After several cruise ships were impacted by Hurricane Milton, Carnival Cruise Line has updated passengers about one ship that was not able to return to its homeport.
*Update: Carnival Paradise is now heading toward Tampa Bay. According to Carnival’s brand ambassador, 1,785 passengers decided to take the free shuttle service back from Miami to Tampa. 579 guests chose to stay on the ships for another 3 days as it sails back to homeport in Port Tampa Bay. The ship will arrive on Monday.
Carnival Paradise, a 1998 Fantasy-class ship, was rerouted to PortMiami after not being able to return to the Port of Tampa.
The ship is expected to arrive in Miami this morning at 9:30am, and passengers will have two options for returning to Tampa.
In a Facebook live post, Carnival’s Brand Ambassador John Heald explained that each guest will have to go through customs and immigration.
After that, each passenger will then have two options. They can take a complimentary shuttle from Miami to Tampa Bay, or they can get back on the ship and sail back to Tampa.
The shuttle service would take about 4 hours. The extended cruise back to Tampa would include free Wi-Fi but would not arrive back at the ship’s homeport until Monday, giving passengers an extra 3 day cruise.
While the drink packages will not be free, Heald said they would be offered for purchase at the pre-cruise rate.
Of course, this is assuming Tampa’s port will be open by Monday. If the port is still not operational, Heald said that the ship would sail to Port Canaveral instead, where the next cruise would begin on Carnival Paradise.
Three other Carnival cruise ships have been impacted by the hurricane as well.
Carnival Elation will depart on October 14th as originally planned, but the embarkation location remains uncertain and will be communicated to guests as soon as possible.
Carnival Glory has been shortened to a two-day voyage departing on October 12th. The ship will visit Freeport, Bahamas from 10:00 AM to 6:00 AM. Guests will receive a full day’s refund for prepaid gratuities, onboard credit, and cruise fare.
Carnival Sunrise has also been shortened to a three-day voyage departing on October 12th. The ship will visit Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. The arrival and departure times will be adjusted and communicated to guests by the captain once they are on board. Guests will receive a 25% refund for prepaid gratuities and cruise fare, as well as a $100 onboard credit.
Carnival urged guests to stay updated by checking their emails and contacting their travel agents for the latest information.
Port inspections are expected to take place today and into the weekend.
Carnival is still waiting for the green light at other ports as well, including Port Canaveral and Jacksonville.
In a bit of good news, Heald did say that there were no reports of flooding in the parking lots at cruise ports in Tampa, Port Canaveral, and Jacksonville. Several passengers had been concerned about their vehicles being in port during the hurricane.
