Norwegian Cruise Line has followed Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line in extending its voluntary suspension of all operations until May 10th.

The announcement applies to all cruise lines within the NCL group (including Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania Cruises).

Waterslides aboard Norwegian Bliss

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“With the virus impacting communities around the globe, we voluntarily suspended cruise voyages across our fleet through to April 11th, 2020. Today, we are extending this suspension through to May 10th, 2020,” said Nick Wilkinson, Regional Vice President of Business Development for the Middle East & Africa.

“We plan to relaunch cruise operations with embarkations beginning May 11th, 2020,” he added.

According to Norwegian Cruise Line, all guests affected will automatically receive their refund in the form of a future cruise credit valued at 125% of the fare paid. These future cruise credits will be issued from April 6th, 2020 and can be applied anytime within one year of issue date and toward any NCL voyage through December 31st, 2022.

A lesser value refund is also available for guests who elect not to retain the bonus future cruise credits provided.

These guests can elect to receive a 100% refund of the fare paid to be reimbursed to the original form of payment ninety days after the request for a refund has been submitted.

Norwegian Jade is laid up in Dubai

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All refund requests must be received via the web form: http://www.ncl.com/case-submission/peace-of-mind, which will be made available from April 13th through to April 27th, 2020.

The move by Norwegian Cruise Line, the third-largest cruise company in the world after Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean Cruises, comes after several other lines announced they would not be returning to service this month as planned.

Royal, Celebrity and Costa have all announced the end of April to mid-May as the date on which they will return to service. May 12th is the date that Royal Caribbean has set for its Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises brands.

Norwegian Cruise Line has ships at anchor across the world, including in Dubai, where Norwegian Jade has been in hot lay-up for the past few weeks. She was due to cruise from Dubai to Rome this year, but it’s unclear when or if that cruise will take place.