Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has joined Carnival Corporation in halting all US cruises until 2021.
The move came in the wake of a report by the Center for Disease Control and Protection which suggested each ship would been to be certified and undergo trials before being allowed to sail.
Royal Caribbean Group has cancelled all cruises prior to January 1 2021 across Azamara, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean Line and Silversea. Sailings from Singapore have been excluded from the cancellations.
Celebrity Cruises suspended the entire 2020/2021 winter program in Australia and Asia and Azamara cancelled its 2020/2021 winter sailings in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America.
Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises all fall under the umbrella of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and will not be sailing before 2021.
In addition, Regent Seven Seas has suspended the 2021 World Cruise, along with voyages departing through April 2021 aboard Seven Seas Mariner, and the January 5, 2021 voyage aboard Seven Seas Voyager.
Finally, Carnival Corporation, parent company of Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard North America, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn has also extended cancellations through to December 31, 2020.
The cancellations have been pushed forward a month from November 30 in an attempt to meet the new framework which applies to all ships with capacity for over 250 passengers in US waters.
While some cruises have restarted in Asia and Europe, large cruises have yet to restart in the US due to the cruise ban, which was then replaced by this conditional framework.
The framework will allow cruise ships to once again sail US waters but, they must complete simulated voyages to demonstrate the ships updated protocols and testing procedures.
The simulated sailings will prove to the CDC that ships and crews are in compliance with CDC standards and are able to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 onboard when regular sailings resume.
Each line must apply for a Conditional Sailing Certificate at least 60 days before they aim to resume sailing.
This time frame means that if a cruise line applies for a certificate today, it would not be able to resume sailing until at least January 1, 2020.
