Carnival cancels January 2021 cruises, plus select cruises in February and March

Carnival Cruise Line announced on Wednesday another round of cancellations that extend as far into 2021 as March.

In order to take the necessary time to prepare the cruise line for the needs of the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) Framework for Resuming Cruise Ship Operations Order, more cruises need to be cancelled.

The new cancellations include:

• All embarkations from U.S. homeports from Jan. 1-31.
• Additionally, Baltimore, Charleston, Jacksonville, Long Beach, Mobile, New Orleans and San Diego embarkations through Feb. 28.
• Embarkations on Carnival Legend out of Tampa through March 26.

This is significant since most cruise lines have always cancelled about a month at a time, but these cancellations extend much further.

Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in a statement, "We are committed to meeting the CDC requirements and keeping our guests and business partners informed of our progress. The entire Carnival team appreciates the great support of our guests, travel advisors and business partners, and local officials in our homeports and destinations."

Carnival also said it is in the process of building a gradual, phased in approach to resume guest operations, which will focus initially on Miami and Port Canaveral, to be followed by Galveston.  

Consistent with CDC protocols, Carnival Horizon arrives in Miami this week, and Carnival Breeze will be the next ship back to the U.S.  

In total, 16 Carnival ships are currently following the CDC process for an eventual resumption of guest service in the U.S. in 2021, including Carnival Conquest, Dream, Ecstasy, Elation, Freedom, Glory, Liberty, Miracle, Panorama, Pride, Sensation, Sunrise, Sunshine and Vista.  

Mardi Gras, which is under construction in Finland, will also enter service in 2021.

In addition, Carnival had previously cancelled certain other itineraries on four ships (Magic, Paradise, Valor, and Victory/Radiance) that are scheduled for required dry docks in the first half of 2021, with the plan to return them to operations after maintenance work and upgrades are completed.  Carnival previously cancelled operations in Australia through March 2, 2021.