The most common questions that our Cruise Fever staff receive is “When will cruises resume?” and “How soon can I board a cruise ship to the Caribbean?”.
The last cruise ships to leave from the U.S. with paying passengers departed on March 13, 2020. I was on the last ship to leave Miami that day, Navigator of the Seas, on a three night trip to the Bahamas. I could have never imagined that it would be the last ship to leave Miami for over a year.
Cruise lines currently have all cruises from the U.S. canceled through the end of April 2021. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has canceled cruises through the end of May on their three cruise lines. I expect all cruise lines to cancel May cruises in the coming weeks.
So when will cruises finally resume?
I’ll be honest, no one knows and anyone who tells you differently is just making it up.
Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, during a Fireside talk with the president of Travel Leaders Group said that he’s optimistic that most, if not all of their cruise lines will be able to resume by the end of the year.
Donald, as well as the other cruise line CEOs, have never given any dates on when they will resume sailings. They are taking it month by month, canceling one to two months of cruises at a time.
Cruise lines will not be able to resume cruises until they are cleared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
They are currently under a Conditional Sail Order. This order introduced a phased approach for resuming passenger cruises and guidelines for cruise lines to follow.
What is my personal opinion on when cruises will resume? I’d be surprised to see cruises resume before fall. However, I hope I am wrong and that they will be able to start back up at some point during the summer.
At this point, all we can do is wait and hope that our favorite way to vacation will be able to resume sooner rather than later.
