As thousands of stranded travelers trying to return home from the Middle East wait for government help, a Swiss-based cruise line has taken matters into its own hands. Since Thursday, MSC, the world’s third-largest cruise line, has chartered seven flights and bought blocks of seats on commercial planes to repatriate more than 1,500 guests who had been stranded on the MSC Euribia in Dubai.
The Euribia, which can hold 6,327 passengers, is one of at least six major cruise ships that were left stranded in the Persian Gulf when the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed to commercial ships because of the escalating war. All together, there were about 15,000 cruise passengers stuck in the Gulf on Friday.
Many passengers say they have mostly been left to their own devices, frantically calling airlines and their embassies to figure out how to get home. But the response has been slow, with limited flights hampering government efforts to evacuate thousands of citizens.
That’s when MSC stepped in.
“Our teams across the globe have worked around the clock to get our guests home safely and in a timely manner,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, the executive chairman of MSC. He said the company had received “unparalleled support” from its airline partner, Emirates, and from regional and national governments, which helped authorize the chartered flights.
“We still have some guests on the ship, but we are working hard to secure their safe passage from the region,” Mr. Vago added.
The Euribia docked in Dubai on Feb. 27, a day before Iran aimed hundreds of missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, prompting officials in Dubai to send emergency cellphone alerts telling people to shelter in place. While most of the attacks have been intercepted by air defense systems, the passengers have spent days on edge as they witnessed fiery projectiles and explosions from the decks of the ship.
“It’s a huge relief to finally know we are getting out,” Abbey Thomlinson, 66, a British passenger, said in a phone interview. “The government evacuations have been moving very slowly, and we really had no idea how long we would be stuck in harm’s way.”
The U.S. State Department has been criticized for its slow response to evacuating citizens after issuing an advisory telling them to leave the region. The department said the first charter flight had left the region on Wednesday, but it would not say how many other planes had returned to the United States.
While most of the passengers onboard the Euribia are heading back to Europe, a number of American passengers departed from Dubai International Airport to Dallas early Friday. The remaining U.S. guests are scheduled to fly out on Saturday. Another chartered flight carrying 280 British and Irish guests landed at London Heathrow on Friday, MSC said.
The Greek Celestyal Discovery and Saudi Arabian Aroya Manara cruise ships are also grounded in Dubai. Celestyal Journey and the German TUI Mein Schiff 5 are docked in Doha, Qatar, and TUI Mein Schiff 4 is in Abu Dhabi.
Edwin Quan, 75, and his wife, both American citizens, have been stuck on the Celestyal Journey in Doha for days. Their ship was scheduled to sail to Dubai on Saturday when the conflict broke out, and Mr. Quan was scheduled to fly home to San Francisco from Dubai on Wednesday.
“It’s a total mess,” Mr. Quan said in a phone interview. “We are completely on our own trying to figure out how we can get home.”
It was not clear how many people were on board the 1,260-passenger ship. But Mr. Quan said the cruise line had informed him that the ship was in contact with the U.S. government, which was working to evacuate more than 70 of its citizens. As of Friday night, none of the Americans had received an update, he said.
Celestyal did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“We’re not getting much information from the cruise line, so I’ve booked us a flight out of Doha on Monday, hoping the airport and airspace will be open by then,” Mr. Quan said, adding that he had also contacted both his senators in California to request help.
“We are supposed to disembark on Saturday, and if we don’t get more direction from Celestyal, I’m sure people will start to panic,” Mr. Quan said. “It’s all so unpredictable.”
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Ceylan Yeğinsu is a travel reporter for The Times who frequently writes about the cruise industry and Europe, where she is based.
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