Free Republic

The big cruise lines are losing the race against time to operate from U.S. ports in July as the month of April comes to a close. With most in the industry needing around 90 days to fully prepare a modern megaship for operation after a pause period, that would would push realistic U.S. operation timelines to August. Cruise lines will also want a confirmed green light from U.S. authorities, not wanting to spend much-needed cash to prepare a ship, only to have to send crew home or not be able to start cruising. The biggest challenge will start with just...

Christine Duffy’s message painted the picture quite clearly already, but Carnival Cruise line has now also made amendments to its payment and cancellation policy. In an e-mail sent to guests and travel agents, the cruise line said it had made no change in its plans to cruise in June 2021. The cruise line intends to sail only from US ports and, as the president said before, will not be moving ships to any other homeports to circumvent the CDC and its safe sailing framework. However, Carnival Cruise Line has changed its cancellation and payment policies to give guests more freedom...