Carnival to 'phase in' cruises in August, one week after CDC no-sail order expires
Eight ships to resume travel following coronavirus outbreaks that impacted hundreds of passengers
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Your support makes all the difference.Carnival Cruise Line will "phase in" some of its North American cruises beginning 1 August, following coronavirus outbreaks on several Carnival ships with more than 1,500 confirmed infections as the pandemic spread earlier this year.
Eight ships will depart from Galveston, Texas and Miami and Port Canaveral in Florida.
"In connection with this plan, our pause in operations will be extended in all other North American and Australian markets" through the end of August, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The company's re-opening date arrives one week after a no-sail order from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is set to expire.
Health officials extended the order from 24 April through 24 July as the CDC warned that cruise travel "exacerbates the global spread" of the virus.
"We are committed to supporting all public health efforts to manage the Covid-19 situation," the company said. "We are taking a measured approach, focusing our return to service on a select number of homeports where we have more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of our guests."
Cruises scheduled from 27 June to 31 July have been cancelled.
Beginning on 1 August, Carnival Dream, Carnival Freedom and Carnival Vista ships will depart from Galveston, and the Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic and Carnival Sensation will leave from Miami.
Carnival Breeze and Carnival Elation will leave from Port Canaveral.
All other cruises are cancelled through 31 August, along with all Carnival Spirit Alaskan cruises from Seattle and the Carnival Spirit Vancouver-Honolulu cruise on 25 September and the Honolulu-Brisbane transpacific cruise on 6 October.
All Carnival Splendor cruises in Australia from 19 June 19 to 31 August 31 will also be cancelled.
The company said 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 we serve."
Carnival's announcement follows a congressional investigation into the company over its handling of the outbreak on board the Diamond Princess, on which more than 800 people were infected with Covid-19, including 10 people who died.
Several of the company's ships became Covid-19 hotspots, resulting in more than 1,500 positive infections and at least 39 fatalities, according to Bloomberg.
The chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has asked Carnival to submit documents to the committee alleging that it did not heed advisories from the World Health Organisation.
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