On July 19, Carnival Cruise Line announced its planned restart from the Port of New Orleans on the Carnival Glory starting Sept. 5, 2021. This is one of three Carnival ships that will resume guest operations in September, and another four from Carnival will resume in October – bringing the total number of ships to 15.

The Glory will head to the Eastern Caribbean, with visits the ports of Key West, Freeport, and Nassau, during its seven-day sailing.

“We are very excited about our restart and greatly appreciate the support of our guests, travel agents and port and destination partners,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “By the end of July, we will have five ships in our restart plan, including the introduction of service on Mardi Gras, and we are seeing a great combination of strong demand and strong guest satisfaction scores tied to the positive guest experience on board.”

Based on the success of Carnival’s initial resumption of service and the guest response to the onboard experience and health and safety protocols that have been implemented, Carnival will continue to operate all its ships as vaccinated cruises through at least October. Carnival is operating a 95% vaccinated cruise. Until further notice, all operations will meet this standard. Current booking will have a priority given to vaccinated passengers.

Carnival will continue to offer exemptions to unvaccinated guests on a limited, capacity-managed basis within 14 days of sailing as we finalize the vaccinated guest count. These guests will be subject to pre-cruise and pre-embarkation testing and testing again prior to debarkation (on cruises longer than four days) along with a $150 per person charge to cover the costs of testing, reporting and health and safety screenings. The more bookings that are initially secured for cruises with fully vaccinated guests, the more exemptions Carnival can ultimately offer for those unvaccinated guests already booked and those wishing to sail.

These additional measures will be in place through at least October, but may be extended based on guidance from public health and medical advisors and the requirements of destination partners.

“The decision to sail with vaccinated voyages was a difficult one to make, and we recognize this is disappointing to some of our guests especially the many families with children under the age of 12 who we love to sail, and who love to sail with us,” said Duffy. “It’s important to remember that this is a temporary measure given the current circumstances. In consultation with our medical experts and advisors, we’ve determined this plan is in the best interests of the health and safety of our guests, crew and the destinations that we bring our ships to. It’s very important that we continue to maintain the confidence of our destination partners, so that we can provide our guests with the optimal cruise experience and sail our itineraries.”

Booked guests and travel advisors are being notified of the plans for the returning ships, the cruise cancellations and the process by which they are being asked to follow to confirm traveler vaccination status and to apply for an exemption to the vaccination standard. Guests who want to change their plans, who are unable to wait to see if they receive an exemption, or who cannot meet the vaccination standards may change their reservation without penalty or request a full refund. For additional information visit Carnival’s Have Fun. Be Safe. page.