Princess Cruises Shut Down Due to Coronavirus
Will other cruise lines follow suit?
Princess Cruises just announced that it will voluntarily pause global operations of its 18 cruise ships for 60 days. This response to the coronavirus pandemic will impact voyages departing from March 12th to May 10th, 2020. Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises, said the following about this “difficult business decision”…
“By taking this bold action of voluntarily pausing the operations of our ships, it is our intention to reassure our loyal guests, team members and global stakeholders of our commitment to the health, safety, and well-being of all who sail with us, as well as those who do business with us, and the countries and communities we visit around the world.”
Anyone currently onboard a Princess cruise scheduled to end in the next five days will continue to sail through their planned itinerary. Passengers already aboard cruises that extend beyond March 17th will disembark early “at the most convenient location for guests, factoring in operational requirements.”
Princess is offering guests the opportunity to transfer 100% of the money paid for canceled cruises to a future cruise of their choice. As an incentive to book a new cruise with this option, anyone doing so will also receive a “generous” future cruise credit which can be applied to their cruise fare. Guests will also be able to complete an online request for a cash refund on Princess.com.
At this time, guests are asked not to call the Reservation Call Center due to anticipated high call volume. You can read the complete notice from Princess Cruises here, and watch a video statement from Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises, on YouTube. At this time, the cruise line plans to be back in operation beginning with cruises departing on May 11, 2020.
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Not going to lie, I’m waiting to jump on the discounted sailings we’ll see soon to get people back on cruise ships… 🛳
Me too!
Me too! Can’t wait for a good deal!
My friend is set to travel in 2 weeks. He said if his cruise line gets cancelled they promised to refund it and give them a free future cruise! BOGO?! Yes please haha. Not sure if they are even still selling cruise packages right now…
I thought that I was the only one waiting for deals when this is over!
I’m headed out on a Carnival Cruise this Saturday. Let’s just hope they don’t cancel.
we just returned Sunday from a Celebrity Carribean cruise- no issues at all. Loved the whole trip.
So did I and it was great, no issues at all. I’m not sure which ship you were on but the Edge is amazing!
We were scheduled on one of the ones being cancelled. Now we get a full refund plus 100% future cruise credit. I am pretty impressed with how Princess is handling this! However, for those of you looking for “deals,” it may be a while. I have already looked at schedules for the next year and a half, and the cruises are almost all more expensive than the one we had booked so I think Princess at least is going to try and make up for some of their losses that way.
Viking has for 60 days.
I wish they said what the plan is for employees who unexpectedly have 60 days of (unpaid?) time off. I hope those running the company do the right thing.
Omg your right !! We cant forget the people with a mortgage and car payments and kids who need food !!. There are many sides to a story. Lets hope all these companies do the right thing for employees. Starbucks seems to be doing the right thing but havent heard about too many others following suit.
We’re booked on a Disney Cruise May 30th to the Eastern Carribbean. They have offered to rebook us on another cruise in the next 12-month and we can do it up until 2 days before we cruise. We’re waiting to see how things go. I’m on the Facebook chat for our cruise and it seems like a bunch of families have rebooked from other cruises to join ours.
Wonder if I have enough time to book a carnival cruise before they cancel too see what would be offered lol… jk. Kinda…
Royal Caribbean has an 8-day Caribbean cruise for $399 leaving Saturday! I was thinking they were going to close schools today and we would go but the schools announced today that they are staying open. That’s good, right? 😉
Princess is owned by Carnival, so anyone booked on Carnival needs to expect them to follow suit.
We have an Alaskan cruise planned with Princess at end of May. Unfortunately, we have only til end of March to decide if we want to rebook and get 100% towards new booking. I wish we had more time to decide like Disney is offering. It will greatly affect which cruise line we book in future for sure. We really don’t know what to do 🙁
This is a lot better than what royal Caribbean did for us last year when we got stuck aboard the norovirus ship. We got a cruise fare refund but still paid taxes, fees, gratuities & all other expenses (ie-flying there, hotel, rental car & post cruise after we got off early). And no future cruise credit! I was told they’d throw down a bottle of wine next time. Thanks, RCCL
Our wedding is next month with most of our guests flying to the east coast from hawaii and west coast. Our “familymoon” is already canceled and carnival still wouldnt refund! But offered a “$518 future cruise credit that must be used by 3/2021”.. aka we and my sister in law from Hawaii (who is out of $1036…) will not be able to use them bc of kids in school, prices increase and they’re funds are limited for it bc they have to fly to the mainland! We are also not able to go bc of pregnancy and having a newborn! Terrible customer service.
I’m so sorry!
Disney shut down California and Florida Parks. What cruises are you talking about? People, wake up and smell the ‘roses’.