Princess Cruises Has Canceled Nearly All of Its Cruises Until December

Princess Cruises pushed back sailings for most of its ships through December, the company said this week, extending a pause that has defined the cruising industry for much of 2020.

The decision also comes as the CDC extended its “No-Sail Order” until at least October, months after the agency originally recommended Americans avoid getting on ships.

"We share in our guests' disappointment in canceling these cruises," Jan Swartz, the president of Princess Cruises, said in a statement. "We look forward to the days when we can return to travel and the happiness it brings to all who cruise."

The cruise line will cancel all sailings in Asia, the Caribbean, the California coast, Hawaii, Mexico, the Panama Canal, South America and Antarctica, Japan, Tahiti, and the South Pacific through December 15.

Cruises scheduled in and out of Australia, however, will likely resume in November.

Princess Cruises initially suspended operations back in March.

Passengers who were scheduled to set sail on a canceled itinerary who already paid in full can either request a refund by Aug. 31 or receive a credit for a future cruise plus a 25 percent bonus.

Guests who had not yet paid in full can either request a refund or receive a future cruise credit of double their deposit.

Princess Cruises was hit particularly hard by COVID-19 as it started to spread. The company’s Diamond Princess ship was one of the first cruise ships in the world to experience an outbreak of the virus, forcing a quarantine order in February in Japan. Then in March, passengers on the Grand Princess were quarantined for three days following the death of a passenger who had taken a cruise from San Francisco to Mexico on the same ship the month before.

While Princess Cruises has delayed the resumption of its schedule further than some competitors, the cruise line is not alone in pushing back the start of sailing. Carnival Cruise Line has suspended its operations until the end of September and has even said its ships likely won’t run at full capacity until at least 2022.

And Royal Caribbean has canceled all of its global sailings through September 15.