Carnival said on Monday that it plans to restart some of its cruise trips from North America in August as it tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said it planned to resume cruises on eight ships from Miami, Port Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, and Galveston, Texas, on August 1.
In Galveston, the Carnival Dream, Freedom and Vista are among those expected to set sail in August.
Scroll down for video
Carnival said on Monday that it plans to restart some of its cruise trips from North America in August as it tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The Carnival Panorama is seen docked in California
The Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic and Carnival Sensation in Miami along with the Carnival Breeze and Elation in Port Canaveral will also resume on August 1.
Operations in all other North American and Australian markets would remain suspended through August 31.
In a statement, the company said: ‘We are committed to supporting all public health efforts to manage the COVID-19 situation.
‘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.’
It’s unclear how many customers have booked August dates with Carnival and a DailyMail.com request for comment was not immediately returned as of Monday afternoon.
However, in mid-April travel agents and industry observers, reported that bookings for cruise trips in 2021 are up considerably.
CruiseCompete.com, a web site that compares prices of cruise tickets, reported a 40 per cent increase in booking for 2021 compared with 2019, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Heidi M. Allison, the president of CruiseCompete.com, said that just 11 per cent of the bookings are by people who had their trips canceled in 2020.
British cruise lines P&O Cruises and Cunard – which are also part of the Carnival group – announced last month that its sailings are suspended until at least the end of July.
P&O Cruises said passengers will need to pass ‘rigorous’ medical checks before being allowed to board ships once operations resume.
The cruise line is developing plans to introduce a series of ‘stringent measures’ to ensure it obeys international health guidelines when it restarts operations once the coronavirus pandemic recedes.
Other changes being considered include reducing the capacity of ships, scrapping self-service buffets and implementing one-way systems on board.
British cruise lines P&O Cruises and Cunard – which are also part of the Carnival group – announced last month that its sailings are suspended until at least the end of July. P&O Cruises said passengers will need to pass ‘rigorous’ medical checks before being allowed to board
On March 11, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, around 550,000 passengers were on cruises.
Two days later, more than 50 cruise lines announced they were suspending operations to and from the US due to the pandemic.
On March 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a no-sail order in US waters.
At the time, there were ships still at sea and some vessels left just before the order was announced.
Eventually, ships from the world’s largest cruise lines – Carnival, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and MSC Cruises – started reporting outbreaks.
Last week, data compiled by the Miami Herald revealed that one-fifth of all global ocean cruise ships were infected with coronavirus, leaving at least 2,592 crew and passengers infected and killing at least 66 people.
Cases of the deadly virus can be directly linked to at least 54 cruise ships, as they continued to travel the waters while the pandemic ravaged communities on land.
At least 922 of those infected and 12 who died were crew members working on the ships.
As of Friday, there are a total of 100,000 crew members still stuck on ships across the globe, according to an investigation by the Guardian. Fifty of those ships have reported cases of the coronavirus.
There are more than 1.1 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the US with at least 69,154 deaths
The crew members have been stuck aboard the ships since the industry canceled new cruises on March 13.
Cruise company executives must sign an agreement with the CDC to repatriate crew from onboard their ships but many company officials have complained arranging transport is ‘too expensive’.
The CDC told DailyMail.com that under its no-sail order ‘cruise lines must develop and implement a comprehensive plan to prevent, detect, respond, and contain COVID-19 on cruise ships for both passengers and crew’.
It went on to explain that ‘CDC permits cruise ships to disembark their crew members if cruise line executives – including the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Compliance Officer, and the Chief Executive Officer – attest that the cruise line has complied with requirements for the safe disembarkation of crew.
‘CDC has informed all cruise lines operating ships in US waters of these safety requirements, which includes arranging non-public transportation.
‘Given the unprecedented nature of COVID-19 pandemic and the high risk of COVID-19 spread on cruise ships, it is critical for cruise lines to attest that they have taken the necessary steps to safeguard America’s health and safety when disembarking crew,’ the statement added.
Royal Caribbean told DailyMail.com in a statement: ‘We have already been able to help many of our crew members return safely home on commercial flights, charter flights and direct sailing to their home countries.
‘We are working hard to repatriate everyone else who wants to return home as soon as governments allow. We very much appreciate their patience, understanding and good spirit.’
Third crew member of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas cruise ship dies from COVID-19
Over the weekend, Royal Caribbean’s CEO Michael Bayley announced the death of a third crew member from the Oasis of the Seas cruise ship.
Carlo Baluran, from the Philippines, was hospitalized in Broward County several weeks ago with COVID-19, according to the Miami Herald.
Bayley said Baluran showed signs of recovering before his death on Sunday morning.
‘Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, friends and colleagues, including his two brothers, who also work for the Royal Caribbean family,’ Bayley said.
Fourteen members from the Oasis of the Seas ship have tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to the Herald, at least six other crew members from Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruise ships died from COVID-19 in South Florida hospitals in March and April.
Two of those deaths include Baluran’s colleagues from the Oasis of the Seas, Dexter Joyosa, 43, from the Philippines, and Iputu Sugiartha, 41, from Indonesia.