Royal Caribbean Announces Spectrum’s 2026-27 Hong Kong Season
Royal Caribbean International announced the Spectrum of the Seas’ 2026-27 Hong Kong homeport season, featuring new itineraries including a long-awaited combined Japan and South Korea route.
The upcoming season offers expanded scheduling with more flexibility and choice for vacationers.
The lineup includes exclusive, one-time-only itineraries designed to meet growing demand for diverse cruise vacations from Hong Kong, the company said in a statement.
Highlights of the 2026-27 season include a nine-night Japan and South Korea Thanksgiving and Autumn Foliage itinerary, marking the return of a combined route not offered from Hong Kong for years.
Guests will explore the cultures and landscapes of both nations, with calls at Tokyo, Osaka and Busan.
New this season are eight-night one-way voyages.
Guests can sail from Hong Kong to Tokyo along Japanese and South Korean destinations, or embark in Tokyo to explore Japan and Taiwan before disembarking in Hong Kong.
Two eight-night sailings can be combined to create one seamless vacation.
The season also features the classic five-night Okinawa and Ishigaki itinerary into Ryukyu culture, festive Christmas and New Year sailings, and a five-night Okinawa and Taipei route combining tropical island charm with city energy.
The four-night Vietnam Warm Winter Getaway is available one time only this season.
The just-concluded 2025-26 Hong Kong season achieved over 32 percent of guests on destination sailings originating from international markets, including North America, Europe and Australia.
AIDA Confident Amid Geopolitical Challenges as Demand Grows
AIDA Cruises is seeing strong demand for cruises and a high share of premium bookings and remains positive despite ongoing geopolitical challenges, the company said in a statement.
Current figures show that just over three million German ocean cruise passengers traveled in 2025, growing by nine percent compared to the previous year.
“Cruising in Germany is driving growth in the tourism market. In 2025, AIDA generated profitable growth with unchanged capacity and record-level occupancy,” said AIDA president Felix Eichhorn.
“With around 1.5 million guests in 2025, AIDA is the clear market leader in the German cruise market. This success is driven by strong demand and long-term bookings.”
For summer 2026, AIDA said it seeing an above-average level of advance bookings, a trend which Eichhorn said continues steadily.
“. The disproportionately high number of high-quality, long-term premium bookings also shows that guests place particular value on quality,” he said.
Trips departing from German ports that can operate year-round, such as Hamburg, Kiel, and Warnemünde, as well as routes to Northern Europe remain especially popular, AIDA noted.
Cruises to the United Kingdom, the Baltic states, and classic Northern Europe routes including Norway, Denmark, and Sweden are also said to be experiencing strong demand.
Multi-generational travel is currently in particularly high demand at AIDA.
A YouGov study commissioned by the company found that 66 percent of Germans have already vacationed with multiple generations of their family.
Around 20 percent of respondents believe cruises are especially suitable for multi-generational travel.
The company is also offering 20 Northern Europe cruises this year where shore power is used during port stays at every port.
The first short cruise starts on March 12 from Kiel and takes AIDAbella via Kristiansand, Oslo, and Copenhagen before returning to Kiel.
“In 2023, we had just over 60 shore power connections; last year, that number already exceeded 400. Thanks to the opening of additional facilities in Europe, we expect a further increase to 600 port calls this year. Nevertheless, further expansion of shore power infrastructure in Europe remains necessary,” said Eichhorn.
MSC Cruises working with airlines to ‘speed up repatriation process’ as US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran continue
MSC Cruises’ MSC Euribia ship arrives into Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2023 (Credit: MSC Cruises)
Celestyal has cancelled four Middle East departures due to the geopolitical situation in the region while MSC Cruises has confirmed it is working with airlines to offer charter flights to speed up repatriation of its passengers.
The 1,260-passenger Celestyal Journey ship was due to welcome guests in Doha, Qatar, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates between 7 and 16 March.
However, the line issued a statement on Wednesday (4 March), saying: “We continue to follow developments in the Middle East and remain in regular contact with the relevant authorities.
“Throughout this period, our focus has been and continues to be the safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew.
“Considering the current geopolitical situation in the region, we have taken the decision to cancel the following scheduled departures on Celestyal Journey: 7 and 14 March from Doha and 9 and 16 March from Dubai.
“Guests impacted by the line’s decision will be offered a full refund or a future cruise credit.”
The line confirmed the cancellation of these sailings means the Arabian Gulf programme will now conclude. Subject to operational conditions, Celestyal Journey and sister ship Celestyal Discovery will reposition to Athens to begin their scheduled programme in the Mediterranean.
The line added: “We sincerely thank our guests and partners for their patience and understanding during this evolving situation.”
Tui Cruises, one of the three other lines with capacity currently in the Middle East, confirmed it was “continuing to monitor development in the Middle East very closely”.
Its guests remain onboard Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 5 and operations on both vessels continue “running normally”, the German cruise brand said.
Cruises on 5 March and 9 March have been cancelled, in line with advice issued by the German Foreign Office.
A Tui Cruises spokesperson added: “The top priority is and remains the safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew.
“The Tui Cruises crisis management team is working continuously and in close coordination with the relevant authorities, the German Foreign Office, the relevant embassies, international security experts and the security teams of our shareholders, Tui AG and the Royal Caribbean Group, to continuously assess the situation and the measures to be taken as a result.”
MSC Cruises working with airlines
MSC Cruises ship MSC Euribia is currently docked in Dubai. The line issued a statement on Wednesday (4 March), saying: “MSC Cruises is working continuously with airline partners in the region, particularly Emirates and Etihad Airways, to identify and secure return flights for our guests.
“We are requesting priority for our guests from our partners. At present, airlines operating flights have indicated that they will follow an order of priority based on the original flight date.
“In order to speed up the repatriation, we are working on other options such as chartering flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Muscat.
“In parallel we are in constant contact with local authorities, embassies and Foreign Offices to also support the safe return of our guests.”
It added: “The situation on board remains calm. We are providing guests with regular updates on the situation. They have full access to all onboard services and facilities, and we continue to provide a high standard of care, comfort and support.”
Meanwhile, a Scenic spokesperson told TTG: “Our priority at this time is supporting our guests and their travel arrangements, and we can confirm we have no ships operating in the Middle East region. Our thoughts are with the impacted communities and travellers across the region.”
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