Nicko’s Five-Day Egypt Stay Is a Sensible Workaround for Red Sea Uncertainty

Vasco da Gama will sail part of the Red Sea without its passengers. They will be in Egypt instead, spending five days ashore before rejoining the ship. That is the useful detail in Nicko Cruises’ revised 2026-27 world cruise: the operator has a concrete alternative for guests rather than relying on conditions around Yemen becoming easier to assess.

I like that decision. Nicko says it cannot currently assess those conditions reliably. Taking passengers out of that passage is a sensible response to the uncertainty, and a complimentary land stay gives them something worthwhile to do while the ship continues its route.

The approximately 1,000-passenger Vasco da Gama is scheduled to leave Hamburg on November 3, 2026, for a 193-night voyage. Guests will disembark in Salalah on April 16, 2027, take charter flights to Hurghada and rejoin the vessel in Safaga on April 21.

A defined alternative, with the ship still making the passage

The five-day Egypt program will offer opportunities for beach visits, cultural excursions and sightseeing. It replaces time aboard during the affected passage rather than adding five days to the voyage.

That distinction matters. Nicko is changing how passengers travel through this part of the itinerary, not diverting the vessel away from the Red Sea.

Nicko attributed the adjustment to the continuing geopolitical situation in the Middle East and identified guest and crew safety as its priorities. The company said it continually reassesses routes against current conditions, and that the long planning lead time for world cruises leaves room for unforeseen developments.

A fixed itinerary is an appealing thing to build travel plans around. It is less useful when keeping it means taking guests through a passage the operator cannot reliably assess. Here, Nicko has put dates, flights and a destination around the replacement.

The company used a similar approach on its 2025 world cruise, offering a multi-day land program in Oman because of Red Sea security concerns. Managing director Guido Laukamp said guests received that program “extremely well” and appreciated experiencing the country, its culture and its people firsthand.

The revised invoice brings a separate cost

The Egypt stay is complimentary, but passengers also face a fuel surcharge of €10 per person per night across every cruise segment. For someone booked on the full 193-night sailing, that means an additional €1,930. Affected guests will receive revised invoices.

That is a substantial addition to a booking. The no-charge land program should not distract from it, although Nicko attributes the surcharge to fuel prices, not the Egypt arrangement.

The company said international fuel prices remain substantially above the assumptions used in its original pricing. It also cited a renewed rise in oil prices linked to developments in the Middle East. Nicko said it delayed communicating the surcharge while waiting for regional tensions to ease, but prices remained above their level before the beginning of March. It will continue monitoring prices with its partners and pass on only costs it considers necessary.

The broader voyage still includes the South Pacific, Asia and the Indian Ocean, alongside calls in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and the Mediterranean. Vasco da Gama is scheduled to return to Hamburg on May 5, 2027.

The case for the Egypt stay rests less on the extra sightseeing than on Nicko acknowledging a limit to what it can reliably assess and changing the passenger itinerary accordingly. On a world cruise planned this far ahead, that is more valuable than stubbornly delivering the original route.