Costa cancels all upcoming calls in Egypt and Tunisia

Costa cruises has cancelled all upcoming calls to the countries and will not return until “relevant authorities declare the restoration of stability and safety."

Costa is Europe’s biggest cruise line and draws in a strong international clientele. The line has a number of ships that usually visit the Egyptian ports on a regular basis including two vessels that until this week have been sailing on Red Sea Voyages out of Sharm-El-Sheik.

Costa will soon be announcing quite a few changes to their scheduled itineraries including:

Costa Allegra and Costa Marina will redeploy to Aqaba, Jordan. New Red Sea itineraries will skip Egypt calls such as Safaga (gateway to the ruins of Luxor and other historic sites) and instead focus on Jordan and Israel. Departure dates for the voyages also are changing.

Costa Mediterranea and Costa Pacifica that operate Mediterranean cruises that include a one-day call at Alexandria, Egypt, will replace the visit with a one-days stop in Greece or Israel.

Costa Magica that operates Mediterranean cruises that include a one-day call at Tunis, Tunisia, will replace the visit with a one-day stop at Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Malta; or Cagliari, Italy.

Costa's move comes as many river cruise lines and tour companies that offer cruises on the Nile are suspending Egypt operations through the end of February or, in some cases, the end of March.