Richard Branson’s Virgin cruises cancel New Zealand, Australia sailings over Red Sea fears

Virgin Voyages ship Resilient Lady is to depart New Zealand waters for the foreseeable future. Photo / Supplied

Virgin Voyages has cancelled all Pacific ports of call next summer, after Red Sea tensions required the Resilient Lady to have to make a lengthy sailing around the cape of Africa.

The Bahamas-flagged Resilient Lady completes her first season home-ported in Melbourne on March 27 before sailing for the Mediterranean via the new route of Cape Town and Barcelona, telling guests that it had cancelled itineraries via the Suez Canal out of concerns for attacks on shipping.

Now, instead of sailing back to Australia, the Resilient Lady will head for the Caribbean at the end of the year.

Virgin Voyages said that faced with the ongoing attacks on shipping passing Yemen meant it had “no choice” but to cancel its second season Down Under.

“We remain very concerned about potential escalations in the Red Sea over the next 12 months,” said a statement from the cruise line.

The adults-only cruise brand owned by the Virgin Group is just three years old.

“Virgin Voyages was embraced by the Australia and New Zealand markets with a warm welcome and celebrated an extremely successful inaugural season – the love was mutual. To say that we are disappointed to have come to this tough conclusion is an understatement.”

Instead of heading for Victoria on October 20 the Resilient Lady will sail to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a selection of Caribbean itineraries, with details yet to be finalised.

Richard Branson's cruise ship Resilient Lady sails into Wellington.

The Resilient Lady was due to make over 20 sailings down under and eight ports of call in New Zealand over summer 2024-25, which have had to be cancelled.

Virgin said impacted guests will have the option to rebook another voyage or opt for a full refund given the change in plans.

The company’s cruise planners said they were working on returning to the South Pacific for 2025, should the Suez Canal become a more amenable option.

Since last year and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, shipping sailing through the Red Sea has been hit by attacks from rebels on the coast of Yemen.

Earlier this month Carnival Corp, parent company to nine cruise brands, said that it was altering a dozen itineraries to avoid the troubled waters.

Ships operated by Carnival, Princess and Holland America Lines have had to plan lengthy repositionings from Australia and the Pacific around Africa, to meet summer ports of call in the Mediterranean.