Carnival had earlier announced Carnival Horizon, sailing from Miami, and Carnival Vista and Breeze, sailing from Galveston, will be the first ships to carry passengers as the line plans its July return to service. Port Canaveral has also been identified as a restart priority, and Carnival expects to announce plans for operations there over the coming days.
Plans for test cruises?
The company did not state if it's going to be operating test cruises or dates for those simulated sailings, if it goes that route. If it doesn't, that would mean requiring COVID-19 vaccination for at least 95% of crew and passengers, and Carnival hasn't indicated it's inclined to that.
'These agreements move us one step closer to sailing with our loyal guests,' said Lars Ljoen, EVP and chief maritime officer for Carnival. 'We appreciate the support from not just these three homeport partners, but all of our homeports that are eager to have us back as soon as possible.'
'News we have been waiting for'
'This is the exciting news that we have been waiting for,' Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray said. 'A tremendous amount of cooperative effort went into these agreements as we worked closely with our partner Carnival Cruise Line. This is a monumental step to getting the cruise industry up and running once again.'
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