Israeli Cruise Ship Forced to Skip Greek Port Call Due to Protestors

The Israeli-owned cruise ship Crown Iris was met by protestors during its midday port call on the Greek island of Syros. The ship is on a cruise from Israel with reports of 1,600 passengers aboard, including 300 to 400 children, prompting the cruise line to first delay and then cancel the port call, and protests from Israeli officials.

The cruise ship Crown Iris (40,876 gross tons) is registered in Panama and operates cruises from Haifa. Built in 1992 and lengthened in 1999 when she was owned by Norwegian Cruise Line, the ship was acquired by the Israeli company Mano Maritime in 2018 from Louis Group and its Celestyal Cruises.

According to the media reports from Israel and Greece, the ship arrived at Syros for a six-hour port call on Tuesday, July 22, and it was quickly met by a small group of protestors. The videos show a small group, although media reports say they numbered 200 to 300 people. They were blocking one of the main roads and could be seen displaying a Palestinian flag. Some reports said they also placed flyers along the walkway from the ship.

Some passengers went ashore but were reported to have water thrown at them. Mano Cruises brought everyone back aboard, and its onboard security was monitoring the situation. They were suggesting passengers remain indoors, but some can be seen on deck waving the Israeli flag.

Mano reported it was in touch with the local authorities, but passengers said it took a least two hours for the police to arrive. The cruise line initially said it thought the protestors would dissipate and that it would extend the port call. As a precaution, it decided to keep all the passengers onboard and later directed the cruise ship to depart and proceed to its next stop at Limassol, Cyprus.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he had spoken with his Greek counterpart to request intervention. The Israeli Embassy in Greece also said it was monitoring the situation while highlighting it would likely be detrimental to future Israeli tourism in Greece. Reports said over 600,000 Israeli tourists visited Greece in 2024.

It is the latest in a series of antisemitic incidents in Greece, according to the media reports. There are also reports that last week, dockworkers in Piraeus refused to service a cargo ship bound for Israel.