“At my request, effective midnight tonight, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC have all agreed to suspend outbound cruises for thirty days,” Trump stated on Twitter.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd said it had suspended its cruises in the United States for 30 days earlier Friday, an hour after Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd said it had suspended all its cruise journeys through April 11.
Later still, Costa Cruises, an Italy-based unit of larger peer Carnival Corp, halted its departures until April 3. The other unit of Carnival, Princess Cruises, on Thursday had halted its journeys for two months.
As of November 30, Costa Cruises represented 15 per cent of Carnival's overall capacity, offering trips to Asia and Europe, including the Mediterranean.
The Princess Cruises unit was in the spotlight after it quarantined its ships from Diamond Princess and Grand Princess after they became hotbeds for coronavirus infections.
However, Norwegian has said that no confirmed case of the virus has been identified across its 28 ships.
Privately owned MSC Cruises has canceled Caribbean cruises from Miami until April 30, as well as several other trips from non-U.S. destinations.
Walt Disney's Disney Cruise Line and Finland's Viking Line have both briefly suspended operations as the global cruise industry is facing cancellations in the wake of the rapidly spreading virus.
Maritime Business World