Carnival announces when more cruise ships will restart sailings

Carnival Cruise Line just announced when more of its ships will return to service.

Like other cruise lines, Carnival is in the midst of its restart, and there are still question marks as to when every single ship will be able to sail again.  With today's update, we have a look at what to expect.

There are already 8 Carnival ships sailing, and more will resume over the next two months.  Today's announcement provides a look at the next round of ships to resume cruises between November 2021 and January 2022.

Here are the ships that will restart this winter:

• Carnival Valor will follow Carnival Glory in New Orleans with four- and five-night sailings starting on Nov. 1;
• Carnival Legend will restart Nov. 14 out of Baltimore, replacing Carnival Pride, which restarts guest operations from Baltimore Sept. 12 and then moves its homeport to Tampa following a Panama Canal repositioning cruise;
• Carnival Radiance will have a new maiden voyage date of Dec. 13 out of Long Beach (rescheduled from Nov. 5 due to a revised dry dock transformation plan);
• Carnival Pride’s new service from Tampa is scheduled to start on Nov. 14;
• Carnival Conquest’s restart from Miami on Oct. 8 has been rescheduled to Dec. 13;
• Carnival Sensation’s Oct. 21 restart from Mobile has been moved to Jan. 2022.

With the extension of Carnival Sensation’s restart, five ships operating out of U.S. homeports will be moved to 2022:  Carnival Liberty (Port Canaveral), Carnival Sunshine (Charleston), Carnival Paradise (Tampa); Carnival Ecstasy (Jacksonville) and Carnival Sensation (Mobile).

Carnival has cancelled four additional sailings for both Carnival Spirit and Carnival Splendor out of Australia.  Cruises on both ships are now cancelled up to and including Dec. 16, 2021.

Health protocols

Carnival also provided an update on health protocols and rules of its guests sailing.

Guests booked in November and December will need to present proof of both vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test at check-in (with a small number of capacity-restricted exemptions granted for children under 12 and other guests who cannot be vaccinated). 

Effective with sailings as of September 13, 2021, Carnival claims the CDC requires pre-cruise testing for vaccinated guests to be taken within two days prior to the sailing date. If the sailing is on Saturday, the test may be taken on Thursday and Friday, and as late as Saturday, if you are guaranteed to receive your results in time for check-in.

Carnival is working to set up mobile pre-cruise rapid testing sites at all of its homeports as a back-up alternative for vaccinated guests who aren’t able to make arrangements. More information on that will be coming soon.

Guests will be asked to wear masks in most indoor venues of the ship where people congregate.