Major Cruise Lines Plan to Resume in 2021

Major Cruise Lines Plan to Resume in 2021
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Major Cruise Lines Plan to Resume in 2021

After more than one year of being paused, the cruise industry is hoping to make a gradual comeback as many cruise companies plan to resume operations this summer

Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises will become one of the first major cruise lines to resume North American cruises. “The restart will be gradual and deliberate” – the CEO stated. Following a month later, Crystal Cruises plan to resume their Bahamas cruises in July: according to the company, 4,000 travellers made bookings in the first 24-hours of the offer going live.

AmaWaterways,  the river cruise company, expects to restart cruises in Europe in July with sailings on the Douro River in Portugal. Toward the end of July, sailings on other European rivers, including the Danube, Rhine and Rhône, will resume.

MSC Cruises, the Swiss-based cruise line with newer, bigger ships, plans to restart Mediterranean and Northern Europe sailings with seven more vessels by 1 August and will resume sailings from Miami in August.

Seabourn plans to restart in July with Seabourn Ovation sailing to the Greek islands and Seabourn Odyssey sailing to the Caribbean out of Barbados.

Virgin Voyages, the joint venture between the Virgin Group and Bain Capital, has announced a restart date for UK. residents starting in August. The Miami debut of the company’s Scarlet Lady has been postponed until at least September.

Windstar Cruises will start much later. The line’s Wind Surf, Star Legend and Star Pride will return on 8 August, 4 September, and 3 November, respectively.

Not only major companies want to make a comeback, start-up lines such as Atlas Ocean Voyages also plan to join the competition. The adventure-luxe cruise line will make a big debut on 4 August 2021 in Europe.

Unfortunately, the situation in Australia is less promising. The Australian government has extended its ban on cruise ships until 17 September 2021. 

Hanh Dinh
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