With Carnival Horizon being impacted by its maximum cruising speed and an assessment of the issue completed, Carnival Cruise Line has cancelled additional sailings. The Vista-class vessel will head for an urgent dry dock, and other Carnival cruise ships will replace her itineraries from Miami.
Carnival Horizon Changes
On November 30, Carnival Cruise Line informed booked guests that Carnival Horizon departures on December 5 and 11 from Miami, Florida, were cancelled due to a technical issue with its maximum cruising speed. After a full assessment of the issue, the cruise line has decided the Carnival Horizon will need to undergo an urgent dry dock in Italy and the ship not returning to service until January 22, 2022.
Carnival has already informed guests booked on additional sailings in a letter sent on December 2. The cruise line said, “We want to make you aware that Carnival Horizon is experiencing an issue affecting its maximum cruising speed. Our technical team has completed a full assessment of the issue and has determined the ship will need to be taken to dry dock to complete the necessary work.”
Multiple sailings have now been cancelled into January 2022 as Carnival Horizon is being pulled from service to undergo a dry dock. As a result, Carnival Liberty and Carnival Sunshine, which currently remain on hold, will be brought back into service to take over Carnival Horizon itineraries from PortMiami.
The cruise line continued to say in one version of the letter, “We have made arrangements for Carnival Liberty to return to guest operations earlier than scheduled so she can assume Carnival Horizon’s same itinerary from Miami for the sailings captioned above, including your cruise. Please note, in order to transfer your reservation, we must close access to your booking.”
Also Read: Ways to Experience the Carnival Liberty Cruise Ship
Guests will be glad to know their sailings are being transferred to the Carnival Liberty or Carnival Sunshine for the same itinerary. However, the ships are not part of the Vista-class with slightly fewer offerings than the Carnival Horizon.
The cruise line is offering guests $200 of onboard credit per stateroom to make up for the inconvenience. With the two replacement Carnival vessels not offering some of the more updated cabin categories, Carnival Cruise Line is providing $250 of onboard credit per stateroom.
Carnival Cruise Line has said that from December 6 – 21, they will be working through all the reservations and shifting them over to one of the other two vessels. Guests will be communicated detailing the changed bookings. Those guests who were booked on the December 19 departure will be notified no later than December 14, December 26 departures will be notified no later than December 16, and December 31 departures will be notified no later than December 21.
For guests who would rather not go ahead with the transfer to Carnival Liberty, there is the option for a full refund. This will have to be requested before the end of December 5, 2021.
Carnival Horizon is currently scheduled to return to service on January 22, 2022. As long as the technical issue is fixed during the dry dock, the Carnival cruise ship will resume service with an eight-day Southern Caribbean cruise. The first return voyage will call at Aruba, Bonaire, and the Dominican Republic.
Carnival Horizon has been sailing from Miami, Florida since restarting operations on July 4. Carnival Liberty has remained on hold since the start of the industry-wide pause in Spring 2020. The vessel is scheduled to officially resume operations on February 11, 2022, from Port Canaveral. Carnival Sunshine is scheduled to officially return to service from Charleston on January 13.
