Carnival Cruise Line Releases Plans for Additional Ship Deployments

Cruise lines have made it clear throughout the pandemic that when they restart operation, it will be a phased approach. Today, Carnival Cruise Line released new details about their plan to restart operation and it includes some interesting nuggets about where the cruise line will be sailing in 2021 and beyond. San Diego, for example, will not see sailings on Carnival Magic until April 2023.

“Like so much about this current global situation, we are adapting our plans as circumstances evolve and we are able to confirm alternatives.  We are disappointed that our return to seasonal ports like Norfolk and San Diego has been impacted and appreciate the support of those port partners and communities.  The support of our guests, travel agents, ports and business partners has truly been overwhelming as we work through this situation,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

Below, check out the list of changes released by Carnival Cruise Line this morning: 

• Related to already-announced dry dock plans for Carnival Magic, Carnival Paradise and Carnival Valor, those ships’ return to operations will be delayed until November 2021. Consequently, voyages on Carnival Magic from Norfolk (embarkations from Sept. 29-Oct. 30), Carnival Paradise from Tampa (embarkations from June 5-Oct. 28) and Carnival Valor from New Orleans (embarkations from Sept. 16-Oct. 28) have been cancelled.
• Carnival Miracle’s planned seasonal service from San Diego has been suspended until further notice, and sailings out of San Diego that were available for sale through April 2023 have been cancelled, with the exception of seven voyages to Hawaii, which will move to Long Beach.
• Carnival Radiance’s dry dock and transformation has been moved to September, with a planned arrival to Long Beach in November 2021.
• With Carnival Miracle’s reposition to Long Beach, the ship will assume the three- and four-day itineraries for Carnival Radiance from May 3-Nov. 1, 2021 as well as the seven Hawaii Carnival Journeys referenced above. In addition, Carnival Miracle will launch a new program of four- and five-day cruises to Mexico during the winter season, beginning November 2021 and continuing through April 2023.

In early January, Carnival Cruise Line announced they had cancelled all cruises from U.S. homeports through March 31, 2021. That date marks more than a full year since the last time a Carnival ship set sail full of happy cruisers. Along with Carnival Cruise Line, sister brands Holland America Line and Princess Cruises cancelled sailings until well into the Spring. 

Make sure you check out our list of when cruise lines are expected to return to operation.