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Royal Caribbean bypasses CDC with new cruises from Barbados

Royal Caribbean announced new sailings for Winter 2021 out of Barbados, which would put them out of the CDC's jurisdiction.

For the first time a Royal Caribbean ship will homeport from Barbados to offer 7- and 14-night cruises to destinations in the Southern Caribbean.

The new cruises are available to book immediately, and will be offered onboard Grandeur of the Seas. Guests will be able to choose from sailings to destinations in Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica and more.

Confused About Cruise Rooms? Here's How to Choose a Cruise Cabin

Cruise staterooms, also called cabins, come in a variety of options. Deciding between them can be confusing, so we've come up with a list of things to do to narrow down your search.

Your cabin will be your home away from home for the duration of your sailing. It's where you'll shower, sleep and relax between rounds of trivia, poolside lounge sessions and nightly dance parties, so you'll want to be sure it suits your needs.

Carnival cuts steel on its next new cruise ship

Construction is officially underway on Carnival's next new cruise ship.

Carnival Cruise Line announced a steel cutting ceremony was held at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland for the Carnival Celebration, which will be the next Excel-class ship that will debut in 2022.

Celebration will be the sister ship to the Carnival Mardi Gras, and is scheduled to begin sailing from PortMiami in November 2022, part of Carnival Cruise Line’s year-long 50th birthday festivities.

Royal Caribbean cancels all sailings through April 2021

Royal Caribbean pulled the plug on cruises restarting in early spring.

The Miami-based cruise line announced on Tuesday it would extend its now year-long cruise shutdown through the end of April 2021, which means nearly all of its sailings in March and April are cancelled.

The two exceptions are the successful restart of cruises in Singapore on Quantum of the Seas, which are not affected by today's announcement, and China sailings on Spectrum of the Seas, February 16-28, are suspended.

MSC Cruises cancels all of its March cruises

MSC Cruises announced it will join other cruise lines in cancelling its March 2021 cruises.

The announcement was made on Monday night and affects four cruise ships:

  • MSC Seaside
  • MSC Divina
  • MSC Meraviglia
  • MSC Armonia

The ships were scheduled to sail from Port Canaveral and Miami.

Guests booked on the cancelled cruises that were paid in full will have the choice of a full refund or a 125% future cruise credit that may be used on any ship and any itinerary through April 30, 2022.

Things that will happen on your cruise that no one tells you about

Cruises are a fun vacation, but like any trip, there are some weird things that can happen which may not make top 10 articles, but are still something you should be aware of.

Like all forms of travel, nothing ever goes exactly perfect, but being aware of certain pitfalls can make the fallout far easier to handle should it happen to you.

Check out this list of things that might happen to you on a cruise that no one really talks about.

Carnival is selling cruise ships faster than planned to reduce costs

Carnival Corporation reported its fourth quarter 2020 financial results on Monday, indicating a $2.2 billion loss, along with an update on what it is doing to keep the business going.

Another quarter of financial results during the cruise shutdown revealed the company's current financial situation, along with what it is doing to maintain its business during the shutdown.

Not surprisingly, Carnival reported a U.S. GAAP net loss of $2.2 billion and adjusted net loss of $1.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2020.

MSC cruise ships will add more testing and contact tracing when it restarts sailings in Europe

MSC Cruises announced it will restart cruises from Italy later this month, and there will be newly enhanced health protocols onboard.

MSC will resume cruises in the Mediterranean beginning January 24 with the MSC Grandiosa. On February 14 MSC Magnifica will also return at sea to perform her scheduled itineraries of 11 nights in Italy, Greece and Malta.

In addition to the health protocols MSC cruise ships have been using on its ships since the summer, four new measures will be added:

Carnival cancels all March 2021 cruises

Carnival Cruise Line announced it has decided to cancel all of its March 2021 cruises.

In a new update, the cruise line said it would extend their pause in cruising through the end of March 31, 2021.  Carnival had cancelled all of its cruises through the end of February 2021 prior to today's announcement.

Carnival did not announce or mention any of its plans to conduct test sailings as part of today's announcement.

Cruise Line Dress Codes: What to Wear on a Cruise

If you've never sailed before, you might be wondering how to dress on a cruise.

Below, broken down by line, learn what to wear on a cruise during the day, in the evening and on formal night, so you'll be properly outfitted for your voyage.

But first, there are a few things that are universal across nearly all major cruise lines:

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