I love all things Cruise and add that to my hobby Photography I’m in dreamland, I’m an exTravel agency owner with the inside contacts, so I will try to keep you updated in all things travel related with a side serving of images and other maritime stories.
Virgin Voyages has cancelled its summer season out of Miami aboard the Scarlet Lady.
“As we continue to navigate what’s going on in the world, we’ve made the decision to cancel our sailings from July 4th through September 17th, 2021 on Scarlet Lady,” the company said. “If your voyage has been impacted by this, please take a look at the details below so you can choose an offer that works best for you.”
With the summer season on the 2,770-guest Scarlet Lady cancelled, the company could follow its peers into other markets, such as the Caribbean, not touching U.S. ports; the UK or Southern Europe.
Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald said he was “very disappointed” in the CDC’s guidance released last week on the company’s business update call on Tuesday morning.
Donald mentioned the company has 30 ships in U.S. waters that have achieved “green status” per CDC guidelines, and that the company was continuing to work with the agency and current administration to find practical approaches to resume cruising in a way that is in the best interest of public health.
He said he aimed to have all nine Carnival Corp. brands sailing this summer and that ships will come back on a staggered basis with occupancy rates ramping up over time.
Donald noted an acceleration of booking trends globally, with an AIDA ship sailing the Canaries and restarts set in the UK and Italy shortly.
Donald was also quick to note 59 of 90 of the company’s ships were outside of the Conditional Sail Order, and restarts were being worked on in Asia and Australia.
SunStone Ships and its Infinity-class newbuild project continues to make impressive progress in China, as the company marked the launching of the Sylvia Earle in China, and also laid the keel for the new Ocean Odyssey.
SunStone CEO, Niels-Erik Lund, commented: “We are very pleased with the quality and high building standards of China Merchants Heavy Industry, which are fully at the level of European Shipyards. We are looking forward to continuing our relationships with all our partners in the Infinity-class project and we, even considering the COVID-19 world crisis, are moving fast forward as planned at a very satisfactory speed, safety and quality level.”
The launch of the Sylvia Earle, which carries the hull number CMHI 196-2, took place at China Merchant Heavy Industries in Haimen, China in mid-March. The vessel is chartered to Aurora Expeditions on a year-round long-term charter.
At the same time, the yard laid the keel for the Ocean Odyssey, which will enter service on charter to Vantage Travel in 2022.
The Infinity-class ships developed by SunStone for charter customers are 104 meters long, 18 meters wide and can be configured for between 130 and 200 guests. The vessels carry ice-class IA and Polar Code 6 (PC6).
The first Infinity-class ship, the Greg Mortimer was delivered in 2019 and is a long-term charter deal with Aurora Expeditions.
Upcoming SunStone Newbuilds:
Ocean Explorer – 2021 – on charter to Vantage Travel.
Ocean Victory – 2021 – on charter to Victory Cruise Lines and Albatros Expeditions.
Sylvia Earle – 2021 – on charter to Aurora Expeditions.
Ocean Odyssey – 2022 – on charter to Vantage Travel.
Ocean Albatros – 2022 – on charter to Albatros Expeditions.
Ocean Discoverer – 2023 – on charter to Victory Cruise Lines and Aurora Expeditions
