One Year Without Cruise Passengers? It Just Happened

Posted on 26 January, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

On Jan. 25, 2020, the cruise industry saw the start of the events that left the industry with damages it’s still recovering from. Cruise lines started cancelling their sailings due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan and around China.

Citing urgent guidelines from the Chinese government to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Costa Crociere, MSC, Royal Caribbean and Genting Cruise Lines all suspended their cruise operations in mainland China on Jan. 25, 2020.

Ships marking a year without passengers:

Astro Ocean’s Piano Land.
MSC’s Splendida.
Genting’s SuperStar Gemini.
Costa’s Serena, Atlantica and Venezia, plus the neoRomantica which has since been sold to Celestyal.
Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas.

February continued as cruise lines first banned or put in restrictions for passengers from specific countries.

Then countries in Asia started to shut down to tourism and cruise lines issued non-stop itinerary changes for immediate and future sailings, and slowly relaxed booking and refund policies.

Even more, cruises were cancelled in Asia on Feb. 15, 2020, following the outbreak onboard the Diamond Princess in Japan,

Princess Cruises later reacted to the growing spread of the coronavirus in Asia and worldwide by pausing all of its ship operations for 60 days from March 12, 2020. On the same day, Celestyal Cruises also announced it was suspending operations.

AmaWaterways and Avalon Waterways (as well as its sister brands Globus, Cosmos and Monograms) said they were taking a voluntary pause in operations, too.

On March 13, 2020, the Canadian government announced it would be deterring the start of its cruise season (normally in April) to at least July. The ban was then extended twice, the last time until February 2021, which will make Canada cruise less for nearly a whole year.

Also on March 13, 2020, Windstar Cruises stated it would be suspending its sailings through April 30, 2020.

On March 14, 2020, CDC issued a No Sail Order and Suspension of Further Embarkation for cruise ships in waters subject to U.S. jurisdiction; the No Sail Order was extended on April 9, 2020, July 16, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020, as cruise lines continued announcing more and more cancelled cruises affected by the order.

July 2020 saw the start of the long-awaited cruise resumptions in Europe with TUI Cruises starting on July 24, MSC on Aug. 16 onboard the Grandiosa and on Oct. 20 onboard the Magnifica, Costa Crociere on Sept. 6, and AIDA Cruises on Oct. 17. Mystic Cruises restarted sailing in early September under its Nicko brand. And in Asia, Dream Cruises’ World Dream has been operating short cruises to nowhere since Nov. 6.

Sadly, the pandemic claimed the lives of the following brands: Pullmantur Cruceros, Cruise & Maritime Voyages, FTI, Blount Small Ship Adventures, and Jalesh Cruises, while a record-high 13 ships were reduced to scrapping in 2020.

However, new brands – such as Swan Hellenic and Tradewind Voyages – were born in 2020, too.

And while safe returns demonstrated by TUI, MSC and other cruise lines give hope already, cruise lovers around the world are still patiently waiting for other brands to join. And, with the No Sail Order being replaced with the Conditional Framework in late 2020, it looks like these times may be just around the corner.

Four MSC Ships to Cruise in Europe for Winter 2021-2022

Posted on 14 December, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises announced that four ships will be deployed for the winter season in Europe for 2021-2022.

The MSC Grandiosa will sail from. Genoa as well as Barcelona and Marseille. In addition to these homeport options, the ship will call in the Palermo, Civitavecchia for access to Rome, and Valletta, Malta.

The MSC Fantasia will also sail a classic seven-night itinerary with the choice of multiple embarkation ports in MSC Cruises’ most visited destinations, Barcelona, Marseille, and Genoa, as well as Italian cultural highlights, including La Spezia and Napless, before calling in Palma de Mallorca.

The MSC Magnifica will offer extended 11-night cruises with two different itineraries. The first starts in Genoa and then to Greece, calling Katakolon, Piraeus, and Rhodes before reaching Haifa in Israel where the ship remains overnight allowing a full day to discover ashore, then on to Heraklion, Civitavecchia and back to Genoa.

The second itinerary visits five countries – starting in Genoa, Barcelona in Spain then on to Casablanca in Morocco for an extended stay, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Funchal in Portugal, Malaga in Spain, and then Italy with Civitavecchia and Genoa.

The MSC Poesia will offer 5- and 10-night cruises out of Genoa before embarking on the 2022 World Cruise from Genoa on 5 January.

MSC Pausing Cruise Operations in Europe

Posted on 6 December, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Grandiosa.

MSC Cruises today said that it will temporarily pause the operation of the MSC Grandiosa later this month per a directive from the Italian government.

MSC also said it will move the planned restart of MSC Magnifica to January as a result of new travel measures introduced by the Italian government for the Christmas and New Year period.

The new rules include extensive restrictions to people’s mobility across the entire country that will severely impact the ability of future guests – Italian residents, plus those from overseas – to reach any of the ships’ embarkation ports in Italy, the company said.

The Italian government has said it will tighten the movement of its residents between regions, cities and towns in its efforts to combat the pandemic ashore between 21 December 2020 and 6 January 2021, which will also restrict the ability of holidaymakers from abroad to travel to, through and from Italy.

This has caused the cancellation of three future planned voyages of MSC Grandiosa and three sailings of MSC Magnifica.

The MSC Grandiosa will temporarily pause her current program of seven-night voyage sailings on Dec. 20 in Genoa, Italy and will resume her Western Mediterranean cruises on Jan. 10, 2021, also from Genoa.

The MSC Magnifica, which was due to re-start 10-night voyages in the West and East Mediterranean on Dec. 18 from Genoa, will now commence its sailing programme on Jan. 15, 2021, following the cancellation of three previous sailings.