Key Aspects:
- Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Epic diverted to rescue 67 migrants on an overcrowded sailboat in the Mediterranean Sea.
- The rescue occurred early into an 11-night sailing to the Greek Isles and Italy, which embarked in Rome one day prior on October 21, 2025.
- As a result of the rescue, the first port on the itinerary, which was in Santorini, had to be cancelled.
Norwegian Cruise Line to the rescue!
On the night of October 22, 2025, Norwegian Epic saved the day for more than 60 refugees who were in distress on an overcrowded sailboat in the Mediterranean Sea.
Just the day before, October 21, 2025, the 4,070-guest ship embarked on an 11-night round-trip sailing to the Greek Isles and Italy from Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy.
At the time of the rescue, the 155,873-gross ton ship would have been heading southeast toward Santorini, Greece, which was meant to have been her first port of call of the voyage.
“I’m on the NCL Epic on a 11 day cruise in the Mediterranean starting in Rome. We had a day at sea. Last night we had to stop in the middle of the MED and rescue 67 migrants that were in a 30′ sailboat,” a current guest shared on Reddit.
“It took a few hours for the crew to get them onboard the ship,” they continued.
It makes sense that it would take a while to bring all the refugees onboard, as they would have to be triaged for potential medical treatment and go through a security screening to make sure they weren’t carrying any prohibited items.
And believe it or not, cruise ships are legally and morally obligated to help sailors in distress by Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) unless it would put the crew members and passengers already onboard in danger.
Cruise Hive reached out to Norwegian Cruise Line for a statement about the rescue, but did not receive a response before publication.
Diversion Causes Port Cancellation
Rescued refugees don’t simply get a free cruise. They are provided with food, water, and medical attention and are sheltered in a separate area from the paying passengers.
The goal is to hand the refugees over at the soonest port of call to the authorities or to rendezvous with authorities to send the migrants safely on their way to the next appropriate destination.
In this case, the original plan was for the 67 refugees to be disembarked in Santorini when the NCL ship arrived on the morning of October 23.
However, passengers woke up to find that they were in a different Greek port to complete the drop off and that the visit to Santorini had been canceled.
Norwegian Epic Rescue (Photo Credit: killacam81)
“We were supposed to hand them over to the Greek Coast guard in Santorini, our first stop. But when I woke up this morning we were pulling into a random port on mainland Greece,” the cruiser said in their post.
“I guess the the Greek authorities wanted them there and not on the island of Santorini. Now we have [to] miss Santorini. Really bummed this is my 2nd time trying to get to Santorini.”
Read Also: What You Should Know About Cruise Port Cancellations
As of this time, there should be no additional impact to the NCL ship’s current itinerary. She is next due in Athens, Greece, on October 24, 2025.
Cruise tracking data shows that she is sailing northeast at speeds of 10 knots per hour and is between the islands of Spestes and Hydra – which means she is going in the right direction.
The distance from Hydra to the Piraeus Port in Athens is only about 37 nautical miles, which is a distance that a fully functioning cruise ship can cover in less than two hours.
After Athens, the 2010-launched ship will call to Mykonos, Greece; Valletta, Malta; and Syracuse (Sicily), Italy; Salerno, Italy; Livorno, Italy; and Cannes, France.
Disembarkation will take place in Rome on the morning of November 1, 2025.
Appeared first on: Cruisehive.com
