P&O Cruises Extends Suspension of Sailings Until April 2021

P&O Cruises has extended the pause in its operations, revealing it will now only resume sailings in April 2021.

The cruise line made the tough decision in response to continued uncertainty around European cruise ports, with many European countries not on the UK's travel corridor list.

P&O Cruises was due to resume operations in early 2021, but has since cancelled all its sailings through to April.

"With hopeful news headlines clearly we do not want to extend our pause in operations any further than absolutely necessary, but given the ever-changing guidance around international travel and the varying regulations in many European ports of call we felt it prudent to cancel these additional dates," said P&O Cruises president, Paul Ludlow.

“In addition, as the final payments are due for these cruises very soon we felt it was the right thing to do for our guests.

“We are so sorry to disappoint those who were due to travel but really hope they will re-book for later in the year or for our new programme of 2022 holidays which went on sale earlier this month with strong demand, showing great confidence in cruising in the future.”

Guests booked onto a now-cancelled cruise will be notified, and will automatically receive Future Cruise Credit valued at 125 per cent of their original fare – meaning they could book a better cabin grade or choose a more enticing destination when re-booking.

Affected passengers are also able to get a refund of 100 per cent of the original fare, by filling out a web form.

In a statement on their website regarding the new proposed restart date, P&O Cruises wrote: "P&O Cruises and Cunard have paused operations until Spring 2021. We will continue to work through CLIA and our own UK government contacts and will follow all recommended guidance for a restart at the right time for our brands and guests."

P&O Cruises brand new ship Iona will also sail in Spring 2021, completed and delivered to the cruise line this year and ready for action.

The new ship, the largest ever built for the UK market, will stay in Europe and sail from Southampton next year, journeying to both the Norwegian Fjords and the Canary Islands.