Cruise ships cancelled until end of April

The first cruise ship of the season – which was due to arrive on Friday – had already been cancelled. But now more sweeping cancellations have taken place.

‘Due to the global outbreak of Covid-19, travel restrictions imposed by the States of Guernsey require all persons arriving in the Bailiwick from anywhere else in the world to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival,’ the States of Guernsey has said.

‘These restrictions mean that all cruise ship calls are currently cancelled until 30 Apr at the earliest. Please note that some cruise operators have suspended operations past 30 April.’

Cruise ships usually only stop in the Bailiwick for a few hours.

The move means that nine further cruise ships, which were due to visit in April, have been cancelled. They would have brought up to 17,000 people to the island.

A couple of others later in the season have also cancelled, but most of the schedule is still in place.

The largest vessel that was set to visit during April was the P&O Britannia, which can carry more than 4,000 people and was due to arrive on 18 April. The P&O Ventura and P&O Aurora were also set to visit the island during April.

P&O has temporarily suspended all new cruise operations until 11 April.

‘We shall be bringing our ships and all guests who are currently sailing back to Southampton and will constantly monitor the situation over the coming weeks,’ a P&O spokesperson said.

‘As ever, our priority remains the health and wellbeing of our guests and crew. We wholeheartedly wish you well in the coming months and hope we will have the opportunity to welcome you on board with us again as soon as the situation has improved.’

The MS Queen Victoria, which is operated by Cunard, was also set to visit.

Cunard has suspended all its bookings until 11 April and offered cruisers a 125% cruise credit. For sailings after 11 April, passengers are allowed to change their bookings, although the company is hoping to operate sailings from mid-April.