Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line Announces New September and October Sailings

Carnival Cruise Line is in the midst of the their operation restart and today they announced that three more ships will resume guest operations in September, and another four in October – bringing the total number of ships to 15. 

The three ships slated for a September restart are Carnival Glory from New Orleans, starting September 5th, Carnival Pride from Baltimore, starting September 12th, and Carnival Dream from Galveston, starting September 19th.

In October, the four additional ships set to resume operation will be Carnival Conquest from Miami on October 8th, Carnival Freedom from Miami on October 9th, Carnival Elation from Port Canaveral on October 11th, and Carnival Sensation from Mobile, Alabama on October 21st. 

“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 on board.”

Cancelled Cruises 

While new ship restarts constitutes good news, there were are few cancellations of note. Carnival is is extending their pause of operations through September 5th for Carnival Pride from Baltimore, September 11th for Carnival Dream from Galveston, October 4th for Carnival Conquest from Miami and October 16th for Carnival Sensation from Mobile. 

Additionally, cruises on Carnival Sunshine from Charleston, Carnival Ecstasy from Jacksonville and Carnival Liberty from Port Canaveral will be cancelled through October 31st. Also cancelled is a three-day cruise on Carnival Miracle from Long Beach on September 24th, the ship will sail on September 27th, instead. 

Carnival Cruise Line Vaccination Requirements

Carnival Cruise Line does allow 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. 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 requirements will remain in place until October. 

“The decision to sail with vaccinated voyages was a difficult one to make, and we recognize this is disappointing to some of our guests especially the many families with children under the age of 12 who we love to sail, and who love to sail with us,” said Duffy. “It’s important to remember that this is a temporary measure given the current circumstances.  In consultation with our medical experts and advisors, we’ve determined this plan is in the best interests of the health and safety of our guests, crew and the destinations that we bring our ships to. It’s very important that we continue to maintain the confidence of our destination partners, so that we can provide our guests with the optimal cruise experience and sail our itineraries.”

“Our plan envisions successfully bringing back our entire fleet by the end of the year, returning to full service – most especially for the millions of families who sail with us –  and building back our business for the benefit of our guests, employees and the tens of thousands of jobs and local businesses that depend on our company.  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,” Duffy continued.

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