This month Royal Caribbean International marks one year since the successful restart of cruise operations, an important milestone worth celebrating. The company and its crew made extraordinary efforts to start cruising again with Quantum of the Seas, the first ship to make a comeback since the industry shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the great experience and the “amazing response” to this summer’s inaugural season around the British Isles, MSC Cruises announced the return of MSC Virtuosa to Southampton for the next summer, 2022 offering 20 voyages across Europe.    

The second Carnival Cruise Line ship to visit Jamaica, since the restart of the cruise industry is Carnival Glory, stopping for the first time in the beautiful Montego Bay in Jamaica. The comeback of the Conquest-class vessel was on1st of December,  following other Carnival ships scheduled to bring back the fun on the Caribbean ports.

The UK Government tightened travel restrictions on cruise ships as fears grew about the Omicron impact on the country's ongoing Covid surge. The new regulation which was passed on November 30, states that cruise passengers will not be allowed to go out in UK ports for organized shore excursions or independent shore excursions. Passengers on all cruise ships touring the UK can only embark and disembark at the end of the voyage.

Despite the tentative signs of a cruise restart in Australia, P&O Cruises extended the pause in operations further until 3rd of March, 2022, since the governments continues to hesitate about restarting the cruise industry. Extension in cruise operations refers to voyages departing from 15th of February, 2022 to 3rd of March, 2022 from Sydney and Brisbane.

The former Costa Cruises classic ship Costa neoRomantica is the latest vessel heading for the scrapyard. Gadani Ship Breaking Yard reported that the cruise ship is set to arrive at the scrapyard in Pakistan with her beaching expected this week. A video was posted on the company’s Facebook page showing for the last time the elegant interior of the magnificent ship serving in the Costa Cruises fleet since 1993.

Carnival Cruise Line announced cancellation of two upcoming sailings on the Carnival Horizon due to an issue the ship is experiencing, affecting its maximum cruising speed. Cancelation notice by the cruise line said that Carnival Horizon 6-Night Eastern Caribbean cruise on December 5, and 8-Night Southern Caribbean cruise on December 11, departing from Miami are now cancelled. The ship will head for dry dock in order to fix the technical issues and will resume cruises operations on December 19.

The MSC cruise ship MSC Orchestra is still scheduled to arrive in Durban, on the planned roundtrips in the Indian Ocean starting December 2021 until April 2022.

Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald was open for issues that are not clear for the ones interested in cruising, answering many questions recently, referring to the increased capacity, pier-side testing, football and more. 

Norwegian Cruise Line announced cancelations of five South Africa sailings on the Norwegian Jade with embarkation dates from December 3, 2021, through January 26, 2022. An NCL spokesperson said that the reason for the latest cancelation is the safety of the guests, crew and communities they visit, as the company’s highest priority.