Carnival Cruise Line extends voluntary pause through March 31

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Carnival Cruise Line has voluntarily extended the operational pause of all U.S. operations through March 31, the cruise line said in a news release.

There is no confirmed date when Carnival Sunshine will resume embarkations from Charleston’s cruise terminal.

“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,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “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.”

The extension is another in a series these past few months for eager cruisers who were told that U.S. voyages would resume first on Oct. 31, and then on Feb. 28. In addition to being cautious as the coronavirus surges, Carnival said it needed the extra time to implement plans for cruise resumption that met CDC requirements, the cruise line said November.

“As we continue to build and implement our plan to meet the requirements of the ‘Framework for Resuming Cruise Ship Operations Order’ issued on October 30 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, we have notified guests that we have cancelled additional cruises for the first part of 2021,” Carnival said.

As of Jan. 6, the cancellations include all embarkations from U.S. homeports through March 31. Additionally, Carnival Sunshine trips from Charleston will be temporarily canceled from Oct. 11-Nov. 13 to accommodate rescheduled dry dock work.

The S.C. Ports Authority does not have a confirmed date for when Port of Calls will resume operations in Charleston, the company stated in a new release.