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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.

This article was last updated on May 1, 2021.

When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a no-sail order in March of 2020, nobody expected cruises would be suspended for more than a year. The biggest question on our vacation-starved minds right now is: when will sailings resume in the U.S.?

The short answer is that nobody knows for sure, but as the situation continues to unfold, this is what we know so far.

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott have proposed the creation of the Set Sail Safely Act to expedite cruises resuming from the United States.

Both Senators are from Florida, and if their bill passes, would create the Maritime Task Force, in coordination with a Private Sector Advisory Committee, to address the health, safety, security, and logistical changes needed to allow for cruise lines and ports to resume operations.