Cruise News and Emirates COVID-19 Coverage: Monday JimBits

Carnival Cruise Line has announced new plans for its fleet that will generate tremendous guest excitement once it resumes sailing, with a confirmed date for an additional Excel-class, LNG-powered ship arriving in November 2022, four ships either sold or put on long term lay-up status, and other ships redeployed to new homeports, as it seeks to leverage its strong network of year-round and seasonal homeports in the U.S. with upgraded offerings. The highlights of the plan include:

· As part of Carnival's 50th birthday in 2022, a November 2022 delivery date for the unnamed, second Excel-class ship has been confirmed from the Meyer Turku shipyard. The sister ship to Mardi Gras will showcase many of her features, including BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, and sail out of PortMiami as previously announced. Carnival said it will open the ship for sale this fall and guests can register to be the "first to know" about the ship's itineraries and special open for sale promotions at www.carnival.com/ship2022.

· As part of Carnival Corporation's recent announcement to reduce its overall capacity and focus on ships with upgraded features, Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration have been sold. Carnival Fascination and Carnival Imagination will move to a long term lay-up status, with no specific timeline identified for a return to operation.

· Carnival Sensation will move from Miami to Mobile and take up itineraries previously assigned to Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Fascination, with guests on those two ships being re-accommodated on Carnival Sensation.

· Carnival Sunrise will move from Port Everglades to PortMiami and assume the itineraries previously operated by Carnival Sensation, providing a larger, upgraded ship for short itineraries with the many new features installed during Carnival Sunrise's $200 million transformation completed in 2019. Guests booked on the Sunrise 4- and 5-day itineraries from Port Everglades will be automatically moved to sailings from PortMiami.

· Carnival Sunrise is part of Carnival's 50th birthday celebration and there will be no changes to her birthday sailing, which is scheduled for March 5, 2022. These special sailings have been in high demand and will feature special entertainment, at-sea ship rendezvous and onboard activities and offerings. For more information on this special group of itineraries in March 2022, please visit www.carnival.com/sailabration.

· Carnival Fascination itineraries from San Juan and Barbados have been cancelled for 2020-2021 as the cruise line focuses its return to operations on mainland drive markets in the U.S.

· Itineraries for Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration from Long Beach have been cancelled through Apr. 19, 2021. Carnival Panorama will continue to operate 7-day cruises from Long Beach while Carnival Miracle will operate shorter itineraries from San Diego to Baja Mexico.

· Carnival Radiance will now move directly from Europe after its $200 million transformation and homeport in Long Beach in April of 2021, where it will assume the short Baja Mexico itineraries previously served by Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration. Guests booked on Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration after April 22, 2021 will be re-accommodated on Carnival Radiance, where they will experience the host of upgrades and new features including Shaq's Big Chicken Restaurant and an expanded waterpark popular with families sailing with children.

· Separately, Carnival also notified its Australian guests that it has extended its pause of operations in that country, and has cancelled six cruises scheduled to operate between Sept. 25 and Oct. 29, 2020.

"We have used this pause in operations to think carefully about our fleet and to build a plan that gives our guests new choices and upgrades to current ship offerings," said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. "We have a great variety of ships across the Carnival Cruise Line fleet and we are thrilled to have been able to confirm a delivery date ahead of what we had anticipated for our second Excel ship, which is exciting news for guests interested in sailing from PortMiami on the sister ship to Mardi Gras! At the same time, we will continue to invest in the four remaining Fantasy class ships that we are keeping in the fleet. We have many guests who prefer our Fantasy class ships which work so well for shorter itineraries from smaller ports that cannot accommodate our larger ships. With a fleet that gives guests lots of choices in ships, homeports, destinations and features including a multitude of dining, entertainment and accommodation choices, we are very excited about the future for Carnival Cruise Line."

Silversea, the leading ultra-luxury cruise line, is extending its 'Cruise with Confidence' program to all voyages departing through April 30, 2021. The company credits the initiative for giving travellers the confidence to make future cruise plans with peace of mind. Launched in early March, the program lets guests cancel their cruise for any reason up to 48 hours prior to sailing and receive a 100% Future Cruise Credit for the amount paid, which can be redeemed up to two years from the date of issue.

Travel Advisor Benefits Too

A demonstration of ongoing support to travel advisors, when guests opt for the Future Cruise Credit and have paid in full, their travel advisor's commission is protected for both the cancelled booking and the future reservation on which the correlating Future Cruise Credit is applied.

