Seabourn has altered its 2024 Grand Africa cruise to avoid the Red Sea on safety grounds.
The itinerary on Seabourn Sojourn was scheduled to be a 90-day circumnavigation of Africa sailing roundtrip from Barcelona.
The updated itinerary will remain the same length and continue to sail from the Spanish port, but will no longer reach the northeast side of the continent, meaning it will not call at destinations in Kenya, Egypt, Israel, Oman, Tunisia or Malta.
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Instead, the cruise will depart from Barcelona and call at ports in Morocco, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and the Seychelles before turning and sailing back round the tip of the continent and up the east coast, calling at Madagascar, Namibia, Benin, Togo, The Gambia, Senegal, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.
The itinerary, which will call at 42 destinations in 20 countries, includes overnight stays in Zanzibar, Victoria, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Walvis Bay and Casablanca.
Seabourn is also offering mid-cruise journeys during the sailing, where passengers have the opportunity to take excursions ranging from three to six nights to destinations in Zanzibar, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
Passengers can opt to take the full 90-day sailing or depart on a segment of the trip, with shorter itineraries ranging from nine to 63 days in length.
Lynn Narraway, UK and EMEA vice-president, said: “It’s all very sad but we’ve remastered the itinerary into this fantastic 90-day itinerary. This Africa sailing doesn’t happen very often, and we now have more Cape Town opportunities which are very popular with the Brits, as well as a new a six-night mid-cruise journey to Victoria Falls which is really attractive
“The deployment team has done a good job in making the itinerary really special. We hope those who are already booked on will stay with it, but it will also attract new customers to the programme because it’s such an immersive experience of Africa.”