Posted on 02/24/2021 12:59:37 PM PST by Capt. Tom
In the last 24 hours, Carnival Cruise Line had already removed all its May 2021 sailings from its website and now another suspension has been officially announced. The cruise line now plans to resume cruises from June 2021 at the very earliest. Mardi Gras‘ debut from Port Canaveral has also been cancelled.
Carnival Cruise Line Extends Suspension It comes as no surprise that Carnival Cruise Line has decided to extend its suspension on operations in the U.S. through May 31, 2021. It now means that Carnival cruise ships won’t begin sailings until June at the very earliest. The pause will be for even longer into the fall for select ships, which was already previously announced.
This news first started coming to light after the Miami-based cruise line removed all its May 2021 sailings from its website on Tuesday evening. Many guests started noticing that they could not book any cruises for that month and the earliest voyages were only available from June 2021.
Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line stated:
“We continue to work on plans to resume operations and are encouraged by the focus to expedite vaccine production and distribution which are having a demonstrated impact on improving public health,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “We appreciate the support of all of our guests, employees and trade partners who we know are looking forward to our return.”
Carnival had previously announced an extended suspension on January 22, 2021, for all U.S. departures through April 30, 2021. The operator has also already extended its pause in Australia with Carnival Splendor cruises canceled through June 28 and Carnival Spirit through September 12, 2021.
Carnival Cancellations Guest Cancellation Options Earlier in February, Carnival already started sending out new cancellation options for guests who are booked on sailings of seven days or shorter and for sailings eight days or longer.
Guests started receiving communications recently with new options for sailings that are seven days or less on bookings through July 31, 2021. Carnival advised that it was awaiting further details from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention so was offering new options to provide further peace of mind.
For the longer sailings, the options impact 8-day sailings through October 31, 2021, and 10 & 14-day itineraries for Carnival Sensation and Carnival Pride.
Within the new options, guests will automatically receive a $100 onboard credit should their cruise still go ahead. If the voyage eventually does not go ahead and guests have not received their credit, then they will receive options already offered during the suspension of operations.
Was Carnival’s Extension Expected? Indeed it was! Norwegian Cruise Line already extended its pause through May 2021 so it was just a matter of time until another major cruise line followed. All the cruise lines out of the U.S. are waiting on the CDC for more technical details on resuming cruises, they’re all in the same boat.
Carnival has not been able to get test sailings going yet until further guidance from the CDC. Without test sailings, then guest operations can’t resume. The longer the CDC waits in allowing cruises to resume, the more vaccines come into play.
With some cruise lines already making vaccines mandatory, cruise lines could eventually wait until the various vaccines are more widely available. Vaccinated guests will undoubtedly lower the risk of cruise outbreaks, and in fact, Royal Caribbean and NCL have made this essential for crew members.
We’ve had other hints that cruises could be delayed even further with cruise line repatriating crew members once again in anticipation of a longer waiting on returning to service and even predictions from analysts.
With Carnival already sending out new cancellation options to guests there was already talk of a further delay, and that’s exactly what happened.
What About Mardi Gras? Many cruisers will be asking about Carnival’s new cruise ship the Mardi Gras. She has already been delayed four times since her original debut date at the end of August 2020 out of Copenhagen.
Mardi Gras’ new debut date was set to be May 29, 2021 but it has been confirmed that the voyage will no longer take place. The first cruise for the vessel is now showing as departing on June 5 our of Port Canaveral.
For those who keep trying to book cruises on these foreign-flagged lines, they should get their refunds while they can.
...and maybe instead get on the Lyn’ Ted family text thread to get latest updates on vacation getaways. /s
Trumps administration was actively working with cruise lines to get them at least partially going again by January.
Guess Biden doesn’t care.
There are a lot of people who were given credit for their cancelled cruises, sometimes well over 100%. Others were lured into purchasing deeply discounted cruises for 2021 with “guaranteed” cancellation and refund policies. Carnival was one of those pushing this, and surprise, just pushed a new $1B stock offering. If a cruise line is bankrupt, shares will be worth little, and credits and guarantees will probably be worthless.
My sister is a big cruise fan. She was on one of the last cruises in Mar 2020 before the shutdown and just booked a 45 day South Pacific cruise for 2022. This pushes her “full amount due” pretty far into the future when things will probably have settled out one way or another.
I don’t have anything against cruising, but prefer more traditional vacation travel. All my cruises have been on Uncle Sam’s Ships.
Guess Biden doesn’t care.
A Cruise ship restart in this country would bring back many American jobs at the seaports, travel agencies, and American workers in the Cruise companies in this country, and in hotels and transportation to and from the Cruise ships and food and fuel suppliers. - Tom
When you owe the bank a thousand dollars it is your problem.
When you owe the bank billions of dollars (like the cruise lines) it is their problem.
If some of these banks demanded payment, the banks would be declared insolvent.
The cruise line creditors have to decide when a borrower is unlikely to be ale to pay the loan back, and if the creditor can still recover most or all of their loan-and then force a bankruptcy on the borrower.
Otherwise the loaners have to ride it out, and hope for the best.-Tom
Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator, currently the world’s largest travel leisure company, with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies, Panama-incorporated US-headquartered Carnival Corporation and UK-based Carnival plc, which function as one entity. Carnival Corporation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Carnival plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Carnival is listed in both the S&P 500 and FTSE 250 indices.
At least it will be an international death!
Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator, currently the world’s largest travel leisure company, with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies, Panama-incorporated US-headquartered Carnival Corporation and UK-based Carnival plc, which function as one entity. Carnival Corporation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Carnival plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Carnival is listed in both the S&P 500 and FTSE 250 indices.
At least it will be an international death!
Well we were expecting this...
I have a cruise in June if they start sailing...Its the first one for the month,,,
Good ...it will be as clean as possible...Nobody in the cabins before us...
Bad ...we will be guinea pigs for the new protocols and expected to toe the line...
Masks forever...neg tests...temperatures every day... no buffets...etc
I hope they wont demand a vax ...
Oh Captain my Captain...
I just booked a river wine cruise (144 passengers) in France for April 2022. One year away. I will get travel insurance, which I never do.
I’m OK with a vaccine requirement as I plan to get one, but not a contract-tracing app like Hawaii requires.
Masks forever...neg tests...temperatures every day... no buffets...etc
I hope they wont demand a vax ...
I believe demanding a vaccine will cause the Cruise Lines to lose a lot of younger cruisers, plus anti covid vaccine people. -Tom
Yep, us too (physicians here, not worried about extra health risks on a ship.) We love cruising, go all the time. Plan to go on a Mediterranean cruise in October hosted by Mark Steyn with Conrad Black et al ... then again on a cruise to the Southern Caribbean a year from now. Best luxury vacation value out there IMO (if you pick the quality lines to go on).
Enjoy.
I saw Disney with ships in port at Canaveral
Cruise ships have been coming into American ports , not to pick up passengers, but to pick up supplies for the crews that are onboard maintaining the Cruise ships.
And some Lines are allowed to dock their ships there.
That is probably what you are seeing. -Tom
Thanks! We went on an Oceania Cruise in 2019 and I love that cruise line; I think we’ll stick with it for ocean cruises in the future (assuming that line doesn’t file BK or quit).
It was very clean even for 2019 standards: lots of deck swabbing and lots of hand sanitizer everywhere. And guests weren’t allowed to serve themselves at buffets either: staff did that for them.
The only thing that makes me nervous now about cruising is the possibility of being stuck on one, quarantined, for weeks after like a prisoner.
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