P&O Cruises cancels all sailings until early next year
Carnival-owned P&O Cruises today announced that all of its cruises would be cancelled until the new year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, the group said that all the ferry company’s Caribbean cruises would be scrapped until the end of January, while all sailings to and from Southampton are cancelled throughout February.
Shares in the firm rose 3.3 per cent on the back of the news.
P&O president Paul Ludlow said that the decision had been made due to the continued restrictions on travel in and out of the UK.
“With evolving restrictions on travel from the UK, unfortunately it is necessary to cancel these itineraries”, he said.
“These further cancellations vary according to ship as well as complexity and length of itineraries, advice and guidance regarding ports of call and current air availability for fly/cruises.
“We are continuing to monitor the overall situation closely and will certainly reintroduce cruises should the opportunity arise and it is feasible to do so.”
The decision is yet more bad news for Carnival, which earlier this week announced a $2.9bn third quarter loss due to the pandemic.
Since March, the firm has been forced into a rolling series of cancellations of cruise lines such as Cunard, and dropped out of the FTSE 100 as a result of the financial impact of the crisis.
The firm, which has already raised billions in debt, also announced that it was planning to raise a further $1bn through a stock offering.
In order to restart sailings, Ludlow added that P&O was working with “most brilliant minds in science as well as government at the highest level” on health and safety protocols.
“We cannot wait for restrictions to ease, borders to open and for us to once again be able to set sail for a new beginning”, he finished.