Another two Carnival cruise ships are returning to service today after remaining on hold for 21 months. Carnival Conquest will restart in Florida and the newly transformed Carnival Radiance will begin operations in California.
More Carnival Cruise Ships Resume Sailings
December 13 is an important day for Carnival Cruise Line, with another two cruise ships returning to service. Carnival Conquest is resuming from the world’s cruise capital, PortMiami in Florida, and Carnival Radiance is sailing from Long Beach in California. It’s a significant step forward for the cruise line’s plan to have the entire fleet back by the end of March 2022.
Carnival Conquest from Miami
The Conquest-class vessel has remained on hold for 21 months, but now she can finally welcome guests back on board and bring back the fun from Miami, Florida. The ship is departing on a four-day voyage to the Bahamas, including a call to the private destination of Princess Cays and a call at Bimini. Carnival Conquest will then return to Miami on Friday, December 17.
The ship will continue to offer a range of three- and four-day cruises to the Bahamas for the remainder of the year and through 2022. She joins two other vessels currently sailing from the port, including Carnival Sunrise, which restarted on August 14, and Carnival Freedom on October 9.
Carnival Horizon was also sailing from Miami but recently headed off to Europe to resolve a technical issue during dry dock. Carnival Liberty and Carnival Sunshine are being brought back into service to take over Carnival Horizon itineraries from Miami.
The cruise director for the Carnival Conquest is Eversen Bevelle, and he will be making sure guests have a fun-filled welcome as they step onboard the ship today. The vessel is 110,000 gross tons with a guest capacity of 2,980 and 1,150 international crew members.
Carnival Radiance from Long Beach
Carnival Radiance is also restarting operations on the same day, but it’s much more significant as the vessel is almost entirely new. The ship has spent most of her time in Cadiz, Spain, including a multi-million dollar transformation from the Carnival Victory to the Carnival Radiance during a dry dock in 2021.
With the ship having a new name and under the new Sunshine class, she was officially christened during a ceremony onboard at the Port of Long Beach in California. Godmother Dr. Lucille O’Neal named Carnival Radiance and in attendance was her son, Carnival Chief Fun Officer Shaquille O’Neal, as featured guests of the event.
The ship departs on her inaugural voyage from the Long Beach Cruise Terminal on a four-day Baja Mexico voyage. The itinerary includes Avalan at Catalina Island and Ensenada in Mexico before returning home on December 17. The first voyage will have 2,211 passengers and 188 of those are under 18 years old.
Carnival Radiance features the second Big Chicken restaurant in the fleet following the debut aboard Mardi Gras. There is also Guy’s Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse, Heroes Tribute Bar, Cucina del Capitano, and plenty of new enhancements bringing the vessel up to date with other new classes.
Carnival’s newly transformed will continue to sail the west coast with three-day and four-day voyages. Carnival Panorama is also sailing from Long Beach after restarting on August 21, 2021, and Carnival Miracle, which resumed sailing from the port on September 27, 2021.
Also Read: Which Carnival Cruise Ships Have Resumed Operations?
So these will be the last two ships to resume operations for 2021 unless you include the unexpected return of the two ships that will temporarily replace Carnival Horizon cruises from Miami. The entire fleet is expected back in service by the end of March 2022.
