Thousand of family holidays – some of them over Christmas – are in ruins after P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises have both cancelled sailings until 2022, with the government’s failure to act on a return to sailings be blamed.
P&O Cruises is extending its “pause” by an extra month until mid-February next year. This pause will apply to all cruises scheduled to depart from January 15, 2022 to February 14, 2022.
P&O Cruises Australia President Sture Myrmell says the pause is due the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the resumption of cruise in Australia.
“We are naturally disappointed for our guests and our many suppliers to have to extend the pause in operations by a further month,” Mr Myrmell said.
“With society rapidly reopening including social gathering and travel just weeks away, there is a vital need for a pathway for the staged resumption of domestic cruising. Our guests have made it clear they want to cruise again and we look forward to welcoming them on board as soon as possible supported by comprehensive protocols based on the world’s best public health practice and standards.
“We are also mindful of the many businesses who rely on cruising for their livelihoods across food and fresh produce, marine engineering and logistics, entertainment and, of course, travel agents.”
P&O Guests whose bookings are affected will be notified either directly or through their travel agent.
Princess Cruises its extending its pause in Australia and New Zealand operations until March 14, 2022, leading to the cancelling of four sailings on Coral Princess.
Guests have a cancelled cruise will have the option to move to an equivalent cruise, getting a future cruise credit equal to 100% of the fare, plus a bonus non-refundable 10% or a full refund.
You can request your Princess refund here.
Related Posts
-
Guests will be able to combine a Voyage of the Glaciers, the cruise line's seven-day voyage, with rail travel as well as stays in the cruise line’s wilderness lodges.
-
Celebrity Cruises has extended its new brand positioning and brand identity, with the catchphrase ‘Nothing Comes Close’.
-
Princess has cancelled 14 voyages on the Crown Princess, citing that the ship will be sent to drydock for nearly four months for maintenance.
-
After operating for more than 104 years, The Travel Corporation and its 40 brands including Uniworld has been sold by the Tollman family to Apollo Funds, a US-listed asset management…
Our cruise on Princess around Australia no foreign ports has just been cancelled ,it was for March 20222 , The government needs to make a decision you are ruining people’s living , apart from spoiling people’s holiday , I can get on a flight travel to Singapore and cruise around over there but I can’t go around Australia and visit Australian ports only , For goodness sake start making decisions .
We were thinking of booking a cruise in April but now we are thinking again ? Confused.
BEA,
As you say we are the joke of the World.
We can fly to Singapore or Europe etc, on a cramped passenger plane for hours on end, jump on a Cruise with Thousands of passengers for a few weeks, fly home (but not into Qld) yet we can’t cruise out of Australia on a 500 passenger ship…….not to mention all the revenue we have lost… absolutely crazy it doesn’t make sense, what are we waiting for???
If the ships where sailing under an Australian flag instead of a flag of convenience to avoid paying fair wages and taxes they’d be able to sail sooner.
My family and I are some of the many affected by this latest cancellation, having planned a lovely family cruise to NZ for all of us, more than likely our last chance with my (very) elderly parents.
What on earth can the problem be? We can hop a plane and cruise anywhere else in the world but not here, makes absolutely no sense.
All staff, crew and passengers HAVE to be double vaxxed so what is the difference cruising as to flying?
The pollies want the economy back on track but one of the big money spinners for suppliers and local tourism is cruise ships.
Come on Scomo, get your act together, we are a laughing stock!
Terry Waters,
You obviously will not agree with my views on this but even if the Government said you can now travel to countries which have not yet managed Covid I would still not go. I would rather stay healthy as many anywhere in Australia other than the East coast are managing to do than travel and get sick. A little more patience and we will be able to travel soon enough. Those of us in central and west Australia can follow rules that is why we don’t have problems like the eastern states.
Phillip Giles has hit it right on the head. The NSW Health Minister was responsible for the Ruby Princess debacle, not Princess Cruises and look what happened in NSW recently with the same Health Minister in charge. After 2 cancelled cruises we have our next cruise booked for Dec 21 2022 and hopefully sense will prevail the hysteria round cruising will subside and all will be fixed by then.
I will not vote for Morrison or his garbage that they call a government for the way that we have been treated people who love to go on a cruise ship you are not caring at all
Can someone please advise me whether THE WEARING OF MASKS on cruise ships will be required ? I understand the need to wear on planes, however if masks are required to be worn that will mean the end of my cruising.
We are talking about a holiday here, not a life or death situation. I absolutely love my cruising, and miss it badly; but this is not the end of the world as we know it! Give me our governments any day, who consider the safety of their people over others whose only consideration is money and Votes!
Hi I’ve booked two cruises two years in a row and have had them cancelled do I book another for next December or what
I have had five cruise dates cancelled since the beginning of this scourge. The latest was a lovely anticipated round trip from Adelaide where I live, which would include a stop in Cairns where I could see my sister. As an older person who has difficulty with flying or other touring holidays this has been a great disappointment to me. I rushed and had my vaccinations as soon as they were available to me, but the Australian government’s handling of the vaccine roll out has been woeful (no vote from me!) There are still people trying to decide after almost a year of availability.
Cruising has been given a bad name due to the Ruby Princess but the people in charge ashore surely should have been held responsible.
I agree the Government should shoulder the blame. It was the NSW Government Health Authorities that caused the problem with the Ruby Princess ship many months ago and believe or not the federal Government is still listening to this group of so called medical experts. World wide cruise ships are operating but not in Australia we are the laughing stock of the world. We say we are the lucky country if you are currently and Australian citizen Australia is no longer the lucky country. The authorities’ keep saying all will be OK when we reach 90% vaccine NEWS Flash Australia will never reach 90% while we listen to the Health experts from NSW. It is about time that we had some rational thinking not political opinions based on the politics of each state. Many years ago we had three different railway gauges around Australia we still have all three however we now have a the ability to go from Brisbane to Perth on the same train it has taken many years I just hope cruising does not the same time frame. Federal minister for tourism make a decision and make it now.
Comment on main photo. How can that be a Gatsby Party on Pacific Adventure when it has not begun sailing as Pacific Adventure ?????????
Government inaction on this matter is absolutely hopeless, and costing Australians jobs as well as holidays. Was planning to book a local cruise in March/April, but this continued inaction means I am reluctant to book. Will probably be able to fly to Singapore and cruise from there more quickly – crazy!