Most major cruise lines have voluntarily suspended sailings through at least September 15, 2020, some longer. Alaska & New England cruises have been cancelled for the season. There are a few exceptions. Paul Gaugin plans to start sailing in Tahiti in mid-July, as does American Cruise Line along the U.S. rivers. For a full update, please read over our post When Will Cruises Resume.
In other cruise news, Carnival Cruise Lines has plans to dispose of six ships that are expected to be removed from its fleet within 90 days. The oldest ships are the eight Fantasy-class vessels that were built in the 1990s. Removing ships from the fleet is part of Carnival Corporation’s capacity – optimization strategy for its return to operations. When sailing resumes, ships will be deployed in a phased manner based on specific ships and brands, from a select number of easily accessible homeports.
Windstar Cruises is adding a new Spanish restaurant on 3 of their ships. The reservation is called Cuadro 44 by Anthony Sasso. Star Breeze was the first to introduce this flavorful and varied cooking of Spain, with Star Legend and Star pride following. No chef better embodies its cutting edge yet rustic cuisine than Sasso, who earned his reputation while overseeing the kitchen at Casa Mono in New York. The appetizer presentation will be “small bites” of very typical Spanish foods like a tapas bar in Spain.
During Oasis of the Seas renovations, Royal Caribbean added its first barbeque restaurant to the fleet. Portside BBQ is a specialty restaurant that offers slow cooked, smoked meats that are popular across the United States. Everything is a la carte, which means you pay for what you order at the counter and take your order to your table. Portside BBQ has three menus to match serving times: lunch, dinner and late-night.
Seabourn Cruises Expedition vessels introduces the Constellation Lounge, a viewing lounge located on deck 9 and forward with breathtaking sights into the most remote destinations of the world. Designed along the lines of the Observation Bar, found on every ship in the Seabourn fleet, the Constellation Lounge will debut with the launch of Seabourn Venture in June of 2021 and follow on her sister ship in May of 2022. The name of the new lounge reflects the heavenly direction of the space, which has constellation- inspired interiors including dark carpeting with bright constellation patterns. Floor-to ceiling glass walls will wrap around the space offering 270-degree, outward facing views.
Virgin Voyages, “Scarlet Lady” is a brand new ship that is schedule to set sail on October 16th. They will new health protocol in places including Her ATmosAir purification system is specifically designed to work as a proactive agent in combatting viruses, bacteria and germs that disinfects air on board by leveraging bipolar ionization technology. The system has been tested by Michrochem Laboratory and is 99.9% effective in neutralizing the coronavirus. It is probably on of the most effective means of sanitizing or disinfecting the air in a continuous fashion.
The original date of this post was March 31, 2020. We are updating information frequently as news is released by the cruise lines.
