The world's largest cruise company, Carnival Corporation & plc, today announced that it anticipates resuming guest cruise operations aboard 65 percent of its total fleet across eight different brands by the close of 2021.
Its eponymous brand, Carnival Cruise Line, has also announced plans that would see all of its ships returned to service by the end of 2021, which would boost the parent company's total operating capacity to almost 75 percent by year's end.
To date, eight of Carnival Corp's nine global brands-AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises (U.K.) and Seabourn-have revealed plans to resume passenger sailings on 54 ships through the end of 2021. Nearly half of the ships that constitute their combined fleet capacity are homeported in the U.S.
In addition to the other brands' ships that are slated for operational restart, Carnival Cruise Line's intent to return its full fleet to service this year would add another nine vessels to the tally, bringing Carnival Corp's overall fleet capacity to 63 ships that are expected to resume guest operations by the end of 2021.
Individual brands are expected to release further restart announcements in the coming weeks, including service resumption plans for more ships and itineraries in 2021. Collectively, the brands continue the phased process of gradually resuming operations from worldwide ports, including sailings from the U.S., Caribbean, Europe and the Mediterranean, with upcoming voyages in the works in Central America, Antarctica and more.
Here's a summary of the restart announcements that have thus far been made by Carnival Corp's brands:
North America Brands:
To date, three Carnival Cruise Line ships have resumed sailing out of U.S. ports in Galveston and Miami. The brand has declared its intent to have 15 ships in operation by the end of October and get its entire fleet sailing again by year's end.
Princess Cruises will resume guest cruise operations the weekend of July 24, its first ship sailing from Seattle to Alaska, while a series of cruises in U.K. waters will start in late July. Then, cruises out of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale bound for the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Mexico, Hawaii and the California coast will restart in autumn, with eight of the brand's ships expected to be operating by the end of 2021.
Holland America Line will also resume guest cruise operations starting July 24, with its first ship sailing a Seattle-to-Alaska route. In August, it will restart sailings from Greece, as well as from Italy and Spain in September. In autumn, voyages to the California coast, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean are planned, for a total of six ships expected to be in operation by year's end.
Seabourn has resumed passenger sailings, with two ships to date sailing from Greece and Barbados. The brand also plans to reactivate a third vessel in November to sail the Antarctica season.
Europe & Asia Brands:
Costa Cruises began sailing with guests again in Greece and Italy as early as May, and has now added voyages to France and Spain. Sailings to Portugal and Turkey will follow in September, for a total of seven ships forecast to be sailing Mediterranean waters by the end of the year.
AIDA Cruises restarted guest sailings in the Canary Islands back in March, adding voyages in Greece and Germany in May of this year. From late July to December, it will introduce additional sailings in Spain, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and the Persian Gulf, bringing its operating fleet total to nine ships by the close of 2021.
P&O Cruises (U.K.) resumed guest cruises as of June, when it began a series of summer sailings around coastal waters of the U.K. In September, the brand plans to expand to the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast and the Caribbean, for a total of four ships in planned operation by the end of the year.
Cunard will resume passenger cruises in August, with one ship sailing U.K. coastal cruises, followed by voyages to the Iberian coast and Canary Islands. The brand plans to bring a second ship back into service in November to sail a combination of Transatlantic crossings and Caribbean itineraries.
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