Carnival Cruise Line has revised the delivery date of its newest ship, Mardi Gras, as well as the transformed Carnival Radiance. The cruise line has also announced new itineraries for Carnival Breeze and Carnival Magic as part of an updated deployment plan from November 2020 to May 2021.
In addition to Carnival´s current pause in service, there have been many other unintended consequences – including shipyard, dry dock and ship delivery delays – from the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the cruise line had hoped to make up construction time on Mardi Gras over the summer, it has become clear extra time will be needed to complete the new ship. The first LNG-powered ship to operate in the Western Hemisphere, and featuring the first roller coaster at sea, will now enter into service from Port Canaveral, Florida on Feb. 6, 2021. All iItineraries out of Port Canaveral for departures from Nov. 14, 2020 to Jan. 30, 2021 have been cancelled.
Following the nationwide lockdown, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Carnival Radiance‘s $200 million dry dock at the Cadiz, Spain shipyard was suspended this spring. Carnival is now evaluating shipyard options to complete the transformation, but the ship is likely not going to be completed until next spring.
As a result of the delayed arrival of Carnival Radiance, Carnival Breeze will now be redeployed from Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral and will assume the itineraries for Carnival Radiance from Nov. 8, 2020 to Apr. 24, 2021. Consequently 18 Carnival Breeze sailings from Fort Lauderdale, scheduled to operate from Nov. 7, 2020 to Mar. 7, 2021, have been cancelled.
Carnival Magic’s transatlantic and European itineraries from Mar. 13, 2021 to May 3, 2021 have also been cancelled. Seven sailings previously scheduled for Carnival Breeze from Fort. Lauderdale from Mar. 13 to Apr. 24, 2021 will move to Miami and those guests will sail on the same itinerary, but on Carnival Magic operating from PortMiami.