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Multiple subsidiaries of cruise giant Carnival Corp. canceled more cruises this week for ships scheduled to sail in both U.S. waters and abroad.
Princess Cruises has announced it will cancel all cruises from U.S. ports through May 14 — more than a year after the industry came to a standstill in the middle of March last year.
Princess itself was impacted by the pandemic early on: two of its ships, the Diamond Princess and the Grand Princess, were among the first vessels to quarantine passengers because of coronavirus infections.
Late in 2020, Princess Cruises canceled all itineraries through March 31. The additional cancellations come as the cruise line works on restart plans that will satisfy the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Framework For Conditional Sailing” announced in October.
The further suspension also applies to European cruises scheduled prior to May 15, Negin Kamali, spokesperson for Princess Cruises, told USA TODAY.
Holland America Line has also canceled all of its departures through April 30 as it prepares to meet the CDC’s guidelines, according to a statement provided by Roger Frizzell, Carnival Corp. spokesperson.
“The line also will cancel all Alaska cruises through mid-May, Alaska departures on three ships through early June, any Land+Sea Journeys connected with canceled Alaska sailings, Mediterranean cruises through early June and Zaandam’s Canada/New England itineraries through August,” Holland America said in the statement.
Carnival Cruise Line announced an extension to its sailing suspension, canceling cruises scheduled through March 31 in U.S. waters.
Carnival also canceled select domestic itineraries into fall and one international cruise internationally in June, according to a statement provided by spokesperson Vance Gulliksen.
While many of the schedule changes are in relation to pandemic-induced regulations, including voyage-length restrictions, some are also related to rescheduled dry-dock work.
The cancellations include:
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All sailings from U.S. ports through March 31.
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Carnival Freedom’s April 10 sailing from Galveston.
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Carnival Miracle’s sailings from San Diego and San Francisco through Sept. 16.
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Carnival Liberty’s sailings from Port Canaveral from Sept. 17 through Oct. 18.
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Carnival Sunshine’s sailings from Charleston from Oct. 11 through Nov. 13.
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Carnival Spirit’s 15-day voyage from Singapore to Brisbane set to depart June 12.
“We are sorry to disappoint our guests, as we can see from our booking activity that there is clearly a pent-up demand for cruising on Carnival,” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in the statement.
Duffy added that the cruise line plans to resume operations in 2021 with a “phased-in approach,” a strategy the cruise line’s parent company, Carnival Corp., has referenced frequently since the onset of the pandemic.
The cancellations come as the U.S. is seeing a continued upward trend in COVID-19 cases, reaching 21 million cases on Tuesday night, just over four days since reporting 20 million cases, Johns Hopkins data shows. And Georgia became the fifth state to report a case of the more contagious virus strain first identified in the United Kingdom, joining Colorado, California, Florida and New York.
Another Carnival Corp. subsidiary, P&O Cruises Australia, also announced Wednesday cancellations of its New Zealand cruises into April.
“P&O Cruises Australia is extending its rolling pause in operations in New Zealand to departures on and before 25 April, 2021, as the cruise line and the wider industry continue to work with government and public health authorities on the appropriate time to restart sailing,” the company said in a statement provided by spokesperson Lindy Lamme.
The cruise line plans to return to New Zealand in July 2022 for a 150-day season in the area.
“We know that much better days lie ahead and we remain positive about the resumption of cruising. While we’ve paused operations, P&O Cruises together with the wider industry has been using the time wisely to plan for cruising’s return,” Sture Myrmell, president of the cruise line, said in the statement.
Carnival Corp.’s German line, AIDA Cruises, also canceled more sailings, extending their pause in operations through the end of February after Germany extended its lockdown through the end of January, the cruise line said in a release provided by Lamme.
AIDA hopes to resume cruising in multiple locations after February concludes with several voyage departure dates set for March 6.
‘I am ecstatic’: COVID-19 vaccine inspires confidence among cruise passengers, industry
Contributing: Adrianna Rodriguez and Jessica Flores
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Holland America, Carnival, Princess cancel cruises into April, May
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