A further three ships will resume guest operations in September, followed by another four in October. This will bring the total number of operational Carnival ships up to 15.
The line, though, will continue to welcome unvaccinated guests, but warned additional mitigations for unvaccinated guests – including testing and health screening – would remain in place until at least October, with these guests footing the bill.
Carnival said it had based its decision on guest response to the onboard experience and health and safety protocols it has introduced.
Carnival Glory will sail from New Orleans starting 5 September, Carnival Pride from Baltimore starting 12 September and Carnival Dream from Galveston starting 19 September.
Then in October, Carnival Conquest will sail from Miami starting 8 October and Carnival Freedom, also from Miami, a day later on 9 October, with Carnival Elation sailing from Port Canaveral starting 11 October and Carnival Sensation from Mobile starting 21 October.
Carnival is updating guests and agents on additional cancellations owing to the staggered resumption of guest operations. These also affect cruises scheduled for Carnival Sunshine, Carnival Ecstasy, Carnival Liberty and Carnival Miracle.
“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.”
Unvaccinated guests will be subject to pre-cruise and pre-embarkation testing, as well as pre-debarkation tests on cruises longer than four days. These will be surcharged at $150pp for all guests aged 12 and above, covering the cost of testing, reporting and health and safety screenings.
The line said the measures would remain in please "through to at least October" but could be extended based on guidance from public health officials, medical advisors and destination-specific requirements.
Duffy said she recognised the decision would come as a blow to families, but insisted the measures would be temporary.
“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,” Duffy added.
“We will continue to offer exemptions to our unvaccinated guests on a limited, capacity-managed basis within 14 days of sailing as we finalise 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 added.
