. The Mein Schiff 5 is due in Cape Town tomorrow, April 28, and will resume cruising on May 15 from Turkey. The Mein Schiff 4 is a day behind, due in Cape Town on April 29. She is scheduled to resume service on May 17 from Italy.
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