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Coronavirus: Carnival confirms restart of 6 additional ships, tweaks COVID-19 protocols

MIAMI — Carnival Cruise Line on Thursday revealed restart dates for six additional ships, as well as updated masking and overall health and safety protocols expected to remain in place through the end of 2021.

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According to Cruise Fever, the following six ships will resume service between Nov. 1 and January 2022:

  • Carnival Valor will sail from New Orleans with four- and five-night excursions beginning Nov. 1.
  • Carnival Legend will sail from Baltimore, replacing Carnival Pride, beginning Nov. 14. (Carnival Pride will sail from Baltimore beginning Sept. 12, before moving its homeport to Tampa following a Panama Canal repositioning cruise.)
  • Carnival Radiance’s maiden voyage out of Long Beach has been rescheduled from Nov. 5 to Dec. 13.
  • Carnival Pride’s new service from Tampa begins Nov. 14.
  • Carnival Conquest’s restart from Miami has been rescheduled from Oct. 8 to Dec. 13.
  • Carnival Sensation’s restart from Mobile has been rescheduled from Oct. 21 to January 2022.

The company currently has eight cruise ships in service.

>> Related: Coronavirus: Carnival to restart vaccinated-only sailings of 7 ships from US ports this fall

Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy said in a prepared statement that the latest additions mean 15 ships will be sailing from seven U.S. homeports by mid-November.

“We are making slight adjustments to our timeline to take into account supply chain realities and ensure that our destination and shore excursion offerings can meet the strong demand we are seeing from our guests,” Duffy stated.

Meanwhile, the cruise line will require all guests 12 and older to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for all cruises through the end of 2021, and guests must show a negative COVID-19 test to board any sailings through Dec. 31.

In addition, guests will be asked to wear masks in most indoor venues where people congregate, and Carnival is working to set up mobile pre-cruise rapid testing sites at all of its homeports as an alternative for vaccinated guests who are unable to obtain advance tests, Cruise Fever reported.

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