MIAMI — Carnival Cruise Line confirmed Monday that seven ships will resume sailings from six U.S. ports this fall aboard vaccinated cruises through at least October.
The three ships resuming guest operations in September include the New Orleans-based Glory, starting Sept. 5; the Baltimore-based Pride, starting Sept. 12; and the Galveston, Texas-based Dream, starting Sept. 19.
Meanwhile, the Miami-based Conquest and Freedom are slated to resume sailings on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, respectively, followed Oct. 11 by the Port Canaveral, Florida-based Elation and Oct. 21 by the Mobile, Alabama-based Sensation on Oct. 21.
“We are very excited about our restart and greatly appreciate the support of our guests, travel agents and port and destination partners,” Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy stated in a news release.
In addition, the cruise line has extended its pause of operations through Sept. 5 for the Baltimore-based Pride, through Sept. 11 for the Galveston-based Dream, through Oct. 4 for the Miami-based Conquest and through Oct. 16 for the Mobile-based Sensation.
“By the end of July, we will have five ships in our restart plan, including the introduction of service on Mardi Gras, and we are seeing a great combination of strong demand and strong guest satisfaction scores tied to the positive guest experience on board,” Duffy stated.
Meanwhile, she called the decision to require vaccinated guests only on the new sailings announced Monday “a difficult one to make” but a necessary and “temporary” one intended to help Carnival navigate the tumultuous circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We recognize this is disappointing to some of our guests, especially (to) the many families with children under the age of 12 who we love to sail, and who love to sail with us,” Duffy stated, noting that consultations with medical experts and advisers helped Carnival establish the protocols to ensure the health and safety of all guests, crew and destinations.
Other sailing alterations announced Monday by Carnival include:
- Cancellation of cruises aboard the Charleston, South Carolina-based Sunshine, Jacksonville, Florida-based Ecstasy and Port Canaveral-based Liberty through Oct. 31.
- Cancellation of a three-day cruise aboard the Long Beach, California-based Miracle slated for Sept. 24, with the ship reentering service on Sept. 27.
Duffy stated that Carnival is working toward returning the cruise line’s entire fleet to service by the close of 2021.
“We will continue to offer exemptions to our unvaccinated guests on a limited, capacity-managed basis within 14 days of sailing as we finalize the vaccinated guest count. The more bookings we initially secure for our cruises with fully vaccinated guests, the more exemptions we can ultimately offer for those unvaccinated guests already booked and those wishing to sail,” she added.
Click here to learn more about Carnival’s COVID-19 protocols.
More coronavirus pandemic coverage:
>> Coronavirus: How long between exposure to the virus and the start of symptoms?
>> How to not let coronavirus pandemic fatigue set in, battle back if it does
©2021 Cox Media Group
