Princess Cruises, the cruise line at the centre of recent major coronavirus outbreaks, has announced it is suspending all cruises globally.

In a statement released overnight, the premium cruise company announced it will suspend global operations of its 18 cruise ships for two months, impacting voyages departing between now and May 10.

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“Princess Cruises is a global vacation company that serves more than 50,000 guests daily from 70 countries as part of our diverse business, and it is widely known that we have been managing the implications of COVID-19 on two continents,” said Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises.

“By taking this bold action of voluntarily pausing the operations of our ships, it is our intention to reassure our loyal guests, team members and global stakeholders of our commitment to the health, safety and wellbeing of all who sail with us, as well as those who do business with us, and the countries and communities we visit around the world,” she added.

Guests currently on a Princess cruise that will end in the next five days will continue and complete their voyages as normal.

But current cruises that are not scheduled to end until after March 17 will be cut short “at the most convenient location for guests, factoring in operational requirements.”

Current cruises underway from Australia include:

• The 2000-passenger Sun Princess, currently cruising from Perth, is due to conclude her current cruise in Sydney on March 21.

• The 3080-passenger Ruby Princess departed Sydney on Sunday on a 13-day New Zealand cruise, due to return to Sydney on March 21.

• The 2000-passenger Sea Princess departed Sydney on Sunday on a 28-day circumnavigation of Australia, scheduled to end in Sydney on April 7.

• The 2600-passenger Golden Princess departed Melbourne on Tuesday on a 13-day New Zealand cruise, due to return to Melbourne on March 23.

The cruise line says it is currently addressing the logistics task of bringing its Australian-based ships back to local ports to enable guests to disembark, with ports to which the ships will return still being determined.

However, it has confirmed Sun Princess and Ruby Princess will complete their cruises as scheduled in Sydney.

“Princess Cruises will be doing everything possible to return each guest home with all possible care. Guests on each of the ships – Sun Princess, Sea Princess, Ruby Princess and Golden Princess – will be advised of arrangements in relation to the completion of their respective cruises,” it said.

It has also confirmed the 670-passenger Pacific Princess, which is currently on a world voyage, will disembark guests in Australia.

Three Princess ships, Sapphire Princess, Sea Princess and Sun Princess, will resume operations in Australia from May 11.

Princess is also offering guests the opportunity to transfer 100 per cent of the money paid for their cancelled cruise to a future cruise of their choice.

Princess Cruises is suspending all cruises globally for two months.

The announcement came a day after luxury operator Viking Cruises announced it would be temporarily suspending operations of its river and ocean cruises, for embarkations between March 12 to April 30.

Princess Cruises have made headlines around the world in recent weeks and months, with coronavirus outbreaks occurring on two of its cruise ships.

Last month, passengers of the Diamond Princess were all quarantined on board the ship for two weeks while it was docked at the Port of Yokohama in Japan. Initially 10 people tested positive to the virus but this number, despite the quarantine efforts, continued to rise into the hundreds.

And earlier this month, thousands of passengers, including four Australians, disembarked from Princess’ Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California when a number of passengers and crew testing positive for coronavirus. All passengers have been put into quarantine at different federal government facilities throughout the US.

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