British cruise line Cunard won’t sail until spring 2021, with some cruises canceled into May
British cruise line Cunard, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp., has extended its pause in operations until spring 2021, according to a release.
“After very careful consideration and reviewing the latest guidance, we simply do not feel it would be sensible to start sailing again with our current schedule so we have reviewed future itineraries,” Simon Palethorpe, president of Cunard, said in the release.
Cunard’s three ships, the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria, all have different restart dates.
The Queen Mary 2 is scheduled to sail again on April 18 and the Queen Victoria won’t sail until May 16. And although the Queen Elizabeth’s operational pause ends March 25, the vessel won’t sail any of its scheduled itineraries.
“Queen Elizabeth has returned to the U.K. and with ongoing uncertainty over the re-opening of many ports and countries, it is sadly not practical to continue her planned itineraries for 2021,” Palethorpe said in the release. “Therefore, in addition to the pause in operations, all of Queen Elizabeth’s sailings due to depart between March 26, 2021, and December 13, 2021, in and around Australia, Japan and Alaska, will be canceled.”
Instead, the Queen Elizabeth will have a new schedule.
The canceled voyages are to be replaced by shorter European-centric trips around Cornwall in southwestern England, the Scottish Isles and the west coast of Ireland There will also be trips to Amsterdam with an overnight in the city and trips to other European destinations including Spain’s Iberian coast and Norway. All the new itineraries vary from three to 14 nights and will depart from Southampton beginning at the end of March.
The line has made changes to the itineraries for Queen Elizabeth’s sister ships as well.
“Additionally, recognizing the immense disappointment of those on board Queen Mary 2’s curtailed World Voyage this year, and the cancellation of her World Voyage in 2021, we are delighted that Queen Mary 2 will sail a classic World Voyage in 2022,” Palethorpe said. “This will replace her scheduled sailings departing Jan, 3, 2022 to April 3, 2022, including the voyage to South America.”
The 118-night voyage will depart from New York City and will stop at ports around the globe including Hong Kong, Greece, Dubai and Sri Lanka among others.
The cruise line, which had previously suspended operations until November, announced the further extension of their suspension in accordance with guidance from the U.K. Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) on the complexity of operating world voyages, Cunard said. The FCO’s travel advice posted on their website currently advises against cruise ship travel.
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