No Surprise: Egypt Blocks Gay Cruise From Entering Waters, Just Like Turkey

Several days ago, I covered how a Virgin Voyages cruise organized by Atlantis Events was supposed to make a couple of stops in Turkey, only for government officials to block this on the grounds of “moral standards.” So the organizers replaced the Turkey stops with a stop in Egypt. Want to guess how that ended? Well, arguably even worse than the Turkey stop… and I can’t say I’m surprised.

Egypt blocks Virgin Voyages Atlantis Events cruise

On the morning of July 9, 2026, Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady was supposed to dock in Alexandria, Egypt, at around 7AM. Well, The Washington Post reports that this isn’t how things played out, with the ship’s permission to dock in the port being yanked at the last minute, even though permission had initially been received.

Atlantis Events CEO Rich Campbell has called this “really unheard of” and “strange and sad,” noting that approval to dock was pulled around 3:30AM. Ship tracking shows the ship approaching Alexandria, only to turn around in the early morning hours, as organizers scramble to find alternatives.

Very shortly after this happened, passengers received a message that included the following text:

“We’re incredibly disappointed to share that Scarlet Lady has just been denied entry into Egyptian waters and will no longer be able to call in Alexandria. We’re working hard to secure an alternative port.”

It’s pointed out how roughly 1,200 tours had been sold through local operators, and of course that does a lot to support tourism in the country.

Egypt hasn’t yet formally commented on why permission was yanked at the last minute, but I think it’s not too hard to figure out what’s going on. As a reminder, Turkey blocked this cruise ship on grounds of “family values,” claiming that the ship was chartered by groups “known for behaviors incompatible with the fabric of our society and our moral values.”

On the Egypt front, hey, I suppose I’m at least in good company in not really being welcome in Egypt, right?

I’m not surprised to see Egypt following Turkey’s lead

Quite honestly, this is exactly the outcome I was expecting, especially with the increasing publicity going toward these cruises being blocked. As I mentioned in the last post, I understand they were probably just scrambling to find a new port, but it was a bit odd to me to be banned from a country on “moral” grounds for hosting a gay cruise, only to then reroute the cruise to a country that’s arguably even more anti-gay.

I figured if anyone even remotely high up in the Egyptian government was made aware, this is what the outcome would be.

It’s important to emphasize that Atlantis Events cruises aren’t just intended for a gay audience, but they’re also definitely marketed as being quite “out there,” and I’ve heard that a lot of stuff happens on those ships. Look, I’m all for everyone living their lives, so I don’t have any issue with any of that.

But when we’re talking about a non-secular country where Islam is the state religion, and that’s supposed to be a main source of writing laws, is this outcome really surprising? I’m not some person who thinks “oh, us gays shouldn’t interact with people with views that differ from ours.” But when you look at how these cruises are marketed, I can’t say I’m surprised that this is the point where authorities revoke permission.

Again, I totally disagree with their logic, and that doesn’t reflect my beliefs. I’m just not surprised they feel that way, and I say that as someone who also isn’t really welcome in Egypt.

Bottom line

Several days ago, Turkey blocked an Atlantis Events gay cruise operated by Virgin Voyages from docking at its ports. At the last minute, organizers decided to instead dock in Egypt. I get that probably just came down to availability, but that surprised me, since Egypt is even less gay friendly than Turkey.

In a development that likely won’t shock many people, this didn’t end well. As the ship approached Egypt and was just a few hours from docking, permission was yanked for the port arrival, and the ship had to turn around, with nowhere to go. I can’t say I’m surprised by this outcome, and if anything, I would’ve been surprised if this weren’t the outcome.

What do you make of this gay cruise saga?