Carnival Cruise Line has announced further cancellations, and it now means that no Carnival cruise ships will sail in March. It delays the resumption of operations until April at the very earliest.
Carnival Cancels All March Sailings
Carnival Cruise Line has announced a new round of cancellations, and the suspension of operations will continue until April 2021. Select ships will also be delayed due to dry dock upgrades. Here is the full list of which ships are delayed and the current situation:
- All embarkations from U.S. homeports through March 31, 2021
- Carnival Freedom from Galveston through April 10, 2021 (which includes a repositioning of the ship from Galveston to Seattle and a 17-day Carnival Journeys cruise which is not allowed under the current guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))
- Carnival Miracle from San Diego and San Francisco through September 16, 2021 (which includes many 10-day and longer itineraries not allowed under the current CDC guidelines)
- Carnival Liberty from Port Canaveral from September 17-October 18, 2021 (to accommodate rescheduled dry dock work)
- Carnival Sunshine from Charleston from October 11-November 13, 2021 (to accommodate rescheduled dry dock work)
- Carnival Spirit’s 15-day cruise from Singapore to Brisbane on June 12, 2021 (consistent with the current limitations on international travel in place in Australia).
This announcement was expected with many cruisers already noticing on social media that Carnival had removed all sailing in March 2021 from its booking engine.
Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said:
“We are sorry to disappoint our guests, as we can see from our booking activity that there is clearly a pent-up demand for cruising on Carnival. We appreciate their patience and support as we continue to work on our plans to resume operations in 2021 with a gradual, phased in approach.”
Impacted Guests
The Miami-based cruise line is contacting guests and travel agents impacted by the new round of cancellations. The cruise line is offering a Future Cruises Credit (FCC) and onboard credit. Guests can alternatively request a full refund if they no longer want to cruise in the future.
The Delays Keep on Coming
As the pandemic sweeps across the United States and the world, cruising continues to be on hold. Carnival Cruise Line hoped to return with a limited number of ships in March 2021, but now this won’t be the case.
The Conditional Sailing Order implemented by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) needs cruise lines to implement many changes to make sure guests and crew remain safe.
With the fleet being on hold for almost a year, it’s not easy to prepare the ships. Crew members need to be brought back and trained along with test sailings. Cruise Hive has already reported on several ships recently returning to the U.S. to start the preparations.
With cruise lines not not being able to offer cruises longer than seven days, many itineraries have been moved until November 2021 and that has impacted operations for ships that sail Carnival Journeys and longer sailings.
It’s going to be a long recovery for the cruise industry.
Also Read: What Cruise Lines Need To Get Right in 2021
Previous Cancellations
Carnival has suspended operations since March 2020. The cruise line had previously cancelled scheduled sailings out of Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston through February 28, 2021.
The original hope was that cruises would resume once 2021 arrived but the return dates seem to keep being delayed. Carnival’s new Mardi Gras which is the most anticipated new cruise ship for 2021 is delayed until April 24 out of Port Canaveral.
