On Monday evening, cruisers started to notice that Carnival Cruise Line removed most cruises in July 2021. Only three ships remain in July for booking out of the Port of Galveston and PortMiami.
Many people booked for July may start to get worried that their cruise could be canceled, and Carnival could extend its suspension on U.S. operations even further. However, that may not be the case and could be in preparation for returning to service this summer.
Majority of Carnival Cruises Removed
Carnival Cruise line has now removed all cruise bookings for July except for three vessels, including Carnival Breeze and Carnival Vista out of Galveston in Texas along with Carnival Horizon out of PortMiami in Florida.
When Carnival removes sailings from its website, it’s often followed by a further month of suspensions out of the U.S. Currently, the cruise line has only suspended operations through June 2021, and no further cancellations have been announced.
Guests booked on any July sailings have not yet received any cancellation communications from Carnival, which could signify that a further suspension may not be the case.
What Could Be the Reason?
Two of the ships that are still available for booking arrived back in Galveston on May 2 for the first time since suspensions first started over a year ago. Carnival’s president Christine Duffy has already detailed that crew vaccinations are taking place on both ships while in port.
Carnival Horizon, which is based out of PortMiami, could also be about to have crew vaccinations. The world’s cruise capital has already started working with cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean to vaccinate the crew. Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley has already confirmed Explorer of the Seas crew are bring vaccinated along with Liberty of the Seas on Monday and two more ships on Tuesday.
The three Carnival ships only available for bookings in July could be the only ships that will be able to have 98% of the crew fully vaccinated. This is in line with the updated guidelines on resuming cruises from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
We already know that Carnival Cruise Line is currently working through its new health measures that are yet to be released. It could just be that the ships are already at full capacity as cruise lines are planning a return with limited capacity initially.
A phased-in approach with a few ships each month could be the plan, making sure health protocols work well as there is no longer the need for test sailings.
We’ll just have to wait and see what comes from the cruise line as things do now seem to be happening since the CDC started opening up for a summer restart.
What About Mardi Gras?
At the moment, the new LNG-powered cruise ship still remains in Barcelona, Spain, and no details are yet known when she will finally head across the Atlantic to her new homeport of Port Canaveral in Florida.
Related: Carnival’s Mardi Gras Cruise Ship Delayed Into July
Even though the ship is no longer available for booking until October 2021, Mardi Gras is still scheduled to debut on July 3 out of Florida. It seems she is just fully booked as one of the most anticipated new ships in the fleet ever with the first roller coaster at sea.
Cruise Hive will continue to monitor any new developments and keep readers informed.
