The second largest cruise company in the world, Princess Cruises, has cancelled all sailings of its eighteen cruise ships until 11 May due to the coronavirus outbreak. Current voyages underway and that extend beyond 17 March will be ended at the most convenient location for guests.
‘Princess Cruises is a global vacation company that serves more than 50,000 guests daily from seventy countries as part of our diverse business, and it is widely known that we have been managing the implications of COVID-19 on two continents,’ says Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises.
‘By taking this bold action of voluntarily pausing the operations of our ships, it is our intention to reassure our loyal guests, team members and global stakeholders of our commitment to the health, safety and well-being of all who sail with us, as well as those who do business with us, and the countries and communities we visit around the world,’ he adds.
Diamond Princess
At the beginning of February, the Diamond Princess was placed under quarantine by the Japanese authorities in the port of Yokohama after the coronavirus broke out onboard. More than seven hundred people on board turned out to be infected.
Transfer to future cruise
For those impacted, Princess offers to transfer the money paid for a cancelled cruise to a future cruise of choice. The company will add an additional future cruise credit benefit which can be applied to the cruise fare. This will also be offered to those who had made final payment and cancelled their booking on or after 4 February 2020.
