Royal Caribbean-owned cruise brands have announced the suspension of all sailings for the Australia and New Zealand region until 2021.
Royal Caribbean Cancels More Sailings
With the situation in Australia not favoring the cruise industry, Royal Caribbean Group, which owns major brands including Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, has suspended all sailings in that region for the remainder of the year.
This comes as the Australian government has decided to extend its ban on cruise ships to December 17, 2020. This was after previous extensions announced by the Australian authorities.
Royal Caribbean will now aim to begin cruises once again from Australia and New Zealand from January 1, 2021. However, there could be further suspensions depending on the global pandemic and new health measures. When cruises do resume, it will likely be a slow introduction with just one vessel with a limited capacity and ports.
So this means the cruise industry down under is pretty much cancelled until next year. This is not a good situation for passengers or business that rely on tourism traffic, and the cruise lines are contacting affected guests on their cancellation options.
Towards the end of August, Royal Caribbean had previously announced that cruises in Australia and New Zeeland were suspended through October 31, 2020, due to continued travel restrictions.
P&O Australia has currently suspended cruises in the region to December 2, 2020. Princess Cruises has cancelled cruises down under through December 12, 2020, and Carnival Cruise Line has also suspended operations out of Australia through December 2, 2020. We will likely have new announcements from these cruise lines in the coming days to fall in line with Australia’s decision.
Also Read: When Will Each Cruise Line Resume Sailings Again?
Cruise departures from the U.S. are still on pause but there are hints of a return to business in Europe with cruise lines slowly restarting services there. Stay tuned to Cruise Hive for continued updates as cruise lines adjust their schedules.
Photo Credit: Joe Hendrickson / Shutterstock.com
