MIAMI – Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise company, announced on Thursday it will be laying off hundreds of employees due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company’s CEO Arnold Donald said the combination of layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts were “necessary” as the pause on cruise travel enters its third month.
The majority of affected employees in the U.S. will be in Florida, California and Washington state, Carnival Corp. said in an email. The company is eliminating 820 positions and furloughing 537 employees for up to six months in Florida out of a workforce of about 3,000 employees.
Carnival Corp. did not reveal the number of job eliminations in the other states or countries around the world.
“Taking these extremely difficult employee actions involving our highly dedicated workforce is a very tough thing to do. Unfortunately, it’s necessary, given the current low level of guest operations and to further endure this pause,” Donald said in a statement.
Cruise lines announced they were halting sailing on March 13 due to the spread of the coronavirus. Several cruise ships saw outbreaks of COVID-19 cases and found themselves stranded at sea after being rejected by port authorities who were worried they would import more cases.
Companies have been trying to repatriate tens of thousands of crew members who are still on ships in or near U.S. waters due to the increase in restrictions by health authorities in the U.S. and abroad.
Cruise bookings surge
Carnival Cruise Line, one of the company’s brands, announced earlier this month it will start cruising again beginning in August to Caribbean destinations from Florida and Texas.
Travel agent Scott Lara said most of his clients have been booking in the Caribbean and not so much in the normally-popular European destinations like Spain and Italy.
“The cruise lines are working very hard to ensure that safety precautions are being taken. I know the buffets are going to be different, I know they’re going to be moving tables in the main dining room to encourage social distancing so I feel confident that cruising will come back stronger and better than ever,” Lara said.
Carnival says resuming sailings in August is dependent on guidance from the CDC. The CDC said it’s closely monitoring the situation on cruise ships and reviewing plans to prevent, detect, contain and respond to COVID-19 during the no sail period, which was extended in April.
With everything still variable, Lara said when booking to make sure you read the fine print of reasons why a ship can’t sail and recommends getting travel insurance.
“It’s important when people are booking their cruise to get a refundable booking because if you get a nonrefundable, that could put it in jeopardy,” he said.