Royal Caribbean Extends Cruise Suspension thru Sept. 30

Caribbean News…
20 July 2020 9:05pm
Royal Caribbean cruise ship viewed from the air

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara have extended their voluntary suspension of operations until Sept. 30. The Royal Caribbean Group’s cruise lines are pushing back their restart dates to Oct. 1.

Previously all of CLIA’s ocean going member cruise lines had extended their suspensions until Sept. 15, according to Travelweek.

On July 16 the CDC announced it was extending the No Sail Order for cruise ships sailing in U.S. waters until at least Sept. 30.

A statement on Royal Caribbean’s site says: “After further consulting with our partners at CLIA and in conjunction with the CDC, we have decided to extend the suspension of sailings for our global fleet for all sailings through September 30th, 2020. Our goal is to resume operations on October 1st, 2020.”

Royal Caribbean adds that circumstances have also extended the suspension for the following ships and sailings:

Canada sailings will be suspended through Oct. 31, 2020, due to the Canadian government’s extended travel ban on cruise ship travel.

Bermuda sailings will be suspended through Oct. 31, 2020.

Odyssey of the Seas sailings from Nov. 5, 2020 through April 17, 2021 will be cancelled. “Given the closure of shipyards along with the disruption to the supply chain caused by this pandemic, we’ll need additional time to complete the Odyssey of the Seas’ scheduled construction,” says the cruise line.

Liberty of the Seas’ amplification has been postponed to a later date, and the ship will now sail to Galveston earlier than planned. “Regrettably, only one ship can dock at the Galveston pier at a time, so we have to cancel our February 14, 2021 Jewel of the Seas cruise,” says the cruise line.

Royal Caribbean also notes that after consulting with CLIA and in conjunction with the CDC, it has cancelled some additional sailings departing from China. The move impacts these sailings onboard Spectrum of the Seas, Quantum of the Seas, and Voyager of the Seas: Spectrum of the Seas sailings through Aug.14, 2020; Quantum of the Seas sailings through Aug.14, 2020; and Voyager of the Seas sailings through Sept. 30, 2020.

Royal Caribbean’s options for passengers booked on impacted cruises include future cruise credits, the ‘Lift & Shift’ promotion for rebooking in 2021, and refunds.

Celebrity Cruises and Azamara are also extending their pause in operations to Sept. 30. Passengers can choose between an FCC or a refund. More details for Celebrity Cruises are here and for Azamara, here. Silversea updated its information on July 13.

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