Major cruise lines have been pushing their return to sailing dates back throughout the pandemic.
Several cruise lines will resume sailing this summer from international ports instead of US waters.
These are the updated 2021 sailing plans for cruise lines like Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Disney Cruises.
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Bad news for any eager cruisegoers: cruise lines are continuing to extend cruising suspensions into 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
The cruising industry initially saw a quiet period after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted and extended its
no-sail order
as the coronavirus pandemic began surging in 2020. But after months of waiting, in October, the CDC
replaced its mandatory sailing pause with a “framework for Conditional Sailing Order,”
a list of rigorous requirements needed for cruise lines to continue operating again by November.
Despite this order,
updates to it in April and May
, and the impending
debut of several cruise ships
over the
next few years
, the return of cruising to US waters still remains in limbo. Presently, many major cruise lines with plans to resume sailing this summer will only be departing from international ports instead of US waters due to these CDC restrictions.
Keep scrolling to see the updated sailing suspension dates for several major cruise lines:
Norwegian Cruises
Norwegian Cruises.
Randy Brooke/WireImage/Getty Images
On a suspended sailings update on December 29, 2020
,
Norwegian
hit the pause button on all of its cruises that were set to sail through March. However,
on January 19
, the cruise line pushed this sail date back one month through April.
Almost a month later
, Norwegian canceled all of its cruises through May.
But on March 16
, the cruise line announced it would be suspending all trips through June 30, including cruises on its Oceania and
Regent Seven Seas
lines.
On April 6, Norwegian announced it would halt sailings on eight ships – the Norwegian Breakaway, Dawn, Escape, Getaway, Sky, Spirit, Star, and Sun – through August 31. Sailings on the Norwegian Epic and Pearl were also put on hold through September 1 and November 7, respectively.
However, sailings aboard the Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Jade, and Norwegian Gem are set to resume in July as
fully vaccinated cruises
in Europe and the Caribbean.
Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises’ Ruby Princess cruise ship docks in Manila Bay during the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cavite city
Reuters
Princess Cruises
originally paused its trips through March,
according to a notice posted on November 20, 2020
, but announced on
January 6
that it would be extending this pause through May 14.
The cruise line had also paused all sailings through November 1 that were set to be longer than seven days going to and from US ports, and any trips sailing to and from Japan through June 25, according to the November notice.
“We continue to prepare our ships for our return to service and we are eager to see our guests back on board to create summertime memories,” Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises’ president,
said in a statement
.
But on March 9, the cruise line again updated its suspensions list with different timelines for different cruises. For example, cruises from Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, and Rome have been halted through the end of June, while European cruises originally set to sail to and from Southhampton, England have been paused through September 25. Sailings from Seattle were also put on hold through June 27, according to an additional
update
only seven days later.
Two months later on May 12, Princess Cruises announced additional sailing delays for three ships as the cruise line works to complete its return-to-sailing plans, the company said in a
press release
. The affected sailings include all of the 2021 Mediterranean cruises aboard the Enchanted Princess, California and Mexico sailings on the Ruby Princess, and Caribbean sailings on the Caribbean Princess through August 21.
“We continue to have constructive discussions with the CDC but still have many questions that remain unanswered,” Jan Swartz, the president of Princess Cruises, said in the press release.
Carnival Cruises
Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Ecstasy cruise ship is docked at the Port of Jacksonville amid the coronavirus outbreak on March 27, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
A full list of suspended sailing dates per ship is
available on Carnival’s website
. In a
January 6 news release
,
Carnival
cruises announced it would resume sailing after March 31 with several ships remaining docked even further into the future.
“We are sorry to disappoint our guests, as we can see from our booking activity that there is clearly a pent-up demand for cruising on Carnival,” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in a statement on the news release.
However,
16 days later, Carnival updated this statement
and hit the pause button on all trips through April 30. On
February 24
, the cruise line pushed its no-sail timeline even further back through May.
According to a
December press release,
Carnival
has set up dry docks for the Carnival Magic, Carnival Paradise, and Carnival Valor, therefore halting any of the ships’ embarkments through September 24, May 31, and September 11, respectively. However,
on January 25, Carnival
announced its plans to suspend these three ships even further until November.
The January 25 release
also included announcements related to several other ships and trips. One notable sailing freeze in the update includes trips out of San Diego. Seasonal service trips and planned sailings through April 2023 out of San Diego have now been suspended, and seven of these sailings to Hawaii have been moved to Long Beach, California instead.
The
upcoming inaugural Mardi Gras trip
was also pushed back as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
On April 6, Carnival again halted all sailings from US ports through June 30. Christine Duffy, president of Carnival, said in a
press release
that the cruise line may instead decide to resume sailing from ports outside of the US, a workaround other cruise lines like Royal Caribbean have decided to employ as well.
