Norwegian Cruise Line has removed all its July and August sailings from its website. This could be due to a couple of reasons, but the cruise line may likely be about to announce a further suspension but not in the way as previously extended pauses.
This comes as NCL has been doing some planning behind the scenes by redeploying ships and making changes to itineraries. A major announcement is expected any day with the cruise line detailing its plans in the coming months.
Norwegian Cruise Line Removes Sailings
On Saturday afternoon, NCL cruisers noticed that Norwegian Cruise Line had removed all cruises in July and through August 2021. those months can no longer be selected on its website. Guests can only book cruises starting from September, including departures from the United States.
As of reporting this, NCL has not yet announced any further cancellations, and its suspension is currently in place through June 2021. Out of the big three cruise lines, Norwegian Cruise Line has the longest suspension in place, with cruises planned for July. However, this could be about to change.
Not the Suspension You Might Think
The cruise industry has lost trust with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is working to resume cruises. Just days ago, the CDC released the first part of phase two of its Conditional Sailing Order, but those new technical instructions do not provide further hope of an early restart by the summer.
One reason is that Norwegian Cruise Line could be about to extend its suspension on cruise operations until September 2021. Many might think this is the case but there are some hints towards something else.
In recent weeks the cruise line has canceled sailings for at least five ships as far forward as November. In fact, impacted guests have already revealed a letter about those cancellations due to redeployments. NCL has also confirmed with Cruise Hive that an announcement would be coming soon regarding ship redeployments.
Nothing is yet fully known until the cruise lines release an announcement. Still, it’s looking like NCL could be suspending regular operations and instead will introduce new alternative sailings for some of its ships.
Also Read: Norwegian Cruise Line Requires All Crew to Be Vaccinated
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises have already started shifting ships away from the U.S. for the summer. Several new homeports have recently been announced between the two cruise lines, and there are rumblings that Norwegian Cruise Line may be planning the same.
With UK domestic cruises being allowed from May 17, we could see sailings from there or even some alternative homeports in the Caribbean or Mediterranean. Hopefully, we’ll know very soon, so keep checking Cruise Hive for all the latest developments.
