The Carnival shipping company canceled all of its cruises from U.S. ports for this year, except Miami and Canaveral, Florida, which will be the first to start operations starting in November, when the U.S. government’s ban on navigation expires.
Carnival Cruise Line has chosen these two Floridan ports to reactivate cruise ships when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lifts the ban on sailing, in effect since last March.
For now, that ban is due on October 31, as announced this week by that federal agency.
“As we said during this break, our return to operations will be gradual” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in a statement.
He noted that once cruise ships are allowed in the US, where more than 200,000 people have died from the pandemic, the company will “focus” its restart from those Florin ports.
From March 1 to July 10, 2020, the CDC reported 2,973 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 34 deaths aboard cruise ships. During this period, there were 99 shoots on 123 US-based ships.
“The health and safety of our passengers, crew and communities we serve remain the cornerstone of our plans and decisions,” Duffy emphasized.
Carnival stressed that cruise passengers scheduled for November and December from those two ports will be able to voluntarily cancel their reservation.
According to the International Cruise Line Association (CLIA), cruise activity in the United States offers nearly half a million (421,000) U.S. jobs and generates $53 billion annually in economic activity across the country.
He lamented that every day of suspension there was a loss of up to $110 million in economic activity and 800 direct and indirect U.S. jobs.
The impact of suspension is particularly profound in states that rely heavily on cruise tourism, including Florida, Texas, Alaska, Washington, New York, and California, CLIA said.
