WHEN CAN WE CRUISE AGAIN?

WE ARE sailing but it’s not full steam ahead yet. Ropes have been cast off and cruising has resumed across Europe, but it’s going to be a slow flow until late 2020.

Set sail in Europe

RIVER cruise company A-Rosa (arosa-cruises.com) began sailing on the Douro, Rhine and Danube this week and its French itineraries along the Rhone and Seine will be phased in next month. With Eurostar trains running from London to Paris and Amsterdam, river cruising in Europe will offer early opportunities.

The joy of Norway

MS FINNMARKEN was the first cruise ship to return and this week the Hurtigruten vessel (hurtigruten.co.uk) departed from Bergen on a 12-day coastal voyage with mainly Norwegian guests, so avoiding air travel or quarantine rules. International travellers will not be able to enter the country until August 20.

Head further afield

MEXICO will welcome back cruise ships in July, while Australia and Canada have banned those carrying more than 100 people until September and the end of October respectively.

Summer hopes

MSC Cruises (msccruises.co.uk) has earmarked July 31 for its 27-strong fleet to get back to sea, while Crystal Cruises (crystalcruises.com) has August 8 as its first sailing date. Cruise & Maritime Voyages (cruiseand maritimevoyages.com) has extended its suspension to August 25 while Saga (travel. saga.co.uk) has announced September 1 for its return. The firm is also looking at cruises with no ports of call and more British itineraries. Viking Cruises (vikingcruises.co.uk) plans to re-start on August 31.

Paused until autumn

NORWEGIAN Cruise Line (ncl.com), Oceania (oceaniacruises.com) and Regent (rssc.com) have extended their pause until September 30. Royal Caribbean (royalcaribbean.com) and Princess Cruises (princess.com) will not return until autumn. P&O (pocruises.com) has set a re-start date of October 15 and Cunard (cunard.com) has pushed back until November.