MIAMI — Norwegian Cruise Line canceled voyages on eight cruise ships, nearly half its fleet, after one of its ships on Wednesday returned early to Miami due to a COVID-19 outbreak among crew members.
It’s the first mass cancellation of cruises by a major global cruise line since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, when cruise lines abruptly halted and didn’t operate for over a year. The rapidly spreading omicron variant that emerged in the United States in late November has hammered the cruise industry, as well as many other business sectors.
Norwegian said certain ships only will stop sailing the remainder of January, while others will suspend trips through late April. Miami-based Norwegian, the world’s third-largest cruise line, operates 17 cruise ships. All booked passengers will get a full refund plus a certificate for a future voyage.
“Our first priority is the health and safety of our guests, crew and the communities we visit,” the company said in a statement. “Due to ongoing travel restrictions, we’ve had to modify a few sailings and unfortunately have had to cancel” certain voyages.
In recent weeks, several U.S. cruise ships hit with COVID-19 outbreaks have been denied entry to ports in Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire and Cartagena, concerning cruise industry leaders.
“The one worry, I’ll be honest, is that a number of destinations in the Caribbean are concerned and denying entry to cruise ships,” said Brian Salerno, senior vice president of maritime policy at Cruise Lines International Association, the cruise industry’s largest trade group.
“There’s an ongoing effort to work with Caribbean destinations,” Salerno said. “Cruise ships need places to sail to. Arriving at ports and getting turned away at the last minute is a very difficult thing for cruise ships to deal with.”
On top of turning around the Norwegian Pearl on the second day of an 11-day Caribbean cruise and arriving Wednesday back at PortMiami, the company also canceled a Jan. 5 voyage on Norwegian Getaway. Many of those passengers got notice of the cancellation on the morning the cruise was supposed to depart, after some of them had already traveled to Miami from around the country.
Since Dec. 18, Royal Caribbean has experienced coronavirus outbreaks on at least three ships that left Florida ports, and Carnival Freedom also had infections occur during a voyage from Miami. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said between Dec. 15 and 29 there were 5,013 cases of COVID-19 among passengers and crew members on cruise ships, compared to just 162 in the previous two weeks.
Despite the resurgence of the pandemic disease and the Dec. 30 CDC advisory for people to avoid cruising this winter no matter their vaccination status, other major cruise lines as of Thursday had no plans to cancel voyages.
A spokesperson for Miami-based Carnival Cruise Line said all the ships are sailing as scheduled, acknowledging that even with the requirement for passengers over age 12 to be fully vaccinated, and other strict public safety measures in place, it’s “possible” there will be coronavirus infections on board.
Officials at MSC and Royal Caribbean on Thursday did not immediately respond to questions about potential cancellations. However, a reporter called reservations lines for the cruise lines and found out both don’t anticipate any cancellations in voyages from South Florida.
Royal Caribbean did cancel a Jan. 6 cruise on Spectrum of the Seas in Hong Kong, according to Reuters. MSC and several other operators canceled cruises in Brazil through Jan. 21, according to local media in Brazil.
Cruises on the following Norwegian ships are canceled until the listed date:
•Norwegian Pearl cruises through and including Jan. 14;
•Norwegian Sky cruises through and including Feb. 25;
•Pride of America cruises through and including Feb. 26;
•Norwegian Jade cruises through and including March 3;
•Norwegian Star cruises through and including March 19;
•Norwegian Sun cruises through and including April 19;
•Norwegian Spirit cruises through and including April 23.
