Carnival Cruise Line has updated guests and travel agents with options regarding the longer 8-14 day sailings that were removed following the CDC requirements on the Conditional Sailing Order.
New Options for Longer Itineraries
The cruise line has sent out a communication to guests and travel agents about their options for longer cruises. As you probably already know, Carnival had to remove sailings that were over seven days long back in November 2020 through October 31, 2021
At the time, the cruise line told Cruise Hive “For the time being, we have closed for sale any 8-day or longer cruises from the U.S. We have not taken any other action on these cruises, and will update guests and travel agents once we make decisions about these itineraries.” Well, now the time has come with further details announced.
The new options released apply on 8-day itineraries through October 31, 2021. This also impacts 10 and 14-day cruises for the Carnival Sensation and Carnival Pride.
In a letter sent to guests from Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy:
As you know, the return of cruise operations in the U.S. is still not determined. We remain committed to finding a solution for your cruise, as well as securing options for a return to guest operations just as soon as possible. However, we want to give you some options so you can choose what works best for you and your vacation plans.
There are two options detailed in the letter. Option 1 lets guests maintain their exiting booking while the cruise line continues to explore options on the longer sailings. Guests will automatically receive a $100 onboard credit should the voyage still go ahead.
If that cruise is eventually cancelled and guests have not yet received the enhanced value offer, they can instead take advantage of what other guests can receive on other sailings during the suspension of operations.
This will be a future cruise credit (FCC) for the amount paid on the booking along with a $600 per stateroom of onboard credit, as long as your FCC is used on a booking made by September 30, 2021, for a sailing departing by April 30, 2023.
Guests don’t need to do anything if they want to go ahead with option 1 and Carnival will be keeping them updated.
For option 2, guests may choose to cancel their booking any time by March 31, 2021, and receive a full refund. The future cruise credit and onboard credit, if any, can be retained as long as the next cruise is booked by September 30, 2021, for a cruise that departs by April 30, 2023.
Carnival also said in the letter that if the cruise is eventually cancelled and the booking did not already have a future cruise credit of onboard credit, guests won’t be eligible for the rebooking offer made to guests who remain on the sailing.
Also Read: Carnival Cruise Line CCO Responds to Frustrated Guests
No More an Unkown
Many Carnival guests were becoming frustrated with the lack of details on future longer sailings. With the longer cruises being removed from the website, guests had been worried about how their booking would be impacted.
Now the cruise line has provided further confidence moving forward, and guests can finally decide for the first time since news of longer sailings being removed first came out.
Many other cruise lines including Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean have also removed itineraries that are 8-days or longer. The reason for the delay has really been due to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the lack of details being released to the cruise lines.
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