Saga Cruises announced that the company has completed the sale of it’s cruise ship Saga Sapphire to the Turkish tour operator Anex Tour. The ship will reenter service in 2021 under the name Blue Sapphire operating for the new cruise line Anex Tour in the Eastern Mediterranean. The sale was revealed by Saga Cruises in 2019 after Anex Tour announced it would acquire the vessel.
Ten new joiners, members of the crew of AIDA Cruises who were scheduled to board AIDAmar and AIDAblu in Rostock tested positive for Covid-19, reports the German TV and radio station NDR. In a press conference, the news was announced by the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LAGuS) on Friday.
Norwegian Cruise Line announced that the company is working on a comprehensive and multi-faceted set of new and enhanced health and safety protocols to address the challenges of the global pandemic. According to the company, these new protocols will be designed to meet or exceed required global public health standards for guests boarding NCL ships as well as the safety of its crew.
P&O Cruises Australia announced the company will extend its pause in operations across Australia and New Zealand to October 29, 2020 in response to the latest impact of the global pandemic. The cruise line said it will extend its pause in operations for an extra 42 days to what had previously been announced.
TUI Cruises is canceling the announced restart of the cruise ship Mein Schiff 1, who was scheduled to resume cruises on July 31, according to the German media. The poplar cruise blog Schiffe und Kreuzfahrten reports that the reason for canceling the first “Blue Cruise” is because the company has a problem bringing back crew on board on time due to global travel restrictions.
The British company South Quay Travel & Leisure Ltd. has filed for bankruptcy, this announcement affects the cruise operator Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), a brand of South Quay Travel. All planned CMV cruises have been canceled.
The Greek cruise line Celestyal Cruises announced today that the company have entered into agreements with Costa Cruises for the acquisition of Costa NeoRomantica. An agreement with Costa Crociere SpA for the acquisition of the Costa neoRomantica cruise ship on favorable terms has been signed through its subsidiary Louis Group.
As part of the announced plan by Carnival Corporation for “capacity optimization”, Holland America Line has officially announced that four of its ships have been sold and will be transferring to two buyers in the following months
Holland America Line sold two out of four R Class mid-size ships, ms Amsterdam and ms Rotterdam, as well as the remaining Statendam class ships the Rotterdam and Veendam.
The Italian cruise line Costa Cruises plans to resume sailings on seven of it’s cruise ships by the end of January 2021. According to the presentation, in the first phase of the plan only Italian guests will board the cruise ships, with limited occupancy and strict health and safety protocols. The first ships to resume cruising will sail round trips to Italian ports and with a possible stop in Valleta, Malta, according to the plan.
During the International Maritime Summit on Crew Changes hosted by the UK yesterday, government representatives from 12 countries express their appreciation to seafarers and pledge to urgently resolve issues that have arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic and crew changes.
