TUI's cruise line Marella Cruises has announced that it will be retiring one of its cruise ships early due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Marella Dream is being retired from the fleet after nearly 10 years of service.
Chris Hackney, Managing Director of Marella Cruises, said that the "difficult decision" to make big changes to its programme came due to "the ongoing travel restrictions for UK cruise lines still in place".
All of Marella Dream's itineraries and sailings due to take place from the 26th October 2020 and beyond will be cancelled.
Meanwhile, her summer 2021 sailings are being moved to cruise ship Marella Discovery, with the latter being redeployed from Europe instead of the USA.
The new itineraries will see her sail from Palma instead of Port Canaveral, meaning that all of her USA sailings planned for summer 2021 have been cancelled.
Affected customers for both Marella Dream and Marella Discovery cancellations will be contacted and offered two options; amend to any cruise currently on sale for free with a 10% booking incentive, or cancel and receive a full refund.
The cruise line, like many others, has currently been forced to pause operations as a result of travel restrictions during the pandemic, and has cancelled all sailings up to and including the 15th November 2020.
Passengers with cruises due to depart between 16th November 2020 and 31st March 2021 are being offered the option to amend their holiday for free, to any TUI holiday on sale. (This needs to be done before the 31st October).
However, the company previously revealed what it plans for future cruises in terms of new health and safety measures for passengers and crew, as well as what social distancing would look like on board.
It's worth noting that at the time of writing, the FCDO currently advises against cruise ship travel. You should check the latest FDCO cruise advice for more information.
