Explora Journeys will cancel its Middle Eastern cruises for the winter 2026-2027 season due to the ongoing conflict in the region. The Explora II, previously scheduled to sail in the Gulf, will now sail only in the Mediterranean from November 2026 to March 2027. The company made this decision well in advance to provide clarity and confidence for guests and travel advisors.
Explora Journeys will offer a Western Mediterranean and North African programme instead, including destinations like Casablanca, Funchal, and Ibiza. More details about the new itineraries are expected to be announced at the end of March. Explora Journeys will support passengers and travel advisors on impacted itineraries with alternative options where possible. The company is offering a 10% discount until 30 April for affected passengers who rebook on a new itinerary, plus a $500 excursion credit per traveller.
The previous Middle Eastern Explora II itinerary would have included countries like Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The Explora I and Explora V ships are still set to sail the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea in the winter of 2027-2028. The Explora V is expected to launch in December 2027 and will start with specialised Mediterranean itineraries before expanding to the Middle East, using fuel cell technology.
Explora Journeys is the latest cruise line to announce a change in plans due to the Middle East war. Celestyal Cruises has been forced to cancel another four European cruises due to its vessels being stuck in Dubai and Doha. The cancellations include three-night and four-night Greek island itineraries on the Celestyal Discovery, originally due to depart on 3 April and 6 April respectively, with ports such as Heraklion, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, and Santorini. Additional cancelled Celestyal Journey itineraries included ports like Dubrovnik, Kotor, Corfu, Bari, Katakolon, and Argostoli, and Celestyal Cruises had already scrapped four cruises in March prior to these cancellations.
TUI Cruises cancelled an additional sailing aboard Mein Schiff 4 as operational adjustments continue following disruption to cruise activity in the Arabian Gulf. TUI Cruises completed the departure of approximately 2,500 guests who had been sailing aboard Mein Schiff 5 in Doha, Qatar. Celestyal Cruises cancelled a further sailing in the Aegean Sea as adjustments to its fleet deployment continue following disruption in the Arabian Gulf amid the ongoing US-Iran conflict. Nicko Cruises adjusted portions of the itinerary for the ongoing world voyage aboard Vasco da Gama, featuring South Africa instead of the Middle East.
Costa Cruises confirmed it will not operate voyages to the UAE or the broader Middle East region during the winter 2026–2027 season, reorganizing its winter programme to focus on Europe and the Atlantic. Costa Smeralda will operate 7-day cruises between the Canary Islands and Madeira throughout the winter, marking its first winter deployment in the region. The decision to adjust Costa's winter programme followed strong passenger demand recorded during the previous winter season for voyages in the Canary Islands and Madeira area. Costa Pacifica will be positioned in the Western Mediterranean after a shipyard stay, joining Costa Toscana to offer newly designed 8-day itineraries. Costa explained the adjustment was intended to provide greater planning stability and reduce the risk of operational disruption associated with the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, and passengers affected will receive an onboard credit of EUR 200 per cabin.
All cruise lines operating winter programmes in the Arabian Gulf have now cancelled the remainder of their 2025/26 sailings in the region. Celestyal completed disembarkation from Discovery in Dubai, with Journey remaining in Doha. Despite these short-term changes, cruise lines continue to signal long-term confidence in the Arabian Gulf as a winter cruise destination.
Frustrated and anxious travelers searched for ways out of the Middle East as the Iran war choked off commercial air traffic for a fourth straight day, stranding hundreds of thousands of people. Airspace closed or heavily restricted across much of the Gulf, stranding passengers in the region and in cities far from the fighting after connecting flights were canceled. More than 19,000 of the roughly 51,600 flights scheduled into and out of the Middle East between the start of the war and Friday have been canceled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways have collectively cancelled hundreds of flights. Air India cancelled flights on Sunday departing from Delhi, Mumbai and Amritsar for major cities in Europe and North America. Emirates Airlines suspended all planned services to and from Dubai until 3pm UAE time on Monday, and Qatar Airways suspended flight operations because of the closure of Qatari airspace.
Major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai – the world’s busiest international hub – closed for a third consecutive day amid the most acute aviation shock since the Covid-19 pandemic. Key airports, including Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Doha in Qatar, were shut or severely restricted. Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar was still virtually empty as of Monday, according to Flightradar24.
The U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Saturday. The U.S. told American citizens to leave more than a dozen countries in the region right away using any available commercial transportation, including Iran, Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE, and Yemen. The U.S. State Department said it was actively securing military and charter aircraft to fly Americans out of the region and was in contact with nearly 3,000 citizens seeking assistance. As the conflict spread to Lebanon, with Israel carrying out airstrikes on Beirut after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel, much of the region’s airspace remained closed.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev said Ben-Gurion Airport is preparing to gradually reopen for limited incoming flights starting early Thursday, with one passenger flight per hour allowed in the first 24 hours. It is unclear whether only Israelis will be permitted on the flights, and no commercial departures leaving Israel have been approved. Crew and pilots are scattered across the world, complicating the process of resuming flights whenever airspace reopens. Hundreds more flights were cancelled on Monday, extending the turmoil in global air travel caused by the US-Israel war on Iran, with hundreds of thousands of passengers already stranded, and early on Monday, 1,239 flights had already been cancelled.
The impact spread far beyond the Middle East, with passengers stranded from Bali to Frankfurt. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee said the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem was not in a position to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel, but provided information about an Israeli government shuttle bus to Egypt. Israel's airspace has been closed since Saturday, although some land crossings remain open, and El Al, Israel's flag carrier, said it was launching a large-scale recovery operation. Leading airline stocks came under pressure after days of disruption, with Donald Trump indicating that the US military action could last another four weeks.
The timeline for conflict resolution and travel normalization remains uncertain, with key questions about when airspace and airports in hubs like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha will fully reopen.