Tag Archives: itinerary changes

MSC Forced to Delay MSC Magnifica Program

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MSC Magnifica on the Firth of Forth

MSC Cruises announced today it will postpone the restart of MSC Magnifica until September 26, 2020 despite just having completed a first successful cruise with the MSC Grandiosa.

MSC cited the recent introduction of additional testing measures for residents of Italy having traveled to Greece.

“We are seeing cancellations and a softening in demand since the ship’s itinerary includes as many as three ports in that country. This has led to the decision to delay the restart of the ship by four weeks,” the company said.

MSC added that it believes that reservations will start to pick up again in the coming weeks due to the appeal of the itinerary.

MSC Magnifica’s sales are open to residents of the Schengen area, at the same time in this early phase of restart the majority of guests are expected to be Italian nationals and residents.

As a result, MSC Magnifica cruise departures from August 29 to September 19 have been cancelled. The first cruise will depart from Bari, Italy with an unchanged itinerary on September 26.

The MSC Grandiosa is currently offering seven-night cruises with embarkation in the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo and also calling at Valletta, Malta.

Without Cuba cruises, Royal Caribbean lowers profit outlook

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Harmony of the Seas

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said eliminating Cuba from the itinerary of various sailings will reduce 2019 earnings by $52 million to $73 million.

“While the affected sailings impact only 3% of our 2019 capacity, the extremely short notice period for this high-yielding destination amplifies the earnings impact,” said Jason T. Liberty, executive vice president and CFO. “The result of this policy change has created a short-term impact on our guests, operations and earnings; fortunately, we have many alternative and attractive destinations for our guests to choose from.”

The other major cruise companies affected by the decision to ban U.S. cruises to Cuba haven’t commented on the financial impact.

Cuba accounts for 1% of capacity at Carnival Corp. and 4% at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, according to a note from Wells Fargo Securities, which estimated the economic impact on Carnival at $21 million to $42 million and on Norwegian at $26 million to $60 million.

With some Caribbean ports knocked out, cruise lines make wholesale changes

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The cruise port in Nassau, Bahamas, has escaped hurricane damage. Photo Credit: Ceri Breeze/Shutterstock

Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean have announced itinerary changes for cruises scheduled to depart into October that steer ships clear of storm-ravaged destinations in the eastern Caribbean.

The changes affect nearly half of Carnival’s fleet of 25 ships. The cruises, with departure dates ranging from Sept. 20 to Oct. 1, will visit ports in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic and sail to ports in the western Caribbean, including those in Jamaica, Mexico, Belize, Honduras and the Cayman Islands.

One ship, the Carnival Vista, will visit the southern Caribbean on an 8-day roundtrip Miami itinerary that includes La Romana in the Dominican Republic, Aruba and Curacao.

The Carnival Paradise will offer a five-day roundtrip Tampa cruise departing Sept. 25 that overnights in Havana.

Other affected ships and their departure dates are: Carnival Ecstasy (Sept. 20), Carnival Sensation (Sept. 21 and 30), Carnival Splendor (Sept. 23 and Sept. 30), Carnival Conquest (Sept. 24), Carnival Magic (Sept. 24), Carnival Pride (Sept. 24 and Oct. 1), Carnival Victory (Sept. 25) and Carnival Glory (Sept. 30).

Carnival said the Sept. 24 cruise of the Carnival Fascination, which sails from San Juan is contingent on the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday. Carnival said it will continue to monitor the hurricane and will confirm the itinerary once a post-storm assessment has been completed.

Royal Caribbean said that it will skip Key West on departures of Empress of the Seas through Oct. 11, but that it plans to visit Havana as scheduled on Empress departures that have it as part of the itineraries.

Five Royal Caribbean ships have modified itineraries to substitute other ports for stops in St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Key West.