Carnival Corporation's largest company CCL-Carnival Cruise Line may soon be able to set sail with passengers onboard.
CCL is the latest line to receive the green light from the USA's CDC agency on portions of its restart plans as the company prepares to set sail in USA's waters after forming agreements with 3 homeports: Galveston Texas, and Florida's Port Canaveral and PortMiami.
According to CDC guidelines, homeports must agree to support cruise ship operators with additional public health & operational resources before their vessels can move forward with either test sailings or full passenger operations.
Lars Ljoen, executive vice president & chief maritime officer for Carnival, said in the statement:
“These agreements move us one step closer to sailing with our loyal guests.
“We appreciate the support from not just these three home port partners, but all of our home ports, that are eager to have us back as soon as possible.”
Carnival Horizon is scheduled to sail from Miami, while Carnival Breeze and Carnival Vista will sail from Galveston TX.
The 3 liners are set to be the first Carnival ships to carry passengers as the line plans to return to service in July.
The company said it will announce its plans for Port Canaveral “over the coming days.”
On Tuesday, RCI-Royal Caribbean became the first company to receive approval to launch test cruises from USA.
The following day, the sister-brand Celebrity Cruises (another RCG subsidiary) announced that it was the first cruise company to receive CDC approval to operate voyages with paying passengers.