Carnival’s Diamond Princess cruise delays return to sailing in the spring

August 25 (Reuters) – The Diamond Princess cruise, which became one of the first outbreaks for coronavirus infections when the pandemic erupted last year, will delay its return to navigation in the spring of 2022, said boat operator Princess Cruises on Wednesday.

Princess Cruises, owned by Carnival Corp (CCL.N), said it had canceled the ship’s planned autumn cruise to South America, which was to mark its return to service. He also canceled the ship’s trip to Antarctica which was scheduled for spring next year.

Now, the ship will return next year for a season of voyages to Japan, the country where it was stranded last year after hundreds of infections on board. At that time, the ship had the highest concentration of cases outside of China.

Carnival did not respond to a request for comment on the reason for the delay in the resumption of cruises by Diamond Princess.

A passenger on one of the company’s cruise ships, Carnival Vista, died earlier this month after testing positive for COVID-19.

Princess Cruises, which resumed sailing last month, also delayed the return of service from its Island Princess cruise.

Uday Sampath reports in Bengaluru; Edited by Shinjini Ganguli

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