Princess Cruises pauses voyages for 2 months
Two recent trips suffered outbreaks, leaving passengers in quarantine
Princess Cruises canceled all its voyages for the next two months and will cut short some current trips, after two of its ships suffered coronavirus outbreaks.
The suspension applies to voyages departing March 12 to May 10, Princess said Thursday. The cruise line is owned by Carnival Corp. Current trips with less than five days remaining will continue, but those extending beyond March 17 will be cut short.
Two Princess Cruises ships— one in Japan in January and another in California—have had to halt trips and quarantine thousands of passengers because of the illness. The U.S. State Department has advised Americans not to take cruises and bookings have plunged, industry executives say.
Shares of Carnival, the world’s biggest cruise operator, tumbled 15% in early trading on Thursday as U.S. stocks continue their descent into the bear market. Entering Thursday, the stock had fallen 62% so far this year.
The cruise operator and the industry, along with much of the travel sector, has suffered from the fallout from the pandemic. Over the weekend several Princess Cruises were delayed or canceled after U.S. health officials required testing of crew members. On Wednesday, President Trump said the U.S. would restrict air travel from much of Europe.
Princess Cruises, which has 18 ships, is in the midst of removing passengers from the Grand Princess in Oakland, Calif., where at least 21 people have tested positive for the new virus. A passenger on a previous sailing of the Grand Princess died in California. Hundreds became ill in January aboard the Diamond Princess before they were disembarked in Japan.
Before canceling its sailings, Princess Cruises had tried to reassure customers by implementing new preboarding screenings, increased sanitizing of its vessels and checking passenger temperatures.
Cruise business leaders were in Washington on Wednesday to discuss with government officials a proposal that would include restricting people over the age of 70 unless they have a doctor’s note and those with chronic illnesses from boarding ships, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“It was getting too much for our brand,” a senior Princess official said Thursday.
“We tried to play it by the book with the Diamond and Grand Princess, but we were not prepared for something like this and neither were the health authorities in Japan and the U.S.”