Another potential delay for sailing a cruise from Charleston arrived last week.
Carnival Cruise Line has removed all travel from its booking website until July, with the exception of 12 trips from Galveston, Texas and 2 trips from Miami, without issuing an official statement.
The movement is the latest Near a dozen Delay and cancellation For the world’s largest cruise ship operator since the coronavirus pandemic began. The company has postponed the date it plans to resume its voyage almost every month for most of last year. First reported by Sun-Sentinel in South Florida Change to carnival booking.
According to the company’s website, the next scheduled trip from Charleston will not be until September 4, a five-day trip to the Bahamas on a Carnival Sunshine ship.
Carnival spokesman Vance Grixen said he had discontinued all travel of the month except for Horizon, Vista and Breeze vessels when asked for details on why the July voyage was taken offline. Said in an email.He said the company is waiting for new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to resume cruising from the United States.
“We haven’t taken any other steps on these cruises. We will update our guests and travel agencies once we have a plan to resume guest operations under the new CDC guidelines,” Gulliksen said in an email. .. “We appreciate the support and understanding of our guests and travel partners and promise to provide more information as soon as possible.”
Gulliksen did not provide information on whether a trip from Charleston is planned for July. The company is in the midst of a voyage suspension that lasts until June 30th. However, the final payment for the currently booked trip is until May 31st, and guests can cancel until that date without penalty.
“We closed the voyage for sale, but they will not be canceled,” he said in an email. “We have been suspended until June 30th, but we have not yet decided when to start the voyage again as we continue to complete the protocol as part of our return to service plan.”
Hard recovery of aquatic tourism
Cruise lines are struggling to recover more than any other part of the tourism economy. Airplanes, hotels, beaches and restaurants were all back at full capacity in most parts of the country. Cruise ships are trapped in water without passengers.
In January, Carnival announced that the cruise would resume on March 31st, after which it postponed the resumption to April 30th. As a result, at least one trip from Charleston has been cancelled. The latest official delay until June 30th was announced in early April.
“This is very disappointing for voyage-minded guests. We continue to work with governments and the CDC to find viable solutions that benefit the public health. Increasingly, the cruise industry wants to be treated the same as the approaches adopted by other travel and tourism sectors, and across American society, “Carnival President Christine Duffy said in a statement.
CDC rules for departure
At the beginning of the pandemic The cruise ship was a breeding ground Not only did they need to bring their citizens home for the coronavirus, but it also served as an unruly challenge for countries around the world who did not want them to bring the virus home with them. It was.
The CDC released a number of rules last fall on what must be done before a cruise ship departs again. The guidelines, among other things, required that ships be equipped with COVID-19 inspection and quarantine facilities. They also had to conduct a test run that accepted hundreds of passengers to prove that the ship remained in the harbor but could handle or prevent the outbreak of the virus.
The CDC has relaxed some of these rules in the light of increased vaccination. Cruise lines can skip test sailing if they can prove that 95% of their passengers and 98% of their crew are fully vaccinated.
It can turn out to be difficult to meet that standard. Fake vaccination card It has become more common in the last few weeks and government officials South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster opposed the so-called “vaccine passport” It will allow people to clearly prove their vaccination status.