AROYA Reports 145,000 Guests as Saudi Cruise Brand Scales

By Elena Vasquez

AROYA Cruises said it hosted 145,000 guests in 2025 and has welcomed guests from 117 nationalities, as seasonal sailings from Jeddah and Istanbul turned a Red Sea launch into an international distribution push. The figures are company-reported traffic, with no filings, bookings or financial results supplied for verification.

Cruise Saudi launched AROYA in 2023, and its first ship entered service in December 2024. The vessel has since sailed seasonally in the Red Sea from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Eastern Mediterranean from Istanbul, Turkey.

Ala Tashkandi, AROYA's commercial executive director, said the 2023 launch targeted strength in Saudi home waters, growing international relevance and demand from regional guests new to cruising. She described the work as brand and market development requiring reliable operations, a distinct guest proposition, effective distribution channels, destination partnerships and patience.

AROYA's “Remarkably Arabian” proposition links programming, service standards and the ship, destination and guest profile. Tashkandi said a Red Sea family, an individual Mediterranean traveler and a premium Khuzama guest may share one ship but expect different travel rhythms. For sellers, it supplies a positioning line, but the interview provides no satisfaction, conversion or revenue evidence.

Deployment planning covers port readiness, maritime guidance, airlift, or air transport, provisioning, fuel, crew movement, guest communications and effects on the wider season. AROYA adjusted program elements earlier in the year as operating conditions changed, coordinating with relevant authorities and protecting the guest experience.

Tashkandi said the company would pursue future opportunities only when stability allowed consistent delivery. She framed flexibility as resilience built into the program through port relationships, clear internal decisions, realistic risk assessment and rapid action, not as a last-minute Plan B.

What does the 2025 volume show?

“AROYA has welcomed guests from 117 nationalities, illustrating the breadth of demand the brand is beginning to generate,” Tashkandi said.

AROYA said its first Mediterranean season in 2025 built visibility. It said the second in 2026 deepened commercial performance through stronger trade engagement, a broader mix of source markets, meaning countries of guest origin, and better insight into international guests in a mature market. The company supplied no 2026 passenger total or comparative bookings, occupancy, fares or revenue.

She said the second season proved AROYA can perform in one of the world's most competitive, established cruise regions, but supplied no market-share figure. The 145,000-guest total establishes operating scale, yet no sailing count, capacity utilization or first-time-versus-repeat split shows how much growth came from traffic or pricing.

How does Istanbul widen distribution?

Galataport Istanbul serves as AROYA's seasonal homeport—a recurring embarkation and disembarkation base—for two main itineraries and has become central to the brand's Mediterranean push.

• Turkey and Greek Islands: Mykonos, Piraeus for Athens, Rhodes and Souda Bay.
• Turkey and Egypt: Alexandria, Bodrum, Kaş and Mamaris.

“The port provides strong air connectivity, access to an established tourism market and a credible platform for both regional and European distribution,” Tashkandi said.

The season combined what AROYA calls high-demand Mediterranean destinations with a distinct onboard proposition. Tashkandi said Alexandria opened another gateway into the route and improved access for guests in Egypt and nearby markets.

Her stated commercial consequence is access for regional and European partners, widening the potential pool of travel-trade customers. No agent mix, booking split, commission rate or revenue contribution from Galataport appears in the interview.

Can cruise deepen local economic impact?

AROYA frames cruise as a tool for Saudi Arabia's tourism growth and economic diversification, with benefits extending to communities in its Red Sea ports. At a homeport, Tashkandi said cruising generates embarkation activity, hotel stays, airport transfers, provisioning, loading and passenger movement; transit calls can add shore experiences, local transport, attractions and destination spending.

She describes Red Sea deployment as a way to build local awareness of a still-new cruise sector. The argument has commercial relevance for ports and suppliers, but the interview provides no local-spend, employment or supplier-participation figures.

AROYA is also preparing Saudi nationals for shipboard and onshore careers in ports, tourism and hospitality. Cadets trained aboard the ship during the Mediterranean season to gain international operating experience, which Tashkandi linked to wider national capability in cruise, maritime and tourism.

What gates fleet growth?

AROYA's next phase prioritizes consistency, commercial momentum and continued refinement of the guest product. Tashkandi said it will improve seasonal programs, develop itinerary opportunities, build partnerships that add value, raise awareness in priority source markets and equip trade partners with product knowledge and selling tools.

Any fleet expansion remains conditional. She called fleet growth part of the long-term conversation but said AROYA would scale only after strengthening the operating platform, product depth and confidence required for a lasting global brand. The company announced no additional ship, delivery date or volume target.

The next commercial test is whether Istanbul's wider trade reach and Red Sea operational consistency can produce the momentum Tashkandi cites before AROYA commits additional capacity.