Cunard has extended its pause in operations as the luxury cruise line continues to work on enhancing its health and safety protocols for the return of passengers post-Covid-19.

For its ships Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, Cunard is cancelling all sailings that were due to depart up to and including 1 November 2020 and for Queen Elizabeth, departures up to and including the 23 November 2020.

Cunard president, Simon Palethorpe, said: “With many differing restrictions across countries, people’s ability to move freely and safely across borders remains seemingly someway in the distance.

“For Cunard, where we celebrate having a truly international mix of guests and sail all over the world, this becomes particularly impactful.

“We also need to better understand the implications Covid-19 will have on board our ships. We are therefore working, at the highest level possible, with government bodies, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – the CDC – and Public Health England, as well as the industry collective body – CLIA – and other expert medical professionals to review every aspect of a holiday with us.”

He added: “Whilst we have always taken pride in having the highest levels of health and safety we are looking at enhanced protocols across all aspects of ship life and experiences on shore.

“We will only return to service when we have a comprehensive restart protocol with the stamps of approval and accreditation from the most trusted and informed sources.”

Cunard will be communicating with all guests, and their travel advisors, who are booked on affected voyages.

Affected guests will automatically be given a 125 per cent future cruise credit. This can be redeemed against any new booking made by the end of December 2021 on any voyage that’s on sale at the time of booking.

Cunard’s decision to extend its pause in operations comes a week after British cruise line P&O Cruises announced it would be extending its suspension of sailings until mid-October.

Visit cunard.com for more information.