After resuming guest operations earlier in July, Carnival Cruise Line is ready to add more ships and homeports into regular service
Carnival Cruise Line announced today that three more ships will resume guest operations in September, and another four in October – bringing the total number of ships to 15 – as the line’s successful restart of operations continues to ramp up. Based on the success of its initial resumption of service and the guest response to the onboard experience and health and safety protocols that have been implemented, Carnival will continue to operate all its ships as vaccinated cruises through at least October.
The three ships for September are Carnival Glory from New Orleans, starting Sept. 5, Carnival Pride from Baltimore, starting Sept. 12, and Carnival Dream from Galveston, starting Sept. 19.
Turning to October, the four additional ships to restart will be Carnival Conquest from Miami, effective Oct. 8, Carnival Freedom from Miami, effective Oct. 9, Carnival Elation from Port Canaveral, effective Oct. 11, and Carnival Sensation from Mobile, effective Oct. 21.
Related to this announcement, Carnival is notifying guests and travel agents of an extension in its pause of operations through Sept. 5 for Carnival Pride from Baltimore, Sept. 11 for Carnival Dream from Galveston, Oct. 4 for Carnival Conquest from Miami, and Oct. 16 for Carnival Sensation from Mobile. Cruises on Carnival Sunshine from Charleston, Carnival Ecstasy from Jacksonville, and Carnival Liberty from Port Canaveral will be canceled through Oct. 31. In addition, a three-day cruise on Carnival Miracle from Long Beach on Sept. 24 is being canceled, and then Carnival Miracle will begin sailing from Long Beach on Sept. 27.
“We are very excited about our restart and greatly appreciate the support of our guests, travel agents, and port and destination partners,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “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 onboard.”
Carnival will continue to welcome unvaccinated guests on board, but all unvaccinated guests including children under the age of 12, will be subject to pre-cruise and pre-embarkation testing and testing again prior to debarkation (on cruises longer than four days) along with a $150 per person charge to cover the costs of testing, reporting and health, and safety screenings.
At this time, Carnival is limiting the operation of its supervised youth programs to vaccinated children and youth 12 years and older. Unvaccinated guests departing from Florida (effective July 31) and Texas (effective Aug. 2) will also need to show proof of travel insurance coverage, based on the itineraries being sailed and the requirements of ports and destinations visited. These additional measures will be in place through at least October but may be extended based on guidance from public health and medical advisors and the requirements of destination partners.
