The return to service for cruise lines has just begun, but despite the significant logistics involved, things are starting to move quickly.  One of the largest and best known lines, Carnival Cruise Line, has announced that they'll be brining even more ships back in September and October - with a total of 15 vessels sailing, and plans to have the rest sailing by the end of the year.

Carnival Ships Returning In September and October

The success of the industry's safe return to cruising is giving the iconic brand the confidence to return three ships in the coming months.

• Carnival Glory from New Orleans, starting Sept. 5
• Carnival Pride from Baltimore, starting Sept. 12
• Carnival Dream from Galveston, starting Sept. 19
• Carnival Conquest from Miami, effective Oct. 8
• Carnival Freedom from Miami, effective Oct. 9
• Carnival Elation from Port Canaveral, effective Oct. 11
• Carnival Sensation from Mobile, effective Oct. 21

"We are very excited about our restart and greatly appreciate the support of our guests, travel agents and port and destination partners," said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.  "By the end of July, we will have five ships in our restart plan, including the introduction of service on Mardi Gras, and we are seeing a great combination of strong demand and strong guest satisfaction scores tied to the positive guest experience on board."

Vaccine Requirements for Carnival Cruises

While eligible  adults must be vaccinated (we've reached out to Carnival for clarification on thresholds), Carnival will continue to welcome unvaccinated guests on their sailings in limited numbers.  Unvaccinated however they'll be required to have additional testing and other screenings performed, and will have to pay $150 per unvaccinated guest to cover these costs.  Unvaccinated guests departing from Florida (starting July 31) and Texas (starting August 2) will also need to show proof of travel insurance coverage, specific to the ports visited on each sailing.  Additionally, Carnival is limiting its children's programs to vaccinated children and youth 12 years and older.

Learn about the different experiences on vaccinated vs unvaccinated sailings, for different guests.

"The decision to sail with vaccinated voyages was a difficult one to make, and we recognize this is disappointing to some of our guests especially the many families with children under the age of 12 who we love to sail, and who love to sail with us," said Duffy. "It's important to remember that this is a temporary measure given the current circumstances.  In consultation with our medical experts and advisors, we've determined this plan is in the best interests of the health and safety of our guests, crew and the destinations that we bring our ships to. It's very important that we continue to maintain the confidence of our destination partners, so that we can provide our guests with the optimal cruise experience and sail our itineraries."

"Our plan envisions successfully bringing back our entire fleet by the end of the year, returning to full service – most especially for the millions of families who sail with us –  and building back our business for the benefit of our guests, employees and the tens of thousands of jobs and local businesses that depend on our company.  We will continue to offer exemptions to our unvaccinated guests on a limited, capacity-managed basis within 14 days of sailing as we finalize the vaccinated guest count.  The more bookings we initially secure for our cruises with fully vaccinated guests, the more exemptions we can ultimately offer for those unvaccinated guests already booked and those wishing to sail," Duffy added.

Some Sailings Being Canceled 

Related to this announcement, Carnival is extending in its pause of operations through Sept. 5 for Carnival Pride from Baltimore, Sept. 11 for Carnival Dream from Galveston, Oct. 4 for Carnival Conquest from Miami and Oct. 16 for Carnival Sensation from Mobile.  Cruises on Carnival Sunshine from Charleston, Carnival Ecstasy from Jacksonville and Carnival Liberty from Port Canaveral will be cancelled through Oct. 31. In addition, a three-day cruise on Carnival Miracle from Long Beach on Sept. 24 is being cancelled, and then Carnival Miracle will begin sailing from Long Beach on Sept. 27.