Stranded Israelis pay top dollar to sail home on yachts

Some tourists are paying as much as €4,000 to return home from Cyprus but some civic initiatives are bringing Israelis home for as little as €100.

Hundreds of Israelis who have been stranded overseas since the start of the war with Iran at the end of last week are currently trying to return home by any means possible, including by sea. While the skies remain closed, and the state's solution for repatriating Israelis is only just beginning to take off, reports are increasing of private initiatives that are expensive and sometimes lack any supervision.

In recent days, stories have been published in which passengers were required to pay up to €4,000 for a ticket to sail from Cyprus to Israel, sometimes through independent skippers and sometimes through intermediaries for yacht rental companies that operate mainly via WhatsApp and Facebook groups. These are usually trips that are carried out without any supervision, registration or security coordination and sometimes even without any certainty that the boat will actually arrive.

Between luxury and exploitation

In recent days, Israeli brokers have been offering passengers stranded in Cyprus the opportunity to join emergency cruises to Israel through the Cypriot yacht company Sea Passion Yachting. According to one of the offers, a ticket costs €4,000 per person.

The company's price list details that renting an Azimut Magellano 66 yacht for a trip from Israel to Cyprus (or vice versa) costs €90,000, for a two-day trip. This is apparently a one-way cruise, including a professional crew and accommodation on board.

If the price is divided between 12 passengers, the maximum capacity of the yacht, it comes to about €7,500 per person. In other words, the emergency offers of €4,000 euros are not far from the market price of luxury yachts. But deals are being made without transparency, without insurance and without warranty, and under emergency conditions.

For many of those stranded abroad, returning home is not just a logistical matter but a deep emotional need. Israeli tourists who are stuck overseas while their family members are in Israel, especially parents of children, are left anxious, frustrated and thus willing to pay almost any amount to return home. "I've met women who came for a short vacation, and the children stayed in Israel," says one of the Israeli tourists. "They are the most stressed. Everyone is trying to figure out how to get a place on a boat and even pay double - just so they don't stay here."

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Civic initiatives

Civic initiatives are also taking shape. The Carmel Yachting Community, for example, is working to return Israelis almost free of charge, among other things on a private boat owned by one of the management companies, and with the assistance of the manager of the Shavit marina in Haifa.

Eilat Sharir, who is taking part in the initiative, tells Globes: "It wasn't even an organized initiative, but a matter of individual integrity. Everyone decides how much they are willing to take to cover expenses. There is a large group of people - Carmel sailors, a northern Haifa sailors association and also sailors from the center who do not charge unreasonable prices to get people home." According to her, there are those who ask for only €100 euros or less to cover expenses. "There is an element of solidarity here, of a desire to help. This is not a matter of personal gain."

The Migdalor association is also arranging an organized cruise on a large catamaran, which includes a departure from Herzliya and the return of 26 Israelis from Larnaca to Israel. The duration of the cruise, according to the organizers, may reach up to 22 hours, depending on sea conditions. The published price is NIS 2,500 per person, including light refreshments, drinks and basic facilities.

Airline confusion

As of yesterday, the airlines were not offering an immediate solution. Arkia announced that all its flights are canceled until at least June 21, and that passengers are entitled to a refund or a future voucher. However, passengers are reporting waiting days for a response, especially since the vouchers have not yet been sent. Even when it will be possible to return by air, an additional payment or the difference will be required, with a real fear of fare increases likely to materialize.

El Al has opened registration for rescue flights only for El Al and Sun D'or passengers whose flights to Israel have been cancelled. The purpose of the registration is to map the location of customers and formulate a flight schedule accordingly. According to the company's announcement from today (Monday), the order of registration does not determine priority, but the original flight date. Priority will be given to humanitarian or security cases subject to appropriate approvals. Registration is conducted on the El Al website only and does not guarantee a place on the flight. Applicants have been told not to contact El Al but that they will be contacted if they have a place on a flight.

Those who can pay, return. And those who can't?

In this reality, WhatsApp groups have become the central coordination channel: recommendations for cheap hotels, laundry services, shared villas - and especially the attempt to figure out how to return to Israel. "There is no body that takes care of stranded Israelis. Not the state, not the Ministry of Transport, and not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," says one Israeli tourist who remains in Greece. "Those who can pay, return. Those who don't, wait and hope for the best."

She says she went with her family on a vacation that was scheduled to end before Shabbat, but was forced to extend her stay and move to a cheaper hotel. "We are at our own expense, with only breakfast. I continue to work from here, but everything feels uncertain. It's as if we're up in the air. We weren't prepared for this."

She adds that even if she receives a voucher for the flight tickets, "It's clear to me that by then the fares will go up. Or I'll pay for the flight again - and I'll also be left with a superfluous voucher."

She also says that included in the many offers circulating among Israelis in WhatsApp groups, a message from a skipper from Ashdod keeps coming back, offering to return Israelis via Cyprus for about €1,000 per person.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 17, 2025.

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