Carnival PLC (LON:CCL) said it will soon notify guests and travel agents of revisions to the delivery of its new and refurbished cruise ships as well as new itineraries for ship deployments which have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The FTSE 250 cruise operator said its newest ship, the Mardi Gras, will now enter service from Port Canaveral in Florida on February 6, 2021, while itineraries out of the port for departures from November 14, 2020, to Jan 30, 2021, have been cancelled.
READ: Carnival cancels all North America cruises to end of September
Meanwhile, the company said the US$200mln refurbishment of its other ship, Radiance, at a dry dock in Cadiz in Spain was suspended in the spring due to the pandemic and the firm was currently evaluating shipyard options to complete the process, although it is likely that the refurbishment was not going to be completed until next spring.
As a result of the Radiance delays, Carnival said its Breeze cruise ship will be redeployed from Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral and will assume the itineraries from the Radiance from November 8, 2020, to April 24, 2021, adding that customers booked for cruises on the Breeze from Fort Lauderdale scheduled between November 7, 2020, and March 7, 2021, have been notified that these have been cancelled.
The company also said the transatlantic and European itineraries for its Magic vessel from March 13 to May 3, 2021, of that year have been cancelled, while seven sailings scheduled for the Breeze from Fort Lauderdale from March 13 to April 24, 2021, will move to Miami. Guests on these cruises will sail on the same itinerary, but on the Magic ship from Port Miami.
"We continue to assess the impact of the [coronavirus] pandemic on global commerce, public health and our cruise operations. In addition to our current pause in service, there have been many other unintended consequences, including shipyard, dry dock and ship delivery delays, and related changes to our deployment plans for our fleet", said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.
"While we had hoped to make up construction time on Mardi Gras over the summer, it's clear we will need extra time to complete this magnificent ship. We share our guests' disappointment and appreciate their patience as we work through this unprecedented time in our business and the lives of so many people. We remain committed to working with government, public health and industry officials to support the response to the pandemic and to return to operations when the time is right", the president added.
Carnival shares were up 0.4% at 986.4p in early trading on Tuesday.