Cruise Lines Pull Tunisia & Egypt From Itineraries

Disney Cruise Line, Coast Cruises and now SeaDream have dropped call to ports in Tunisia and Egypt, citing unrest in the region.

SeaDream announced Tuesday that the SeaDream II voyage, sailing May 18-28, 2011 from Rome, Italy will stop in Xlendi, Gozo Island, Malta instead of the turbulent Tunisia.

In a statement SeaDream’s President, Bob Lepisto said, “Based upon the tension in Tunisia, we feel the safety and security there remains uncertain. For that reason, we have elected not to call on the port of La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia. Instead, we’ve chosen to call on the peaceful island of Gozo. It has some of the Mediterranean’s best dive sites and I think our guests will find this port highly enjoyable.”

Last week Disney announced they would be dropping Tunisia from the itinerary of the Disney Magic, scheduled to make several stops in Tunis, the country’s capital between May and July. Instead the ship will stop in Palermo, on the island of Sicily, Italy.

On February 1, the Italian cruise line, Costa Cruises, cancelled all stops in Tunisia and Egypt, citing the growing unrest in the region. Five of Costa’s ships with stops in Egypt and Tunisia will change their itineraries. Ships sailing the Red Sea will spend more time in Jordan and Israel, while those operating in the Mediterranean will add Israel, Greece, Spain or Italy to their voyage.