A Carnival Cruise Line ship is housing first responders in New Orleans through Sept. 18.
Carnival canceled the ship's Sept. 12 departure and plans to restart guest operations from New Orleans on Sept. 19. Carnival had already canceled the Sept. 5 departure, which would have been the first ocean cruise from New Orleans since the pandemic shutdown.
In an agreement with the city of New Orleans and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the ship will stay in port and serve as emergency housing for frontline workers involved in the city's infrastructure recovery and healthcare needs after Hurricane Ida.
It will be the second ocean liner to house frontline workers in New Orleans. On Friday, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line announced it would deploy its flagship Grand Classica to New Orleans to house 1,500-plus power company workers as they work to restore power to the region.
Carnival Glory arrived at the Port of New Orleans on Friday and underwent a required U.S. Coast Guard inspection. The ship began provisioning food, water and materials to prepare for up to 2,600 hospital workers, first responders, city and utility workers and other emergency personnel to join the ship.
"While we want to provide the city of New Orleans with an economic boost by restarting guest operations, we want to first provide this critical housing support to address emergency needs and to get power restored to the region," said Carnival President Christine Duffy. "We appreciate the understanding of our guests, who we know love New Orleans as much as we do."
Added Brandy D. Christian, president and CEO of Port NOLA: "Port NOLA appreciates Carnival's deployment of Carnival Glory to New Orleans. Her berths will accommodate the hardworking first responders and essential personnel working on storm recovery efforts in our region. Port NOLA, our federal, state, and local partner agencies all support those who are quickly restoring critical infrastructure in the city and helping to get cargo moving again."
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