Positive Future Outlook

Recent booking trends indicate travellers have growing confidence in departures for summer 2021 and winter 2021/2022. Silversea's extension of the 'Cruise with Confidence' initiative on departures through April 30, 2021, will provide greater confidence to travellers looking to travel in early 2021.

As expected, valued members of Silversea's loyalty program, the Venetian Society, are showing the greatest propensity to book, demonstrating great confidence in the cruise line's healthy return to service, when the time is right.

Popular Destinations

For 2021, 'closer to home' sailings are proving popular, with Americans showing healthy demand for a return to Alaska, and the Mediterranean and Northern Europe proving most popular with our European and British guests. Australians, meanwhile, are keen to sail around Australia and New Zealand. Further afield destinations, including the Galapagos and Antarctica, are also expected to rebound strongly as guests search for nature, wildlife and open spaces.

"We are happy to see these booking patterns that suggest travel advisors and their clients are taking advantage of the policies we have put in place and are looking to the future of cruising with optimism," says Mark Conroy, Silversea's Managing Director for The Americas. "Though these difficult times have created unique challenges for the travel advisor community, by working closely with our travel partners, we will continue to provide the kind of supportive initiatives that can help them succeed."

Double Bonus Offer Extended

Providing a further incentive that can be leveraged by travel advisors, Silversea's popular Double Bonus offer has been extended. The offer features a reduced deposit requirement of USD $1,000 per suite for any new booking made before the new expiration date of August 31, 2020. Guests who redeem this offer will also receive a USD $1,000 Onboard Spending Credit per suite. The Double Bonus offer applies to all Silversea voyages with the exception of full World Cruises and Grand Voyages. Guests in possession of a Future Cruise Credit can also use their credit to take advantage of the offer.

For complete details on Silversea's Cruise with Confidence program, visit:

https://www.silversea.com/lp-trade-CWC-cruise-cancellation-and-commission-protection-guidelines.html

Find out more information about Silversea's Double Bonus initiative:

https://www.silversea.com/best-luxury-cruise-deals/double-bonus.html

Emirates customers can travel with confidence, as the airline will cover medical expenses of up to EUR 150,000 (approximately $230,000 CDN) and quarantine costs of EUR 100 (approximately $155) per day for 14 days, should they be diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel, while they are away from home. This cover is provided by the airline, free of cost to its customers.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Group Chairman and Chief Executive said: "Under the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Emirates is proud to lead the way in boosting confidence for international travel. We know people are yearning to fly as borders around the world gradually re-open, but they are seeking flexibility and assurances should something unforeseen happen during their travel."

He added: "Emirates has worked hard to put in place measures at every step of the customer journey to mitigate risk of infection, and we have also revamped our booking policies to offer flexibility. We are now taking it to the next level, by being the first in the industry to offer our customers free global cover for COVID-19 medical expenses and quarantine costs should they incur these costs during their travel. It is an investment on our part, but we are putting our customers first, and we believe they will welcome this initiative."

First airline in the world to offer free, global cover for COVID-19 related costs

This cover for COVID-19 related medical expenses and quarantine costs is offered by Emirates free of cost to its customers regardless of class of travel or destination. This cover is immediately effective for customers flying on Emirates until 31 October 2020 (first flight to be completed on or before 31 October 2020). It is valid for 31 days from the moment they fly the first sector of their journey. This means Emirates customers can continue to benefit from the added assurance of this cover, even if they travel onwards to another city after arriving at their Emirates destination.

Customers do not need to register or fill in any forms before they travel, and they are not obligated to utilize this cover provided by Emirates.

Any impacted customer who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel simply has to contact a dedicated hotline to avail of assistance and cover.

The hotline number, and details of what COVID-19 related expenses are covered, is available on www.emirates.com/COVID19assistance.

SeaDream has just announced a new policy so you can book with peace of mind.

SeaDream Yacht Club was proud to become the first luxury line back in operation in June. We are now equally proud to announce their new "Ultimate Booking Assurance."

In an article posted on their blog site, SeaDream officials said they "are announcing our new program to allow our guests to book without being concerned about travel restrictions. We think it is wrong that our guests should take the risk and we are now taking that obstacle away:

• For all new bookings only made after July 22, 2020, on voyages that sail prior to June 30, 2021 that are affected by travel restrictions due to Covid-19, we will issue you a full cash refund - or you can get 120% of the amount credited towards a future voyage. You decide.
• But to take it further: if there are no travel restrictions and you don't want to travel anyway, you can do so and we will move your funds to a future date.

And best of all, you do not have to decide until the day of departure.

The fine print? It is not valid for charters, it is for new bookings only, we don't refund hotel/air charges, and we may withdraw this guarantee at any point in time (for future bookings).