Cruise Routes Face Big Changes

Norwegian Cruise Line has canceled Norwegian Sky's 21-day farewell repositioning voyage from Piraeus to Dubai, citing ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East, and is offering full fare refunds plus a future cruise credit raised to 50 percent of the voyage fare, valid through December 31, 2027, before the ship transfers to Cordelia Cruises as Cordelia Sky. Port Tampa Bay has started site work on its fourth cruise terminal, a five-acre project at the former Metroport site on the Ybor Channel that is scheduled to open in 2029 and is expected to add more than 200 ship calls a year and roughly $100 million in annual economic impact, though no cruise lines or ships have been named for it yet. And in Australia, the newly launched Australian Paddock to Port Alliance warns that rising costs threaten a cruise sector worth more than A$7.3 billion a year and supporting over 22,000 jobs.