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The chair of the U.S. House of Representatives' Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation subcommittee has requested information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid allegations that the White House interfered with the extension of the CDC's no-sail order.

We all know the story: global pandemic causes cruise lines to stop sailing, sell ships, lay off employees, borrow billions of dollars and cancel thousands of voyages. The avalanche of depressing coverage about the cruise industry in 2020 has nearly made us numb, but there's good news.

Although we might feel farther away from the ocean than ever, there are shoots of hope springing up everywhere, from a marked increase in bookings and successful sailings in Europe to the impressive list of new-build milestones that have been reached in the last two months alone.

Since March, cruise lines have voluntarily taken their ships out of service, canceling thousands of voyages, repatriating crew members and planning for future operations -- or lack thereof.

In most cases, affected passengers have been given a choice between full refunds and future cruise credits, to be used for rebooking when sailings return.

This article was last updated on March 16, 2021.

Editor's note: When will Alaska cruises resume? This summer! Major cruise lines have announced restart plans for Alaska cruises in 2021.

The heads of most of the world's major cruise lines said they're both highly and cautiously optimistic that sailings to and from U.S. can still resume before the end of the year, despite the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's further extension of the no-sail order through October 31.

Following an eleventh-hour extension of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's no-sail order, which now runs through October 31, 2020, Carnival has canceled sailings from most ports through December 2020.

The line said in a statement that, when the time comes, it will take a phased approach to its restart, focusing first on sailings from Port Miami and Port Canaveral in Florida. The line has not yet canceled November or December sailings from those two ports.

This article was last updated on May 17, 2021.

As cruise lines push hard to resume operations in the U.S., several have already returned to sailing in Europe -- successfully. But what does that mean for Americans? When might we expect to be able to visit the Baltic or the Mediterranean or the Greek Isles again?

A new report claims the White House overruled the U.S. Centers for Disease Control over how much longer to extend the No Sail order that prohibits cruise ships from sailing.

Axios reported that according to two different sources, the CDC Director wanted to extend the No Sail order until February 2021, but White House officials would only allow them to go until the end of October 2020.

It's been at least half a year since most of us have seen the inside of a cruise ship, and many of us are itching to be back onboard. With the CDC's closure of public comment on the resumption of sailings and the Healthy Sail Panel's recommendations submitted, it's looking like that could happen before the end of 2020.

As an avid cruiser, you might be wondering whether the reward is worth the potential risk. Could there be a second wave of illness in the U.S., and could cruise ship travel contribute to it? None of us has a crystal ball, but here, we examine what we know so far.