Carnival Cruise Line has altered a few cruise ship deployments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes allow for new itineraries and homeports on two cruise ships and the cruise line gave an update on the massive remodel for Carnival Victory/Radiance.
Carnival Victory’s transformation into Carnival Radiance with a $200 million dry dock at the Cadiz, Spain shipyard was suspended this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Carnival Cruise Line is now evaluating shipyard options to complete the transformation, but the cruise ship is likely not going to be completed until the spring.
As a result of the delayed arrival of Carnival Radiance, Carnival Breeze will be redeployed from Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral and will assume the itineraries for Carnival Radiance from November 8, 2020 to April 24, 2021.
Consequently, guests on 18 Carnival Breeze cruises from Fort Lauderdale scheduled to operate from November 7, 2020 to March 7, 2021 are being notified that their cruises have been cancelled.
Carnival Magic’s transatlantic and European itineraries from March 13, 2021 to May 3, 2021 have been cancelled. Seven cruises previously scheduled for Carnival Breeze from Fort. Lauderdale from March 13 to April 24, 2021 will move to Miami and those guests will sail on the same itinerary, but on Carnival Magic operating from PortMiami.
In addition, Carnival Cruise Line said that their newest and largest cruise ship ever, Mardi Gras, will now debut in February 2021 instead of this coming November.
Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, gave the following statement about these new changes: “We continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global commerce, public health and our cruise operations. In addition to our current pause in service, there have been many other unintended consequences, including shipyard, dry dock and ship delivery delays, and related changes to our deployment plans for our fleet.
While we had hoped to make up construction time on Mardi Gras over the summer, it’s clear we will need extra time to complete this magnificent ship. We share our guests’ disappointment and appreciate their patience as we work through this unprecedented time in our business and the lives of so many people. We remain committed to working with government, public health and industry officials to support the response to the pandemic and to return to operations when the time is right.”
Passengers who were booked on one of the canceled or altered cruises were sent notifications from Carnival or their travel agent.
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