Carnival Cruise Line restarting operations on seven more ships

Carnival Cruise Line is bringing back three more ships which will resume operations in September, as well as another four in October.

 That will bring the total number of operational ships to 15 as it ramps up its fleet-wide return to service.

Based on guest response, Carnival will continue to operate all of its ships as vaccinated cruises through at least October 2021.

The three ships due to re-enter service in September are Carnival Glory from New Orleans, starting September 5, Carnival Pride from Baltimore, starting September 12, and Carnival Dream from Galveston, TX starting September 19.

In October Carnival Conquest will sail from Miami, effective October 8, Carnival Freedom from Miami from October 9, Carnival Elation at Port Canaveral from October 11, and Carnival Sensation from Mobile, AL, effective October 21.

"We are very excited about our restart and greatly appreciate the support of our guests, travel agents and port and destination partners," said Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line. 

"By the end of July, we will have five ships in our restart plan, including the introduction of service on Mardi Gras, and we are seeing a great combination of strong demand and strong guest satisfaction scores."

Carnival will continue to welcome unvaccinated guests on board, but all unvaccinated guests including children under the age of 12, will be subject to pre-cruise and pre-embarkation testing and testing again prior to debarkation (on cruises longer than four days) along with a $150 per person charge to cover the costs of testing, reporting and health and safety screenings.

Additionally, Carnival is limiting operation of its supervised youth programs to vaccinated children 12 years and older.

Unvaccinated guests departing from Florida (effective July 31) and Texas (effective August 2) will also need to show proof of travel insurance coverage, based on the itineraries being sailed and the requirements of ports and destinations visited.

These additional measures will be in place through at least October but may be extended based on public health requirements.

"We’ve determined this plan is in the best interests of the health and safety of our guests, crew and the destinations that we bring our ships to. It’s very important that we continue to maintain the confidence of our destination partners, so that we can provide our guests with the optimal cruise experience and sail our itineraries," Duffy said of the policy to continue operating  vaccinated cruises.

"Our plan envisions successfully bringing back our entire fleet by the end of the year, returning to full service – most especially for the millions of families who sail with us."