Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises have cancelled their entire winter 2026/2027 cruise programmes, in the Middle East as ongoing uncertainty in the region continues to affect cruise operations as reported by Crew Center.
By redeploying ships to destinations like the Canary Islands, Mediterranean, and Caribbean, cruise lines are focusing on regions that offer more stable operating conditions during the winter season.
Meanwhile, TUI Cruises’ remain docked in the region, Mein Schiff 4 in Abu Dhabi, UAE and Mein Schiff 5 in Doha, Qatar whilst waiting for safe passage to Europe.
AIDA Cancels Entire Middle East Season
AIDA Cruises has also announced that it will cancel its Middle East-Africa season for winter 2026-27, affecting all sailings of AIDAprima scheduled between 19 October 2026 and 20 May 2027 that were originally planned for the Middle East region. As part of the programme change, the repositioning cruises around Africa planned for AIDAprima in autumn and spring will also be cancelled.
Guests affected by the cancellations will be able to rebook alternative sailings across the AIDA fleet, which will continue to operate in popular winter destinations such as The Caribbean, The Canary Islands and other warm-weather regions.
AIDA also confirmed that it is already working on new winter itineraries for AIDAprima, which are expected to become available for booking from mid-April.
Costa Cruises Moves Ships to Canary Islands and Mediterranean
Costa Cruises confirmed that it will not operate any cruises in the Middle East region during the winter 2026/2027 season. Instead, the line has redesigned its winter deployment with new itineraries in Europe and the Atlantic.
For the first time, Costa Smeralda will spend the winter season sailing seven-day cruises between the Canary Islands and Madeira.
TUI has repatriated all guests from the region
Cruise Industry News has reported that TUI Cruises has completed the evacuation of all guests from Mein Schiff 4 in Abu Dhabi, UAE and Mein Schiff 5 in Doha, Qatar which were stranded when the conflict started. Portions of the crew have also been repatriated, with additional crew members scheduled to follow soon.
Mein Schiff 4, docked in UAE, saw the majority of its guests evacuated earlier through a series of flights from Dubai and Muscat in Oman.
For guests aboard Mein Schiff 5, TUI Cruises organised charter flights from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne. Passengers took buses through the desert from Doha to Riyadh. Qatar Airways flights were also secured for direct departures from Doha.
Both ships will remain in Abu Dhabi and Doha until when they can safely sail through the Strait All cruises for March had been cancelled earlier and further cancellations are expected given the ongoing situation.
MSC Cruises and Celestyal Cruises
MSC Cruises has also confirmed the suspension of operations for MSC Euribia, that is still docked in Dubai as earlier reported.
Celestyal Journey and Celestyal Discovery’s sailings from Dubai and Abu Dhabi have also been cancelled for the season.
Photo Credit: AIDA Cruises
