Carnival cancels U.S. cruises through Jan. just as new terminal opens at Port Canaveral

Carnival cancels cruises through end of January

Carnival announced on Wednesday that there will be no cruises through the end of January 2021. This comes just as work has been completed at a new terminal at Port Canaveral.

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. - Carnival Cruise Line announced on Wednesday that all cruises from U.S. homeports are canceled for the month of January.

The cruise line said it is continuing its plans to meet the requirements issued on Oct. 30 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"We are committed to meeting the CDC requirements and keeping our guests and business partners informed of our progress," said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. "The entire Carnival team appreciates the great support of our guests, travel advisors and business partners, and local officials in our homeports and destinations."

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The cancellations for the first part of 2021 include:

All embarkations from U.S. homeports from Jan. 1-31.
Additionally, Baltimore, Charleston, Jacksonville, Long Beach, Mobile, New Orleans and San Diego embarkations through Feb. 28.
Embarkations on Carnival Legend out of Tampa through March 26.

Carnival Cruise Line said it has notified guests and travel agents.

According to a press release, Carnival is in the process of building a gradual, phased-in approach to resume guest operations, "which will focus initially on Miami and Port Canaveral, to be followed by Galveston.

Terminal 3, Carnival's new terminal at Port Canaveral is literally waiting for its ship to come in.

“It is the largest project Port Canaveral has ever undertaken, at $155 million,” said William Crowe, Port Canaveral VP of Engineering and Construction, “four major components, marine works and dredging, the terminal and the parking garage."

The port's director, Capt. John Murray said just when Carnival will start using Terminal 3 is still not clear.

“This is 2020 and it's a different year,” Capt. Murray said, “one thing you have to be is flexible, nimble, and change at a moment's notice. I think we've had to do that as a port authority.”

Carnival's cruise ship Mardi Gras is set to dock at the new Terminal 3. They say the liquid natural gas ship is still under construction in Finland.