Cruise
MSC Virtuosa Sets A Course For The UK
MSC Cruises will be deploying the MSC Virtuosa to the United Kingdom this summer. The ship will make its maiden voyage on May 20 with guests on board from Southampton as the first of a series of 3-night and 4-night mini-cruises before it begins 7-night cruises from June 12 with three embarkation ports in England and Scotland. All voyages will be for British residents only and for guests of all ages who are either waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine or who have already been vaccinated. All guests will be tested before they embark the ship and non-vaccinated guests will also be required...
Celestyal Deploying Second Ship In The Med
Celestyal Cruises is deploying a second ship, the Celestyal Olympia, in the Greek Islands and the Eastern Mediterranean. The cruise company resumed its operations on May 29 with the Celestyal Crystal. The expanded deployment coincides with the recent positive announcement from the U.S. CDC regarding international travel for Americans. Setting sail from Lavrion Port and Marina (Athens), the seven-night “Legendary Archipelago” itinerary will operate from June 28 through Aug. 30. As of Aug. 30, the Celestyal Olympia will operate its scheduled three- and...
Bahamas Paradise Ready To Set Sail
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line has released details of its plans to resume its sailing operations, as well as the relaunch of its website. The cruise line’s CEO, Oneil Khosa said in a statement: “The past year has been incredibly challenging for the cruise industry and as an independent, family-owned and operated boutique cruise line, this has been particularly difficult for us. That said, we are pleased to announce that our website is now live and accepting bookings for sailings beginning July 2nd, when Grand Classica will make her much-anticipated return to the Bahamas.” Khosa...
Costa’s 2022-2023 Cruises Open For Bookings
As it works to restart cruises on May 1, 2021, Costa Cruises is continuing with its gradual program of reintroduction of cruise holidays, releasing its itineraries from April 2022 to April 2023 that are now available for booking through travel advisors and online. For the 2022 summer season, Costa’s offer will focus on Mediterranean and northern European destinations. In May 2022, Costa’s new flagship, the Costa Toscana, will make its debut offering week-long cruises of Italy, France and Spain, with a long call in Ibiza. As well, the Costa Smeralda will offer...
Royal Caribbean Adds Singapore Sailings
Royal Caribbean International has announced that Quantum of the Seas will continue sailing from Singapore through October 2021. Having resumed sailing in December 2020, Quantum’s 11-month Singapore season will mark the longest yet for one of Asia’s largest and most revolutionary cruise ships. The cruise line introduced Ocean Getaways from Singapore last year with the local government’s CruiseSafe Certification, which confirms the sailings meet the comprehensive health and safety requirements developed with the Singapore government. Following a successful run and high marks...
Silversea Implements Vaccination Policy
Silversea Cruises will require all embarking crew and guests to have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The requirement will apply to all Silversea voyages globally, with the exclusion of sailings departing from Australia, for which protocol is still under evaluation. Along with the new protocol, Silversea also unveiled details of 10-day Eastern Mediterranean sailings by Silver Moon that begin June 18. The cruises call at Santorini, Paros, Mykonos, and Crete, as well as Haifa (Israel) and Cyprus. The new round-trip itineraries will be unveiled and on general sale from...
Florida Sets A Course To Court
Florida is moving to overturn the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Conditional Sailing Order (CSO), filing an action against the Biden Administration in federal district court yesterday. It notes in the action that the “unprecedented year-long lockdown of an entire industry” by the federal government has directly harmed the State of Florida, its citizens, and their families, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars in economic activity. Florida governor, Ron DeSantis said: “We must allow our cruise liners and their employees to get back to work and...
Lift The CSO: CLIA
CLIA says that the additional cruise industry instructions issued April 2 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the Framework for Conditional Sailing (CSO) are disappointing. The cruise industry association argues that the new requirements are unduly burdensome, largely unworkable, and seem to reflect a zero-risk objective rather than the mitigation approach to COVID that is the basis for every other US sector of our society. To that end, CLIA is reiterating its call for the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) to be lifted. In a statement,...