Update 3/13/20: More cruises now cancelled starting midnight tonight.
At my request, effective midnight tonight, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC have all agreed to suspend outbound cruises for thirty days. It is a great and important industry – it will be kept that way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2020
Update 3/13/20: Disney has cancelled all cruise departures from Sat 3/14 through the end of the month
Update 3/12/20: Viking & Princess cruises have now cancelled. Viking has cancelled all sailings through April 30th and Princess hasn’t set an end date as of yet.
Original post: The U.S. State Department has advised U.S. citizens that they should not be traveling on cruise ships due to COVID-19. Several readers have reached out with existing bookings asking if they are eligible for a refund/credit. This post will try to consolidate information on what each cruise line is offering as a result of COVID-19, some things to keep in mind:
- This is a fluid situation, I expect some cruise lines to change their policy due to the State Departments advice
- Often people book cruise liners through a third party booking agent, in those cases it’s recommended to contact your booking agent directly
Contents
Carnival Cruise Lines
For those that booked before March 6th you can receive a future cruise credit on sailings between now and May 31st, 2020 as long as the cancellation is 3 days before sailing. This credit must be used for a sailing by March 31st, 2021 and must be made by March 31st, 2020.
Celebrity Cruises / Royal Caribbean Cruises
Celebrity Cruises/Royal Caribbean Cruises is offering something called ‘Cruise with Confidence’ cancellation policy. As long as you cancel up to 48 hours before your sailing you’ll receive a 100% future cruise credit for all sailings until 7/31/2020. The future cruise credit must be redeemed on sailings departing on or before December 31st, 2021. If you cancel a Celebrity Cruises cruise then your credit is only good for Celebrity Cruises and not Royal Caribbean and vice versa.
Disney Cruise Line
All Guests scheduled to depart on the Disney Magic between now and May 8, 2020, and the Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wonder between now and May 31, 2020, can change their reservation up until the day before embarkation and receive a 100% cruise credit to be used for a future sailing within 12 months of their original sail date by calling us at 1-866-325-2112 or 407-566-3510 or contacting their travel agent.
Holland America Line
Holland America Line is also offering a ‘cruise with confidence’ program. They are allowing guests to cancel their cruise or Alaska Land+Sea Journey departing through May 31st, 2020. Guests receive a future cruise credit that can be used until December 31st, 2020 (for sailings until December 31st, 2021) as long as a cancellation is made with a minimum of 72 hours in advance of departure date. Cancellations must be made by March 31st, 2020. They are also offering incentives to keep your cruise plans.
Norwegian Cruise Line
For all voyages from March 10th through September 30th guests will have the opportunity to cancel up to 48 hours prior to the sail date and receive a 100% future cruise credit for use on any sailings through December 31st, 2022. This applies to both existing books and new bookings.
Princess Cruises
Princess cruises has a policy, but it’s somewhat complicated. I recommend reading the full policy on their site.
Silversea
Customers can their booking up to 2 days priort to departure and receive a future cruise credit. More information can be found here
Final Thoughts
For now I’ve only listed cruise lines with specific COVID-19 waivers, if you see any that I’ve missed then please let me know in the comments so this post can be updated. It might be worth holding off on cancellations to see if you’re able to get a refund instead of only a credit, although I guess there is also some risk that this credit program will end.
