Cruise ships with confirmed COVID-19 cases during coronavirus pandemic
Thousands of cruise ship passengers and crew members have fallen ill with COVID-19 since the global coronavirus pandemic began.
Major cruise industry players like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian have all seen cases within their fleets.
Cruise ships like
- the Diamond Princess,
- the Grand Princess,
- the Ruby Princess,
- the Oasis of the Seas, and
- the Zaandam
became the focus of international headlines after crew members and passengers fell ill with COVID-19.
Those widely-publicized outbreaks
have helped to upend the entire seafaring business, with shares plummeting for industry giants like Carnival.
And government officials in the United States have taken action by extending a no-sail order for cruises for at least another three months.
It is likely that the number of COVID-19 cases linked to cruise ship crew members and passengers
will only go up in the weeks to come, as thousands of crew members are still stranded on stricken ships.
Business Insider
Cruise ship bookings are increasing for 2021 despite coronavirus
Despite multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 on cruise ships in 2020, bookings for cruises are already on the rise of 2021, according to multiple reports.
In the past 45 days — as multiple cruise ships had serious COVID-19 outbreaks onboard — the cruise booking site CruiseCompete.com saw a 40% increase in its bookings for 2021 over its 2019 bookings.
A recent report from UBS also found that 76% of the people who had a canceled cruise in 2020 have chosen to accept credit towards a future cruise in 2021 as opposed to 24% who accepted a refund.
The loyalty of many cruise lines’ customer base and the rise in bookings even in the midst of a pandemic show a sliver of hope for an embattled industry.
– Business Insider