Following the announcement that Carnival Cruise Line intends to resume sailings starting on Aug. 1, other Carnival Corporation & plc brands have followed suit with plans to phase back in. What’s interesting is that Carnival, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line will not restart operations all at once but let some ships test the waters before others.
Both Holland America and Princess previously revealed a resumption of service on July 1, but they have now canceled a large chunk of their 2020 voyages.
Holland America’s Alaska, Europe and Canada/New England voyages are suspended for the remainder of the year. (Its 79-day Grand Africa Voyage is also entirely canceled.) So are Princess’ Alaskan cruises on Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess; as well as the line’s Europe and Transatlantic cruises on Enchanted Princess, Regal Princess, Sky Princess, Crown Princess and Island Princess. Canada and New England cruises on Caribbean Princess and Sky Princess have also been canceled.
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Princess is also canceling summer Caribbean sailings on the latter two ships as well as fall voyages to Hawaii and French Polynesia on Pacific Princess through November, among others.
It’s not entirely clear yet if any Holland America and Princess sailings will head to other destinations in July or wait for Carnival to take the lead.
The current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no-sail order doesn’t expire until mid-July. The first Carnival Corporation ships to return to service may only be the eight scheduled to embark from Galveston, Miami and Port Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 1.
The remainder of the North American Fun Ship fleet is set to return on Sept. 1 with the exception of Carnival Spirit Alaskan cruises from Seattle; in addition to Spirit’s Vancouver-Honolulu sailing on Sept. 25 and its Honolulu-Brisbane transpacific voyage on Oct. 6.
Cunard is similarly on track to relaunch Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria on Aug. 1 with Queen Elizabeth following in September.
Seabourn, on the other hand, is pausing all sailings until October and November. Seabourn Sojourn will return on Oct. 14, Seabourn Encore on Oct. 20, Seabourn Ovation and Seabourn Quest on Nov. 7 and Seabourn Odyssey on Nov. 21.
This all amounts to a likely cruise return order of Holland America and Princess — should their ships redeploy elsewhere — at the end of July, but perhaps later; Carnival and Cunard in August and September; and Seabourn in October and November.
What remains to be seen is what approach competing corporations Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Limited and Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited, as well as independent lines, will ultimately take with their brands.
They may also stagger out or choose to launch in unison, but the gradual cancellation of sailings we’ve seen until now has given lines the chance to strategize. And hopefully, they’ve helped travel advisors be less overwhelmed ahead of final rescheduling. In either case, future departures are now starting to firm up.
The Details
Carnival Cruise Line
www.carnival.com
Cunard Line
www.cunard.com
Holland America Line
www.hollandamerica.com
Princess Cruises
www.princess.com
Seabourn Cruise Line
www.seabourn.com
