TORONTO — RCCL’s cruise lines have extended their voluntary suspension of operations until Sept. 15.
Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara are pushing back their restart dates to Sept. 16. Other cruise lines including Carnival and MSC have made similar moves. On June 19 CLIA announced that the voluntary pause in operations by all of its ocean-going cruise line members had been extended to Sept. 15.
A statement on Royal Caribbean’s site says: “We have decided to extend the suspension of sailings for our global fleet for all sailings through September 15th, 2020. Our goal is to resume operations on September 16th, 2020.”
For Royal Caribbean, the following circumstances have extended the suspension for the following ships and sailings:
- Canada sailings will be suspended through Oct. 31 due to the Canadian government’s extended travel ban on cruise ship travel.
- Explorer of the Seas’ revitalization will take place August 2020 given the closure of shipyards along with the disruption to the supply chain caused by this pandemic. As a result, Explorer’s August 2020 sailings will be cancelled and the revitalization will be a technical dry dock where only routine maintenance work will take place.
- Cruise terminals will remain closed in Copenhagen and as a result Royal Caribbean decided to cancel the following sailings: Jewel of the Seas Aug. 8, 16, and 23 sailings, and Brilliance of the Seas Aug. 21 sailing.
- Bermuda sailings will be suspended through Oct. 31.
- Voyager of the Seas sailings are cancelled through Sept. 30 and Spectrum of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas sailings through July.
Royal Caribbean’s options for passengers booked on impacted cruises include future cruise credits, the ‘Lift & Shift’ promotion for rebooking in 2021, and refunds. More details can be found here.
Celebrity Cruises and Azamara are also extending their pause in operations to Sept. 15. Passengers can choose between an FCC or a refund. More details for Celebrity Cruises are here and for Azamara, here.
