The effects of the war in Gaza on the cruise industry in Israel

The Israeli cruise ship CROWN IRIS docked at port. Image: Pjotr Mahhonin, via Wikimedia Commons

8 August 2025

The geopolitical context continues to have direct and indirect effects on maritime operations. Several ships bound for Israel have experienced disruptions to their operations. The cruise industry has not been spared, as demonstrated by the protests surrounding the cruise ship CROWN IRIS in July. With ceasefire negotiations remaining deadlocked, it is likely that there will be an increase in activist activity that could negatively impact port operations and the cruise industry.

By Louis Borer, Senior Analyst

The geopolitical context in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East since October 2023 continues to have direct and indirect effects on maritime operations. Several ships carrying or suspected of carrying Israeli military equipment have been denied access to certain ports or have experienced disruptions in loading/unloading operations. This was recently the case in the port of Piraeus, where Greek dockworkers refused to unload the container ship EVER GOLDEN in July. The cruise industry was also disrupted in July when demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza protested against the arrival of the Israeli cruise ship CROWN IRIS in three ports where the ship was scheduled to call. Some 300 protesters opposed to the disembarkation of tourists demonstrated on the quay at the port of Agios Nikolaos, where a large riot police presence kept the crowd away from the quay where the cruise ship was moored. Similar scenes unfolded in the port of the Greek island of Rhodes and in Syros, where 200 people chanted slogans and waved banners. While Greek police said they had “ensured their disembarkation,” the Israeli company operating the ship, Mano Maritime, “decided not to attempt to dock.”

These incidents are likely to have a direct impact on cruise ship itineraries and port of call choices. At the start of the conflict, Royal Caribbean decided to remove Israel from its itineraries for 2024, and several cruise companies decided to modify or cancel certain destinations in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, particularly those departing from or arriving in Ashdod and Haifa.

 In addition, the port of Haifa remains directly threatened in Houthi statements, and that the city, its Bazan energy complex, and the immediate vicinity of the port were hit by Iranian missile strikes during the “12-day war” may discourage some cruise operators from calling at Haifa.

The conflation of Israeli cruise tourism with Netanyahu's controversial political and military choices is another factor likely to influence the choice of destinations. This summer, the Israeli Security Council raised the threat level for 80 countries, including several European states, to level 2 on a scale of 4. This was compounded by a number of widely broadcast incidents between Israeli tourists and tourism professionals in several Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece. Other countries, such as the Maldives, banned Israeli tourists in April 2025, an initiative welcomed by Malaysia and Bolivia. In Israel, according to the Histadrout forum, the tourism and hospitality sector has also been hit hard, and hostility towards CROWN IRIS, combined with other high-profile activism in the Mediterranean by the three ships of the “freedom flotilla”, threatens to impact or even hinder cruise ship traffic, particularly Israeli cruise lines such as Mano Maritime.

Negotiations for a ceasefire remain deadlocked alongside the announced intensification of operations in Gaza that could lead to total occupation of the area – with Israel now attracting increasing international condemnation. As such, it is likely that public pressure and activism will intensify, with negative repercussions for port activities and the cruise industry.

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