The travel and insurance company for the over-50s, Saga, cancelled all cruises until May 2020 in response to the growing Coronavirus (COVID-19) threat.
Saga Cruises said its decision had been sparked by the latest travel advice of the government, which stated that people over 70 and those with pre-existing health conditions should avoid cruises after several ships around the world had been locked down due to Coronavirus outbreaks onboard.
Saga added it would temporarily suspend its voyages for 6 weeks until May 1 and would be offering clients a full refund or credit for future cruises. It said the move would result in a GBP 10-15 million loss in pre-tax profit for the cruise business and it would take additional action, such as cost-cutting, if necessary.
“The health and safety of customers and colleagues is our number one priority. We have, therefore, made the decision to temporarily suspend operations of our cruises until 1 May 2020. Our customer service teams will be in contact with cruise customers who were due to travel in the next six weeks to offer them either a full refund or a credit for a future departure.”
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.