Carnival cancels some fall cruises from SC as tourism struggles with COVID-19 surge
Carnival Cruise Line canceled another round of trips from Charleston as the cruise industry struggles to prove it can safely take on riders without worsening the spread of the coronavirus.
While other parts of the tourism industry, including airline travel, have begun recovering from the most stringent coronavirus shutdowns around the globe, large cruise lines have not been so lucky. Seen as breeding grounds for spreading infection, government officials have so far refused to let them restart trips.
The most recent set of cancellations, the eighth round for Carnival, revoked trips on the Carnival Sunshine from Charleston from Oct. 11 to Nov. 13, the cruise line announced Wednesday. Carnival also extended its pause of all operations through March 31.
For Charleston, this decision shuts down a planned five-day cruise to the Bahamas that was expected to leave port on March 1. Reservations for trips out of Charleston are available, however, from April until October.
The cancellations also affect trips out of Port Canaveral, Florida, for Sept. 17 to Oct. 18. Cruises from San Diego and San Francisco also have been pushed out to at least mid-September.
“We are sorry to disappoint our guests, as we can see from our booking activity that there is clearly a pent-up demand for cruising on Carnival. We appreciate their patience and support as we continue to work on our plans to resume operations in 2021 with a gradual, phased in approach,” Carnival president Christine Duffy said in a statement.
Royal Caribbean, which has cruises to the Bahamas that stop in Charleston, halted in December most global sailings through the end of February. As of Wednesday, the earliest cruise listed on its website that stops in Charleston is scheduled for Nov. 5.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted its sailing ban in October but has extensive safety requirements carriers must meet before they head to sea with passengers in tow.
One of the many requirements set out by the government includes simulated voyages and test trips to prove that a ship can prevent and contain outbreaks onboard.
Government investigations and media reports have shone a negative spotlight on how cruise lines handled the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. The Wall Street Journal reported that cruise operators had plenty of evidence to believe their ships were incubators for the coronavirus in early March. They sailed anyway.
Outbreaks on much smaller cruise lines, which have been exempted from many of the restrictions applied to large ships like the Carnival Sunshine, have been unable so far to prevent outbreaks on board. Many have set sail only to turn around after a day or two.
The CDC currently recommends avoiding all travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, because of the risk of being infected with COVID-19. The virus has presented a particular challenge to cruises because of its spread from asymptomatic individuals and up to two-week incubation period during which individuals can still spread it to others.
Cruises likely will continue to face roadblocks to restarting widespread sailing until rapid, reliable tests become available at ports or vaccines become widely available, one operator told the Journal last month.
Guests with trips booked on Carnival will be able to choose to either get a full refund or credit to be used on future trips, the company said.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Carnival cancels some fall cruises from SC as tourism struggles with COVID-19 surge."
