I hadn’t really thought about the option of Serenity doing the Red Sea without passengers. Still significant risk to ship and crew, but certainly would save a lot of logistical hassles. One way it could work is to disembark all pax in Mumbai, and offer them a 15 day overland/air experience from Mumbai ending in Alexandria / Cairo on the 27th as per original itinerary, and then continuing on to Istanbul on the original schedule. Serenity would only miss 3 ports: Salalah, Safari and Hurghada none of which seems like major provisioning ports. There would be time on the overland to see some Indian sites such as Taj Mahal or tigers, then fly to Egypt with time to see some sites there, perhaps even Luxor. The cruise/tour package could also be offered to those boarding in Mumbai who might already have flights.
There are a couple of issues I see with this however:
- Still significant risk to crew and ship. Would insurers go for it?
- 15 day overland with air for 100+ pax, might be a lot to plan at this point, but certainly A&K has some depth here.
- Would world cruisers be able to leave personal property on board, or pack up completely? If personal items are left on board, Crystal would probably need additional insurance to cover loss. If required to pack up completely, might be a logistical nightmare for the overland travel, and would certainly complicate the day in Alexandria with additional luggage handling.
- Some world cruisers explicitly take the WC because they can’t/won’t fly in airplanes. Not sure how you work around that.
Anyway, interesting thought experiment.