The cruise industry is in an odd spot right now. It’s essentially at a stand-still in the United States, but European and Asian cruise lines are finding ways to sail again. It’s hard to pinpoint trends or guess what’s going to happen next on any given week, but hey, that’s really been the case with everything since the coronavirus pandemic began. Regardless, the trend of cruise lines cancelling itineraries has continued. Here’s the latest.
The Scenic Group
The Scenic Group is a cruise company that owns Scenic Cruises, Emerald Cruises, and Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours, making them a major force in the United States river cruising sector. While river cruises are seemingly at less risk for coronavirus compared to giant cruise ships travelling internationally via the sea, that doesn’t mean that Scenic is ready to jump back into action. They just announced that all of their sailings, including both river and sea itineraries, will be cancelled through October 2020.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is the parent company for Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and they’ve made it clear that they’re worried about sailing before November as well. They have cancelled all sailings between October 1st, 2020 and October 31st, 2020. (Note: the CDC No Sail Order is currently set to be lifted on October 1st). Guests are being asked to talk to their travel agents and/or the cruise line they were booked with in order to get a refund.
FTI Cruises
Here’s some sad news: the FTI Group has announced that it will be getting rid of its signature cruise brand FTI Cruises. This won’t affect too many people, as FTI had only planned out itineraries until October 2020. However, it’s always sad to see a cruise line shut down entirely.
Marella Cruises
Marella Cruises, one of the more popular cruise lines in the U.K., has announced that it will be cancelling more sailings as well. They will be suspending their operations until September 30th, 2020. Guests will get a future cruise credit of 110% that they can use on future Marella sailings, or they can look for a cash refund via the TUI Group’s website.
As always, we’ll make sure to keep you updated on any cancellations that happen from here on out. If you had a booking that was affected by these cancellations, make sure to contact your travel agent or visit the cruise line’s website to learn what you should do to receive your refund.
