Carnival Cruise Line has updated its cancellation policy across the fleet due to the growing fears of the coronavirus across the industry.
Carnival Offers Onboard Credit
The coronavirus which is also known as COVID-19 is having a huge impact on the cruise industry and cruise lines are making changes.
Carnival Cruise Line has just updated its cancellation policy which provides some incentives to keep their vacation booking including onboard credit and being able to move their booked cruise date.
A letter was sent out overnight to guests booked with Carnival through May 31, 2020 informing them of the policy changes. Here is the letter that Carnival provided to Cruise Hive with the policy change:
A major incentive will be onboard credit to guests who decide to keep with their original booked sailing between March 6 and May 31. There will be $100 per cabin for 3 and 4-day cruises; $150 per cabin for 5-day cruises and $200 per cabin for 6-day cruises and longer. The amounts will automatically be added to the onboard Sail & Sign Account.
For those who booked before March 6, the cruise line is allowing to change the booking to a new date from now until May 31. Guests who do this can receive a future cruise credit in the amount of the non-refundable cancellation fee.
For guests who are booked on cruises from March 9 to March 31 are able to move their booking up to 3 days before the sailing. Guests booked on sailing between April 1 and may 31 can also move their cruise vacation to a new date by March 31.
Hopefully, this will help keep bookings going during this very uncertain time across not just the cruise industry but travel as a whole. There has been coronavirus scares including the Diamond Princess ship which was under quarantine in Yokohama, Japan and currently the Grand Princess off the coast of California.
Multiple cruise ships have also been denied from cruise ports in fear of cases onboard spreading infections to land. It is important to note the majority of cruise ships haven’t had any cases of the deadly virus and continue to sail as normal.
Also Read: Cruise Ship Remains Off California Coast During Coronavirus Tests
All this comes as Carnival Cruise Line continues to implement strict health protocols to keep guests and crew safe. There is enhanced screening before embarkation and across the fleet, there are extra sanitation meares in place.
As of writing this, there are more than 97,000 cases of COVID-19 around the world and 220 of those are in the United States. Italy which is a popular country for cruises has 3,800 cases and almost 150 deaths.
