There will be no major cruises in Canada this year, as the Canadian government extended its ban on cruise operations until February 2022.
The extension of the ban complicates cruise operators’ efforts to restart travel in North America this year, extending their hiatus since travel was halted in March 2020 due to coronavirus outbreaks on ships. The ban was scheduled to expire later this month.
The Canadian measure applies to cruise ships carrying 100 or more people and prohibits passenger ships carrying more than 12 people from entering Arctic coastal waters, including Nunatsiavut, Nunavik and the Labrador Coast, said the Canadian minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra. Recreational vessels looking for adventure are also prohibited from entering Arctic waters, he added.
“Temporary bans for cruise ships and recreational vessels are essential to continue to protect the most vulnerable among our communities and to avoid overloading our health systems,” said Mr. Alghabra. “This is the right and responsible thing to do.”
Cruises from US regions, such as New England and Alaska, stopover in Canada. Canadian ports reported visits by more than 1 million cruise passengers in 2019, mainly to Vancouver and ports in Canada’s maritime provinces.
Cruise Lines International Association members served 29.7 million passengers in 2019, more than half of whom were from North America.
The protracted ban is the latest in a series of measures by the Canadian government to restrict travel to and from the country in an attempt to mitigate the spread of new variants of the coronavirus. Although Covid-19’s case count is retreating from peaks in early January, the vaccine’s launch in Canada has been much slower than expected. The Canadian vaccination rate is behind most advanced economies, including the United States and the United Kingdom
Those who violate the ban on boarding passengers can be fined up to 1 million Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $ 779,000, imprisoned for up to 18 months, or both, the government said. Cruise ships carrying 100 or fewer people will be subject to protocols by local health officials, the government said.
Local Arctic residents’ vessels used for essential transport, subsistence fishing, harvesting and hunting will not be subject to the measures, according to the government.
Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Group RCL operators 2.05%
and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.
NCLH 3.35%
canceled their travels in the USA until April 30. Carnival Corp.
CCL 2.98%
Chief Executive Arnold Donald was aiming to resume service for all ships by the end of the year, he said in January.
Travel time to the U.S. ultimately depends on receiving a license from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which requires operators to undertake mock travel and apply for a certificate at least 60 days before offering cruises to passengers. . Like the Canadian government, the CDC discourages cruise travel.
Over nearly five decades, Carnival has built up a global fleet of cruise ships. But in the face of a pandemic, health officials and passengers are questioning whether operators like Carnival can safely sail in the future. Carter McCall of WSJ explains. Photo: Getty Images
—Jacquie McNish contributed to this article.
Write to Dave Sebastian at [email protected]
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