“We are asking that the cruise industry be treated on par with the approach being taken with other travel and tourism sectors, as well as US society at large,” Duffy said in the press release.
But now, the majority of Carnival’s ships won’t be accommodating passengers until July 31 the soonest, according to a
May 11 press release
.
However, there is one glimmer of hope for Carnival fans who can’t wait any longer. The cruise line is eyeing a potential resumption of sailing in July aboard three Carnival ships – the Vista, Breeze, and Horizon – from Florida and Texas ports. The Carnival Miracle could also see some passengers by July from Washington, but this hinges on the
cruise line’s ability to sail to Alaska
.
Royal Caribbean
The Wonder of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean
originally suspended its cruise trips through February 28, according to a
December 17 update
. However, on
January 12
, the cruise line pushed its no-sail date back even further through April 30. The only exceptions to this are its
Quantum of the Seas
ship in Singapore and
Spectrum of the Seas
ship in China.
Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Cruises line also halted any trips originally planned through April 30, according to an
update on January 12.
Several other Celebrity Cruises sailings were paused even further through October.
Less than a month later on
March 9
, Celebrity announced it would push this pause back through May.
On
January 13, Royal Caribbean’s Silversea Cruises released an updated list of sailing dates
with the first trip embarking on April 1. However, the soonest sail date was later pushed back to May 1, according to a January 21 update.
About two months later
on March 9, the mega cruise group announced
extended sailing pauses for its Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Silversea, and Azamara lines. In the announcement Royal Caribbean said its sailings would be put on hold through May 31, excluding its Quantum of the Seas and Odyssey of the Seas ships.
But on
April 8,
Royal Caribbean again extended this pause, this time through June 30.
There are some exceptions to this July resumption of sailing, including the
Vision of the Seas
and
Jewel of the Seas
ships. Both will instead begin sailing in June as “fully vaccinated” cruises.
However, some trips will see an even longer suspension. This includes the Quantum of the Seas’ Alaska sailings from April to October 14 “in order to allow additional time for our preparation,”
the cruise line announced
. Meanwhile, Odyssey of the Seas’ Rome sailings from May to October 28 have also been suspended, and the new ship will instead set sail from Israel from June to October
for Israeli residents only
.
Anthem of the Seas sailings from June to August 29 have also been put on hold, and the ship will instead sail in July for UK residents only.
Celebrity and Silversea’s cruises have also been suspended through May 31, while Azamara’s has been pushed back through June 30.
Holland America Line
Holland America.
Reuters
Holland America
originally paused all cruise trips through April 30, according to
an update on January 6
. All trips departing or arriving in Canada this year were also been canceled.
On March 9, the cruise line updated this no-sail order and extended it through June 30.
Disney Cruises
Disney
Cruises halted all trips through February 28, according to a travel updated posted on December 11, 2020. Cruises longer than seven nights have been suspended even further. One month later on January 12, Disney Cruises extended its no-sail date through March.
On January 27,
Disney Cruises pushed this sailing freeze timeline through April, and then again through May in a February 24 announcement. All Disney Magic sailings in Europe through August 10 were then also canceled due to the “likelihood of international borders remaining closed for an extended period of time.”
On April 6
, this timeline was set even further back with the suspension of Disney Dream, Fantasy, and Wonder sailings – all originally set to depart from the US – through June. The original Disney Magic cruises were also halted through September 18. The ship will instead sail as ”
staycation
” cruises for UK residents this summer.
Like other cruise lines, Disney is “evaluating various options” for its Disney Wonder Alaska cruises with dockings in Canada.
See the
full list of suspended Disney Cruises here
.
MSC Cruises
MSC Magnifica cruise ship in Italy.
REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri/File Photo
MSC
released a list
of cancellation dates per cruise ship, and the sail dates vary from the
end of January
to November. Trips on the
MSC Armonia
, for example, have been canceled through May 28, while the
MSC Preziosa
won’t be seeing any passengers until after May 31.
Ships like the
MSC Fantasia
won’t hit the seas until June 5.
P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises.
P&O previously announced it halted
all trips through April. Now, trips on P&O’s Arcadia, Aurora, Azura, and Ventura ships have been paused through August, while its Britannia and Iona ship sailings have been put on hold through September.
Costa Cruises
Costa Cruises’ Costa Pacifica.
Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP/Getty Images
On March 22, Costa Cruises
announced
it would delay the return of its cruises until May due to coronavirus-related restrictions in certain European countries.
Costa – a Carnival-owned brand that specializes in cruising around Europe – had previous planned to restart on March 27.
As of April 6
, the Costa Deliziosa, Firenze, Magica and Pacifica will all resume sailing either May 28 or 29.
Are you a cruise industry employee or have a cruise industry story to share? Contact this reporter at bchang@insider.com.
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