Carnival Freedom has been denied at another cruise port during its eight-day Caribbean itinerary. The Carnival cruise ship was not allowed to make a scheduled visit to Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos on January 7 due to concerns over COVID.
Carnival Cruise Ship Denied at Grand Turk
The Conquest-class vessel has not had much luck regarding ports of call recently as she was denied at another cruise port during the current sailing. Carnival Freedom was scheduled to arrive at the Grand Turk Cruise Terminal on Friday morning as part of an eight-day Caribbean voyage.
At the time, Carnival Cruise Line Ambassador responded to a passenger on board, “Thank you for letting me know, yes I know things are in progress with the port and hopefully they will allow the ship to enter. I know discussions are still going on.”
It was decided by the local health Ministry of the Turks and Caicos after reviewing details submitted by the ship, not to allow guests to disembark the vessel and deny the ship entry in the best interest of public health.
Cruise lines must submit the number of cases on board to each port before visiting. According to an announcement by the ship’s captain on January 5, there were COVID cases among the crew, no specific numbers have been released.
According to guests onboard the current sailing, there is a possibility of the ship being allowed to make a port of call in Nassau, Bahamas. Celebrity Apex was denied to call in Nassau on January 7, so whether Carnival Freedom will be accepted or not remains to be seen.
Only a Single Port of Call So Far
Carnival Freedom was scheduled to visit St. Kitts on January 5 but was denied entry by local authorities. Instead, the vessel spent the day at sea followed by another day at sea before the port cancellation at Grand Turk. The voyage has also been hit with the cancellation of San Juan due to new entry requirements by local authorities and St. Maarten being replaced with Antigua.
Guests will undoubtedly be disappointed with just one port visit so far and six days at sea. However, in a recent letter sent to all guests on booked sailings, there was a warning that there could be port cancellations during a voyage due to the ongoing situation.
Carnival said in the letter, “We want you to know that we may encounter a decision by local authorities at a destination to limit or deny the ship from entering the port. Some destinations have limited medical resources and are focused on managing their own local response to the variant.”
The cruise line continues to say” “Should it be necessary to cancel a port, we will do our best to find an alternative destination. However, if we are unsuccessful in doing so, there will be no compensation for a missed port, beyond a refund of any pre-purchased Carnival shore excursion”.”
Carnival Freedom was also denied at Bonaire and Aruba during a Caribbean cruise that departed PortMiami, Florida, on December 18, 2021. The vessel’s next scheduled cruise will depart Miami on January 9, a six-day Eastern Caribbean voyage with calls to Princess Cays, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove.
The Carnival cruise ship was the first in the fleet to return to Grand Turk on December 15, marking a return for the cruise line for the first time since the industry-wide pause on operations in Spring 2020.
