Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) has proposed a 4 July 2021 relaunch date for cruising from US ports, initially operating ships with 60% capacity.

In a letter to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Frank Del Rio, President and CEO of NCLH said the cruise company, which comprises Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania and Regent, has developed a “comprehensive and robust science-backed path” that the rest of the travel and hospitality industries should operate in a COVID-19 environment.

In his letter, Del Rio said that after 13 months of pausing the operations of its three cruise brands due to the pandemic, “we believe that in light of the current health trends, buttressed by the more than 650 million vaccines administered worldwide to date, it is time for NCLH to join the rest of the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors in participating in the next phase of our recovery”.