Carnival Corporation brands Princess Cruises and Holland America Cruise Lines have extended their pause in operations through March 31 of next year and have also cancelled all cruises longer than seven days and eight days respectively sailing in and out of United States ports through November 1, 2021.
The moves come as cruise lines prepare to align with the requirements of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Framework for Conditional Sailing Order pertaining to resumption of U.S. cruise operations.
“We are focused on preparing our ships to meet the CDC health and safety requirements for our eventual return to service,” said Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises. “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.”
According to the Framework for Resuming Cruise Ship Operations Order issued on October 30, cruise ships must first conduct trial cruises to test their COVID-19 mitigation protocols before receiving authorization to return to paid sailings.
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Holland America: Longer voyages through April 2021 to sail in 2022
Holland America has cancelled select longer voyages in Asia, Australia/New Zealand and South America through mid-April 2021 with some departures rescheduled to comparable dates in 2022.
The company said that guests booked on several longer voyages to South America aboard Westerdam, Asia aboard Noordam and Australia/New Zealand aboard Oosterdam will be rebooked to similar dates and itineraries in 2022. Those booked on the Voyage of the Vikings cruise, scheduled to depart July 9, 2021, aboard Zaandam, will move to a similar date in 2022.
All guests moving to a new voyage in 2022 will receive a $150 per person shipboard credit, protected pricing and equivalent stateroom category.
Seabourn cancels cruises on Seabourn Odyssey and Seabourn Quest
Carnival’s luxury brand Seabourn Cruise Lines has meanwhile cancelled select itineraries on Seabourn Odyssey and Seabourn Quest.
- Seabourn Odyssey: with select voyages cancelled from January 16, 2021 – November 5, 2021. Seven-day Alaska/British Columbia and the Pacific Coast sailings have not been cancelled.
- Seabourn Quest: with voyages longer than 7 days and calling on a U.S. port cancelled from July 22, 2021 – November 6, 2021.
“We’re fully committed to meeting the requirements necessary to bring guests back to our ships, including those issued by the CDC,” said Josh Leibowitz, president of Seabourn. “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.”
Carnival Cruise Line cancellations
Last week Carnival Corp’s flagship Carnival Cruise Line cancelled additional cruises for the first part of 2021, including:
- All embarkations from U.S. homeports from January, 1-31
- Baltimore, Charleston, Jacksonville, Long Beach, Mobile, New Orleans and San Diego embarkations through February 28
- Embarkations on Carnival Legend out of Tampa through March 26
