The Princess Cruises ship at the centre of a Covid-19 outbreak in Japan is to be redeployed to South America next year.
Diamond Princess will replace Sapphire Princess running a series of itineraries covering the region and Antarctica between December 2021 and March 2022.
The 2,670-passenger ship will also run two new Pacific crossings to and from Asia in autumn 2021 and spring 2022.
These sailings are planned between Los Angeles and either Singapore or Yokohama, the port for Tokyo, where the ship was forced to quarantine in February after an outbreak of the virus affecting hundreds of passengers and crew.
Diamond Princess’ previously scheduled Asia cruises have been cancelled.
Three Sapphire Princess Baja Peninsula and Sea of Cortez cruises and three Hawaiian Islands cruises in autumn 2021 and spring 2022 will be cancelled as a result of the Diamond Princess redeployment.
Princess Cruises last month extended its global pause in operations until December 15.
The Carnival Corporation brand said: “We are currently enhancing our health and safety protocols with input from global health leaders in light of Covid-19 and assessing how they may impact our future itinerary offerings.
“Our actual offerings may vary from what is displayed in marketing materials.”