Royal Caribbean joins cruise line operators canceling stops in Russia
The world’s largest cruise lines are canceling their planned stops in all Russian ports, citing safety concerns and to protest the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Royal Caribbean International said Wednesday that it would join the growing list of cruise operators that will forgo Russian ports during the upcoming summer cruising season. St. Petersburg, Russia, is a popular port of call for Baltic Sea cruises.
“With the recent events, we have made the decision to cancel our visits to St. Petersburg, Russia on all Summer 2022 itineraries,” the company said in a statement. “We have planned alternative ports and will communicate itinerary changes in the next few days to our guests and travel partners,” adding that customers can reschedule their cruises.
MSC Cruises said it would not be visiting Russia, posting a statement online on Tuesday saying it had “suspended its ships’ calls to St. Petersburg, Russia, due to recent developments in the region and related security concerns.” The company said it had four ships that had St. Petersburg on their summer 2022 itinerary in the Baltic Sea from May through October and that the cruise line was looking into “alternative” port options such as Stockholm, Helsinki, and Tallinn, Estonia.
MSC Cruises’ sister company, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which is the world’s largest container ship operator, also announced a temporary stoppage on all cargo ship bookings to and from Russia, effective immediately.
“MSC will continue to accept and screen bookings for delivery of essential goods such as food, medical equipment and humanitarian goods,” the company said in a statement. “MSC has been closely monitoring the advice from governments about new sanctions, following the February 2022 conflict in Ukraine, and has been operating shipping and inland services to and from Russia in full compliance with international sanctions measures, applicable to it.”
On Saturday, Carnival Corporation — the world’s largest cruise operator — said that none of its nine brands will be stopping in Russia this upcoming summer cruising season.
“In light of the recent attacks by Russia in Ukraine, Carnival Corporation brands will be modifying our itineraries in the coming week once alternative ports can be confirmed. We stand for peace,” the company said on its Twitter page.
Norwegian Cruise Lines said in an email statement to the Miami Herald on Tuesday that it would remove Russian ports for NCL ships from its itineraries.
“Due to the escalated situation between Russia and Ukraine, we have made the decision to alter itineraries and remove calls to St. Petersburg, Russia from our 2022 sailings,” NCL said in a statement. The cruise line said it was working on finding other ports to visit instead.
“It is disappointing because St. Petersburg is one of the crown jewels of the Scandinavian itineraries. But certainly, there are alternatives,” said Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ president and CEO Frank Del Rio during the company’s earnings call last week, when the company was still speculating it would have to cancel their ships’ stops in Russia.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 5:50 PM.
