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23 November, 2020

Carnival-owned cruise lines suspend select sailings until November 2021

Yokohama, Japan - August 15, 2018: It is a Ōsanbashi Pier of Yokohama Port. A big luxury liner is anchored.The name of the ship is ’Diamond Princess’. She sails under British colours. There are lots of lifeboats lining up.

Carnival-owned cruise lines Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Seabourn have further suspended cruises to keep up with CDC requirements, with some paused for up to a year.

Princess Cruises has extended its cruise pause until 31 March 2021, with all cruises longer than seven days sailing in and out of US ports on pause until 1 November 2021.

The line will also put cruises departing in and out of Japan on hold until 25 June 2021.

“We are focused on preparing our ships to meet the CDC health and safety requirements for our eventual return to service,” Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz said.

“We also appreciate the continued support we have received from our guests, partners and travel advisors, reinforcing for all of us why we do what we do.”

The CDC’s No Sail Order was lifted on 31 October, but cruise companies have been slapped with a set of strict new rules before they can resume passenger excursions.

The framework calls for a phased approach to the resumption of operations alongside a stringent set of health and safety requirements including a series of “mock” voyages.

Holland America Line has also paused departures through to 31 March 2021, with cruises of eight days or more that call at a US port off the table until 1 November 2021.

On top of this, select longer voyages in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America have been paused through to mid-April 2021.

Some departures will be rescheduled to comparable dates as late as 2022.

Seabourn has cancelled select voyages on Seabourn Odyssey through to 5 November, except for seven-day Alaska/British Columbia and the Pacific Coast sailings.

Voyages longer than seven days on board Seabourn Quest that call on US ports have been cancelled through to 6 November 2021.

“We’re fully committed to meeting the requirements necessary to bring guests back to our ships, including those issued by the CDC,” Seabourn president Josh Leibowitz said.

“Our team is grateful for the continued support we are seeing from guests, the travel advisor community, our partners and everyone with an interest in the hundreds of destinations we visit. Stay tuned for releases of alternative voyage options in the months ahead as conditions permit.”

Alongside the CDC’s new framework, Carnival has also been ordered to prove is it adhering to environmental requirements before it can return its cruise ships to sea in the US.

The company has been slapped with an additional reporting requirement relating to past environmental charges against its subsidiary Princess Cruises which was convicted for discharging oily waste in 2016.

Last year, the company was forced to pay US federal prosecutors $28.6 million, after Carnival CEO Arnold Donald confessed the company had infringed probation terms from this conviction.

Image: iStock/Tom-Kichi

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