Carnival Cruise Line has received approval from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to resume cruise operations out of three ports.
With the acceptance of the requirements needed as part of the CDC’s Conditional Sailing Order, it now means the Miami-based cruise line will be able to begin sailing for the first time since the start of the suspension in March 2020.
CDC Approves Carnival’s Restart Plan
The cruise industry in the US is finally moving forward as Carnival Cruise Line, America’s largest operator, has revised aprooval from the CDC to restart operations this summer. The cruise line has completed its port agreements with three homeports in the US as part of Phase 2A of the Conditional Sailing Order.
Lars Ljoen, executive vice president and chief maritime officer for Carnival Cruise Line, said:
“These agreements move us one step closer to sailing with our loyal guests.”
“We appreciate the support from not just these three homeport partners, but all of our homeports, that are eager to have us back as soon as possible.”
The cruise line already announced that Carnival Horizon would begin cruises in July out of Miami, along with Carnival Vista and Carnival Breeze, both out of Galveston, Texas. Carnival also has plans to restart cruises out of Port Canaveral in Florida, and further details are to be released in the coming days.
Capt. John Murray, Port Canaveral CEO, said:
“This is the exciting news that we have been waiting for.”
“A tremendous amount of cooperative effort went into these agreements as we worked closely with our partner, Carnival Cruise Line. This is a monumental step to getting the cruise industry up and running once again.”
It’s possible that the new Mardi Gras that is currently sailing towards her new homeport of Port Canaveral could be the ship to restart. We’ll know more soon.
As part of the CDC guiudance cruise lines need to follow, port agreements must be in place to support any health requirements. This also impacts any planned simulated sailings to make sure guests and crew can remain safe.
Also Read: Carnival Cruise Line Releases New Health Protocols
There are lots of detailed requirements and recommendations to through which is in the Conditional Sailing Order, something that the cruise industry has struggled to do over the past several months. However, the CDC is working with cruise lines including Carnival to work through any issues and relax the rules.