The world’s largest cruise companies are extending their
suspension of global operations.
Carnival Corp.’s North America brands, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
and MSC Cruises said their sailings won’t restart before at least mid-May due to the worsening
Covid-19 pandemic.
Last week, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said that its four
brands would extend their suspension of operations through May 12.
The Carnival Corp. cruise lines include Carnival Cruise
Line, Holland America Line, Seabourn and Cunard.
Carnival Cruise Line said its North America operations would
be halted until May 11. Originally it planned to resume operations on April 10.
Seabourn said it would extend the pause of global sailings
on its five ships for an additional 30 days, to May 14.
Cunard — operator of luxury cruise ships Queen Mary 2,
Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth — has decided to extend the suspension of
all voyages from through May 15.
Holland America Line extended its suspension of global
operations through May 14.
Princess Cruises, another Carnival Corp. brand, had already
decided on March 12 to do a 60-day suspension, affecting voyages through May
10. Costa said last week that it would not sail until April 30.
The cruise lines said port closures and global travel
restrictions played a big role in the decision to keep their ships idle.
“It is too soon to know exactly how this situation will
evolve,” Cunard president Simon Palethorpe said. “But I do know that we, the
Cunard team, will commit all our resources, energy and talent to weather this
storm and come out stronger than ever for our guests.”
Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings said it would extend its
suspension to include voyages embarking between April 12 and May 10 for its
three brands — Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas
Cruises.
“We appreciate their continued understanding as we navigate
through these unprecedented times and do our part to help global efforts to
contain this pandemic,” Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio said
of his customers.
MSC Cruises is extending its fleetwide suspension of
operations through May 29.
While its ships are out of service, Carnival Cruise Line
said it “will use this time to continue to build additional processes,
protocols and resources to protect the health and safety of our guests, crew
and the destinations we serve.”
The company said that thousands of crew members who remain
on its ships are affected.
“We are working diligently to continue to take care of them
and get them home where possible,” the company said.
The cruise lines are offering guests full refunds if they
decide not to reschedule their sailings. If they do want to cruise at a future
date, they will get incentives such as future cruise credits and onboard
credits.
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