MSC Cruises, Celebrity, Holland-America, Oceania and Norwegian Cruise Line are among the major cruise companies to temporarily suspend trips into Israel’s main two ports of Haifa and Ashdod, due to the current conflict situation in the country.
MSC will call at Bodrum, in Turkey, and Limassol, in Cyprus, instead of Haifa.
Israel was set for a bumper cruise season before last weekend’s escalation of violence around Gaza. Haifa was set to see around 700,000 cruise passengers visit this year.