Norwegian Announces Three New Itineraries For Summer 2021
Following Royal Caribbean’s lead, Norwegian Cruise Line announced on Tuesday morning that it will begin sailing outside of the U.S. in July with three cruise ships.
Norwegian Jade will sail the Greek Isles from Athens starting July 25. Norwegian Joy will sail seven-night Caribbean cruises from Montego Bay, Jamaica starting on August 7. And Norwegian Gem will operate seven-night Caribbean sailings from Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic starting August 15.
These sailings are open to vaccinated guests.
STORY: Norwegian Cruise Line Announces July, August 2021 Sailings
CDC Indicates Resumption of U.S. Cruising Could Be Soon
In an unexpected development, the CDC released a statement late Tuesday afternoon indicating that a resumption of cruising might be closer than any of us could have predicted… and it seems to have been done in response to a move made by Carnival Cruise Line.
Only hours after the line announced it would be cancelling June sailings and indicated that it might be considering sailing out of foreign ports — a move they’ve so far resisted — the CDC released a statement saying that the agency was “committed to working with the cruise industry and seaport partners to resume cruising following the phased approach outlined in the Conditional Sailing Order.”
While that sounds pretty much like what the CDC’s been saying for months, the second part of the statement was definitely unexpected.
After indicating that they were committed to working with the industry, the statement ended by saying, “This goal aligns with the desire to resume passenger operations in the United States expressed by many major cruise ship operators and travelers, hopefully by mid-summer with restricted revenue sailings.”
For the first time since the shutdown, the CDC seems to be indicating we might just see ships sailing out of U.S. ports this summer after all.
STORY: Did Carnival Just Get the CDC to Back Down? Sailings Could Resume ‘by Mid-Summer’