Carnival Confirms July Restart Plans, Says Guests Will Need to Be Vaccinated

Carnival Cruise Line confirmed its plans to resume guest operations from Galveston in July for passengers who have been fully vaccinated 14 or more days prior to their cruises and in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.

Carnival Vista is scheduled to resume service on July 3 and Carnival Breeze on July 15.

The line is also working toward restarting sailings out of PortMiami in July aboard Carnival Horizon and is working with the state of Florida regarding health and safety protocols and will “provide an update by Friday concerning protocols specific to these sailings to all booked guests,” Carnival said.

The line said it plans to update agents and passengers about August sailings in the next several days.

“We appreciate the progress and support for our U.S. restart from the CDC and other key federal agencies; however, the current CDC requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect, especially given the large number of families with younger children who sail with us,” said Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy.

“As a result, our alternative is to operate our ships from the U.S. during the month of July with vaccinated guests.”

Duffy noted that Carnival received considerable support from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, as well as from other state officials, in helping to expedite the vaccination process for cruise line personnel, which sped up the restart process.