The impact of the epidemic continues, many cruise companies cancel voyages in the first half of next year

A series of actions by the cruise company seems to have once again clouded the cruise industry, which has just been recovering.

The cruise industry, which has only seen its dawn not long ago, will now be overshadowed by the uncertainty of the epidemic. On August 27, Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruises Group, responded to the Beijing Business Daily that the company has announced the cancellation of the round-the-world route and the circum-South American route of the two cruise ships of Princess Cruises in early 2021. In fact, not only the Princess Cruises, but the British Cunda Cruises and the Miami-based Crystal Cruises all announced in August that they would cancel some of their voyages in early 2021, which has cast a shadow over the recovery of the cruise industry.

Princess Cruises also stated that the cancellation of the 2021 round-the-world route of the Island Princess departing from North America (including related flight segments and the remaining voyage of the previous voyage) and the Pacific Princess 2021 round-the-world route from Australia (including related South American regional routes), while other voyage plans remain the same. At the same time, the company also said that it will further update its operating plan for next year in autumn and winter. As for the changes to some voyages, it is mainly based on the comprehensive decisions made by governments, regions and local health authorities on border and port access restrictions, as well as the changes and updates of international air passenger transport.

It is not only Princess Cruises that canceled some voyages, but other cruise companies are also involved. A reporter from Beijing Business Daily also learned that Cunda Cruises of the United Kingdom has also recently announced that it will suspend some cruises before May 2021. The company wrote on its website: "Cunda Cruises has extended the suspension of operations until March 25, 2021, and the "Queen Mary II" will be suspended until April 18, 2021. "Queen Victoria" Operations will be suspended until May 16, 2021.” Earlier, the Miami-based Crystal Cruises had also announced that it would cancel all cruise bookings before January 2021.

A series of actions by the cruise company seems to have once again clouded the cruise industry, which has just been recovering. It is understood that since the outbreak of the epidemic this year, more than 200 cruise ships around the world have been suspended, including ships of many international cruise companies such as Carnival Group and Royal Caribbean. Although cruise companies such as Dream Cruises under the Genting Group and MSC Mediterranean Cruises in Europe announced the restart of some routes, they are only in areas where the epidemic is well controlled. It is worth mentioning that, according to the latest developments of MSC Mediterranean Cruises, the resumption time of the MSC Mediterranean "Magnificent", which was originally scheduled to restart at the end of August, will also be postponed to September 26 this year. The main reason for the delay in the resumption of flights is the latest epidemic prevention regulations issued by the Italian government recently, which stipulate that all Italian residents returning from Greece must be tested for the new crown virus. Affected by this new regulation, some guests want to cancel their trips, so demand Due to a decrease.

In the opinion of many people in the industry, although many cruise companies have announced their route plans for next year, the impact of the epidemic on the cruise industry will continue, and the exact time is still uncertain.

Wang Xingbin, a senior researcher at the Institute of Chinese Culture and Tourism Industry of Beijing International Studies University, pointed out that cruise ships are relatively closed tourist places, where food and accommodation are all on it. At the same time, cruise ships have to stop at multiple coasts or ports during the journey. During the epidemic prevention process, not only the epidemic prevention of passengers on board is required, but also certain requirements for epidemic prevention at the destination side. Wang Xingbin also said that even if the cruise ship restarts, due to the reduction in the number of international flights and the decline in people’s travel demand, the difficulty of receiving passengers has become a major challenge for the cruise ship’s resumption. “The epidemic previously caused global cruise ships to shut down. From a point of view, the possibility of recovery in the short term is unlikely. It can be seen that the cold winter of the cruise industry will continue."