Starting from December 3 2020 until February 21 2021, Costa Cruises flagship Costa Smeralda will sail one-week itineraries dedicated exclusively to Italy. The cruises which can be divided into two short voyages of three and four days will depart from Civitavecchia.  

The Royal Caribbean Group subsidiary - Pullmantur Cruises, is making great progress in an attempt to come back to cruising with two ships that might be obtained from Celebrity Cruises.

The Southampton-based cruise line P&O Cruises announced it will extend the pause in operations into April 2021, which will affect 19 planned voyages.

MSC Cruises announced today that the company has received ‘certificate of compliance’ from the Japanese maritime classification society ClassNK for its health and safety protocol which is the first step towards the restart of cruises in Japan. In a press release, MSC Cruises CEO Gianni Onorato said they are anticipating to resume cruises from Japan in  April 2021.

A 43-year-old crew member of the cruise ship Marella Discovery was medically evacuated on Saturday night while the vessel was anchored in Weymouth Bay on England's south coast. The crew member, whose name was not released, fell ill with suspected meningitis, reports Weymouth RNLI lifeboat station.

Princess Cruises announced today that the company is canceling voyages on all 15 ships in the fleet through March 31, 2021. In a press release, the company said the reason for extending its pause in global operations is to allow more time for the preparation needed for completing required activities by the CDC "Framework for Conditional Sailing Order" prior to sailing and taking into consideration the temporary seven-day cruises cap on itineraries that call at a U.S. port. 

Holland America Line is getting ready for a big comeback in the United States. In a letter sent to the employees, Holland America Line President Gus Antorcha said that after CDC issued a framework for conditional sailing, which allows eventual resumption of cruising, the company will deploy six ships in the U.S. waters in the coming weeks.

Reportedly, the Marella Cruises ship Marella Dream has been sold for scrap and will be heading to the Aliaga ship-breaking yard in Turkey. 

Several news sources reported that the Bahamas Paradise cruise ship MS Grand Celebration, was sold for scrap for an undisclosed sum and the vessel is heading to the world's largest ship breaking yard Alang-Sosiya in India.

Costa Cruises has been awarded among 400 “Italy’s Best Employers 2021”, reaching the first position in the “Restaurants, tourism and hotels” category and an overall 3rd position as best company to work in Italy. The “Corriere della Sera” published the results of the survey in the weekly newspaper "L'Economia", which involved more than twelve thousand employees, interviewed through an Online Access Panel and Statista, a German digital platform which collected and analyzed the data from different business sectors.