Carnival has 42 cruise ships resuming operations in the U.S., Caribbean, and Europe across eight of its brands. This is good news for the cruise industry, which has been on hold for more than 15 months in the U.S. and pauses in Europe too.
World’s Largest Cruise Company is Making a Comeback!
With a total of 42 Carnival-owned cruise ships returning to service through the end of the fiscal year, the cruise lines are starting to make a comeback mainly in the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe. This includes restart plans announced by eight brands including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises and Cunard.
Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation, said:
“For all of our brands, our highest responsibility and top priorities are always compliance, environmental protection, and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, our shipboard and shoreside employees, and the communities we visit.”
“We are excited to see eight of our world-leading cruise line brands sailing this summer, and to date, we’ve announced over half of our capacity returning by the end of the fiscal year, as we work to meet significant pent-up demand for cruising and get back to what we do best – serving our guests with one of the world’s most popular vacations.”
There could be even more new announcements to come on cruise ships resuming operations as cruise lines work with the relevant governments and authorities on a safe return. For now, here are the brands that are making a restart:
- Carnival Cruise Line has announced it will resume guest cruise operations with eight ships by the end of August, including sailings out of Galveston, Miami, Port Canaveral, Long Beach and Seattle (to Alaska). Included in that roster is Mardi Gras, the line’s newest and most innovative ship, and first cruise ship in North America powered by eco-friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG), with sailings from Port Canaveral starting on July 31.
- Princess Cruises expects to resume guest cruise operations in July with Alaska sailings and a series of cruises around UK coastal waters, as well as cruises out of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Mexico, Hawaii and California coast starting in September.
- Holland America Line expects to resume guest cruise operations in July with Alaska sailings, followed by sailings from Greece in August, and from Italy and Spain in September, as well as sailings to Mexico, Hawaii, the California coast and the Caribbean this fall.
- Seabourn expects to resume guest cruise operations in July sailing from Greece and Barbados, along with the beginning of the Antarctica season in November.
- Costa Cruises resumed guest cruise operations in May with sailings in Italy and Greece, and is now offering sailings to France and Spain in July, followed by Portugal and Turkey in September.
- AIDA Cruises resumed guest cruise operations in March sailing in the Canary Islands, in May with sailings in Greece and Germany, and is now offering additional sailings out of Germany as well as sailings in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Malta from July, and the Persian Gulf from November.
- P&O Cruises (UK) will offer a series of cruises this summer sailing around UK coastal waters beginning in June, expanding to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast starting in September.
- Cunard will offer a series of cruises this summer sailing around UK coastal waters in July, followed by voyages to the Iberian coast and Canary Islands. In November, Queen Mary 2 returns to service with a combination of transatlantic crossings and Caribbean cruises.
Even though there has been plenty of coverage on the issues the cruise industry in the US had with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through mush of the suspension, some cruise ships managed to offer limited sailings elsewhere. This includes cruises from AIDA and Costa which both initially had sailings restart in March and May 2021 respectively.
Frizzell added:
“The broader restart of cruising marks a critical step in the recovery of our brands and the industry as a whole, which provides a major economic impact and supports jobs across multiple sectors around the world. As our cruise line brands collaborate closely with our port, destination, supply chain and travel agent partners on a responsible resumption of cruise operations, we will ensure we continue working together across the industry in the best interest of public health.”
Also Read: When Will Cruises Resume in 2021?
The phased restart of Carnival operations represents 52% of the fleet capacity globally. In the coming months, there will no doubt be more news on cruise ships restarting. We already know that Carnival Cruise line will soon reveal the ships for September out of the U.S., so do keep checking Cruise Hive for the latest.
