P&O Cruises has extended its suspension on trips in Australia, dashing hopes of summer sailing over Christmas, as the Omicron Covid variant continues to spread. The cruising juggernaut has announced it will extend its pause on eagerly-anticipated global sailing trips until March 3, 2022. The disappointing news comes just weeks after cruise ship representatives met with staff from the Premier's office to find a way to restart cruising safely. New South Wales was set to become the first state to allow cruising from February 1, following the 21 months the vessels have been banned from Australian waters. However, concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid has forced major cruise companies to re-think restarting operations over the summer. P&O Cruises has extended its suspension on trips in Australia dashing hopes of summer sailing over Christmas (pictured, a Cunard ship docked in Sydney Harbour in 2009) P&O Cruises t has announced it will extend its pause on eagerly-anticipated global sailing trips until March 3, 2022 (pictured, passengers on the Ruby Princess Cruise Ship in April, 2020) Operator P&O recently announced they would be cancelling cruises out of Adelaide, Fremantle and Cairns and postponing sailing trips departing from Sydney and Brisbane between February 15 and March 3. Departures to Papua New Guinea will be cancelled up until October 3, while those planning a trip to Cairns will have to wait until June 29. P&O Cruises Australia President Sture Myrmell said while recent speculation on the lifting of the ban on cruise ships had been 'encouraging' uncertainty still remained. 'Given this difficult situation, we wanted to treat our loyal guests with respect and to provide certainty in relation to their much-anticipated cruise holiday plans as well as limit any inconvenience for them,' Mr Myrmell told Cruisehive. The cruising boss said it would take several months to work through the necessary logistics to get a ship from lay-up bases around the world to Australian waters. Australia and New Zealand are currently the only destinations that have suspended summer voyagers, even for local travellers. The disappointing news comes just weeks after cruise ship representatives met with staff from the Premier's office to find a way to restart cruising safely (pictured, a Royal Caribbean ship) Internationally, over 70 per cent of Cruise Lines International Association cruise ships are back in business (pictured, The Ruby Princess cruise ship seen in April 2020) Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Managing Director Australasia Joel Katz said the cease on operations endangered tens of thousands of jobs. Mr Katz said worldwide over 70 per cent of CLIA cruise ships are back in business with this figure to soon reach 80 per cent by December. In Australia, concern over the mutated Omicron strain has meant the announcement of a return to cruising - previously slated for February 1 - has been postponed. Singapore recently changed the regulations governing cruise lines to allow travel-hungry Australians to join sailing trips. The country has seen 350,000 people embark on voyages without major incident after large vessels were permitted to restart a year ago. concern over the mutated Omicron strain has meant the announcement of a return to cruising - previously slated for February 1 - has been postponed (pictured, a Royal Caribbean ship) On June 10, Australia extended the suspension on international cruising until September 17, due to ongoing impacts of the pandemic (pictured, a cruise ship at Garden Island in 2018) On June 10, Australia extended the suspension on international cruising until September 17, due to ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee said the movement of foreign-flagged ships in domestic waters posed 'an unacceptable risk to public health'. The government measures do not affect local and small-ship operators, but have lasting impacts on lines like P&O Cruises Australia, the largest in the country. In June, Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehran said the government would continue to consult with the states and territories as well as the maritime industries to plan for the resurgence of cruising 'when the medical advice says it is safe to do so'. Once global cruising is allowed to restart voyages will only be extended to the fully vaccinated with strict testing procedures to be implemented onboard. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility