Cruise Updates From Carnival, Costa

Carnival Cruise Line advised guests and travel agents of its plan to phase in a resumption in its North American service this summer, beginning on Aug. 1 with a total of eight ships from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston.

In connection with this plan, its pause in operations will be extended in all other North American and Australian markets through Aug. 31.

Key elements of the plan include:

• All North American cruises from June 27 to July 31 will be cancelled.

Beginning August 1, we plan to resume cruises on the following ships:

• Galveston:  Carnival Dream, Carnival Freedom and Carnival Vista
• Miami:  Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic and Carnival Sensation
• Port Canaveral:  Carnival Breeze and Carnival Elation.

• Other than the above referenced service from Galveston, Miami, and Port Canaveral, all other North American and Australian homeport cruises will be cancelled through Aug. 31.
• All Carnival Spirit Alaskan cruises from Seattle will be cancelled, as well as the Carnival Spirit Vancouver-Honolulu cruise on Sept. 25 and the Honolulu-Brisbane transpacific cruise on October 6.
• All Carnival Splendor cruises in Australia from June 19 to August 31 will be cancelled.

Impacted guests and their travel advisors are being notified by email, including options for a combined future cruise credit (FCC) and onboard credit (OBC) package, or a full refund.  Booked guests can make their selection online, alleviating the need to contact Carnival’s customer service center, which is still operating in a work-from-home status due to locally-imposed office closures in South Florida.

Carnival emphasized that it is committed to supporting all public health efforts to manage the COVID-19 situation. It notes that it is taking a measured approach, focusing its return to service on a select number of homeports where it has more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of its guests.

And the cruise line adds that it will use this additional time to continue to engage experts, government officials and stakeholders on additional protocols and procedures to protect the health and safety of our guests, crew and the communities it serves.

The cruise company concludes: “We appreciate the understanding and support of our guests and travel agent partners and look forward to welcoming them on board as the environment for travel and tourism improves.”

Costa Extends Suspension To June 30

Costa says it is further suspending its cruises until June 30, 2020.

The cruise line said that due to the continuation of the emergency situation linked to the global pandemic of Covid-19 and with the continuation of containment measures such as closing ports and restrictions on the movement of people which do not actually allow to operate, the company is extending the suspension to the whole month of June.

It also noted in a statement that Costa Crociere is taking steps to inform both travel agents and guests affected by the changes. Agents and their clients will be guaranteed a re-protection in accordance with the applicable legislation, which offers the greatest guarantee in this contingency situation.