P & O CANCEL SUMMER 2021 HOLIDAYS

P&O Cruises recently announced that all international voyages would be cancelled until at least late August. This comes as another blow to the cruising industry, which at present has a somewhat uncertain future, with some companies selling off part of their fleet.

It is still unknown what changes will be made when cruising finally resumes to ensure passenger safety whilst still allowing cruisers to have an enjoyable holiday without feeling restricted.

Riviera FM spoke with a Carnival House Customer Relations Manager, who commented that it was still ‘unknown’ what changes would be made. It is understood that a complete review of services to be offered has to be undertaken, to protect both staff and clients.

P & O are however planning a number of UK cruises that they are hoping to be able to offer to their customers this summer. However this will depend entirely on how the Coronavirus pandemic progresses.

IMAGE: Jay Richards

Currently the majority of cruise companies are keeping their vessels in what has been named ‘warm storage’, meaning that they maintain a small number of staff on board each ship and maintain normal ship wide operation, with engines running.  Each ship has approx 100-150 crew still on board, needed to keep the ship running even though no passengers are on board.

Whilst costing a lot of money to do this in fuel etc.. the cost of this as opposed to putting their ships in ‘cold storage’, where the ship is completely shut down, engines and sanitisation systems switched off and emptied of crew. Warm Storage costs less due to the expense of not having to shut down and restart these systems (including navigational, power generators as well as on board air conditioning).