In recent days, nearly every airline has made adjustments and changes due to coronavirus (a.k.a. COVID-19). Multiple airlines have canceled flights scheduled to go to areas that have been hit hard by the virus, such as China, South Korea and Italy. Others have temporarily updated their cancellation policies to allow passengers to cancel their flights.
Cruise lines have had their own problems with the illness, with entire ships being quarantined for weeks at a time (by the way, the couple that had ordered wine via drone while quarantined for 2 weeks on the Diamond Princess finally did make it back to Australia. Once there, they had to endure 2 more weeks of quarantine. They remained healthy and were eventually released. They made it home a month after their ordeal began).
Cruises lines are also making policy and protocol changes to address coronavirus, which sometimes includes cancellation of cruises. Certain countries are also making changes such that cruise passengers who have been to certain countries in X number of days aren’t allowed to disembark in those respective countries. Here are a bunch of the new rules, as of this writing:
Note: Whenever possible, I used the cruise lines’ respective websites. If the information wasn’t there, I used other references.
Carnival Cruise Lines
Celebrity Cruises
Cunard Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line
- Coronavirus updates (note: there is nothing on Disney Cruise Line‘s web page that suggests anything about coronavirus advisories, itinerary changes or cancellations/incentives; just how to make a reservation. The link I’m including is from Disney Cruise Line Blog, a blogger/fansite, which uploaded PDFs of the emails DCL has been sending to passengers who already have reservations)
- Cancellations (again, this is from Disney Cruise Line Blog, not Disney’s website)
Holland America Line
- COVID-19 (Coronavirus) travel advisory
- Itinerary changes
- Holland America’s blog has lots of updates
Norwegian Cruise Lines
Princess Cruises
- Health and travel advisory
- Cancellations
- Itinerary changes (in light of problems with coronavirus on multiple Princess branded ships, this list is pretty significant)
Royal Caribbean Int’l
- Travel advisory update
- Cancellations: “U.S. guests on cruises in Asia departing before March 23, 2020, who want to change their plans will be allowed to rebook without penalty at a later date.
“We are unaware of any significant travel restrictions, delays, or quarantines anywhere else in the world. Accordingly, we look forward to welcoming our guests who are booked on itineraries outside Asia onto their cruises as scheduled.” - Itinerary changes
Virgin Voyages
The maiden voyage of Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady is scheduled for April 1, 2020. They do have a Coronovirus Health Screen Protocols page on their website, but no itinerary changes at this time.
That being said, Virgin has postponed a 2-day media preview of the Scarlet Lady, which was supposed to happen the first weekend in March.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
