Holland America and Seabourn extend cruise cancellations

Posted on 12 August, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

Holland America Line | Bolsover Cruise Club

Holland America Line and Seabourn are the latest cruise lines to cancel sailings.

Holland America said it would pause its sailings on departures through Dec. 15, joining sister brand Princess Cruises. Holland America had already cancelled select sailings in Hawaii in early 2021.

Seabourn had announced a stop in its operations through Nov. 20, but now it said that the Seabourn Encore will be paused through Nov. 25, the Seabourn Ovation through Dec. 20 and the Seabourn Sojurn through May 24, which includes its world cruise.

The CDC’s latest No Sail Order expires at the end of September, but CLIA lines have agreed to voluntarily pause operations in the U.S. until at least Oct. 31. Some, like Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ brands and Crystal Cruises, have already extended their cancellations.

German Cruise Line AIDA Delays Service Resumption, Pending More Approvals

Posted on 9 August, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

AIDA Perla

he German cruise line AIDA cancelled its planned resumption of service this weekend over an approval technicality.

The line, which is owned by Carnival Corporation & plc., has implemented new health and testing protocols that had caught 10 crew members who were positive for COVID-19 after they boarded two AIDA ships but before any passengers came aboard.

The hold-up for AIDAperla and AIDAmar, leaving on short cruises August 5 and August 12, though, came because the country of Italy, where the ships are flagged, had not given approval for the ships to sail, the company said in a release.

“Contrary to our expectations, the final formal approval for the start of the short trips from August 5, 2020, by our flag state Italy is still pending,” the release said. “We assume that we will receive the last formal approval by the flag state Italy in a timely manner.”

While COVID-19 is not cited in the release, the spectre of coronavirus hangs over international ships coming back into service, after virus outbreaks among passengers and crew occurred last weekend

in two separate corners of the world.

In Norway, Hurtigruten faces an investigation after 36 crew and five guests have tested positive for COVID-19. And in French Polynesia, passengers on Paul Gauguin are quarantined on the ship and getting tested, after the ship’s doctor found a positive result with a guest. Both lines had resumed sailing with reduced capacity and improved health and safety requirements; Paul Gauguin and French Polynesia both require passengers to present a negative COVID-19 test before boarding or entering the country.

Norway Says No To Cruises After Hurtigruten Coronavirus Outbreak

AIDA, too, has implemented strict health and safety guidelines for its resumption. Those guidelines, in fact, had detected the COVID-19 cases among the crew before sailing resumed and passengers could be exposed.

No cases had been detected among crew coming on board AIDAperla, which was the first ship in the fleet to have a scheduled cruise. The incidents had been reported on AIDAmar and AIDAblu on July 22, well before those ships were slated to cruise on August 12 and August 16, respectively.

Current policies call for all crew members to be tested for COVID-19 in their home countries before flying to Rostock, Germany, and getting on board the ship. The crew members then take a second coronavirus test while they are secluded on the ship.

Once the 10 infected crew members were detected, they were taken off the two ships and the remaining crew members were contained to the ship in isolation and underwent a third round of tests, the line said.

Carnival Corp. shedding two more ships

Posted on 1 August, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Corp. recently sold the Costa neoRomantica to Celestyal Cruises.

Carnival Corp. will dispose of two additional ships in the next 90 days, on top of the 13 that the company had said it would sell.

The company did not say what two ships would go.

Carnival said earlier this month that it would shed 13 ships and defer five of the nine newbuilds it was scheduled to receive this year and next, representing a nearly 9% reduction in current capacity.

Since June, the company has sold or agreed to sell two Carnival Cruise Line Fantasy-class ships, four Holland America Line ships, two Costa Cruises vessels and one P&O Cruises ship.

“These decisions are intended to align the fleet with the expected phased restart of guest cruise operations while also generating cost savings,” Carnival said.