Cruise industry leader Carnival Cruise Line took what I believe we need to look at as an admirable step, extending their own ‘No Sail’ order beyond the CDC-imposed directive in place through October 31.

Notifying guests and travel agents today, Carnival is cancelling sailings from the ships scheduled to depart from Port Canaveral and PortMiami through November. Meanwhile, the rest of the cruise industry waits to see if the CDC will extend that no sail order beyond October 31.

Does this mean the rest of the industry is not far behind Carnival in their ship deployment? Probably. Stay tuned.

Here is the press release that came out this morning:

MIAMI, October 12, 2020 – Carnival Cruise Line has notified guests and travel agents that it is cancelling the remaining cruises for the six total ships operating from PortMiami and Port Canaveral for November 2020. 

It has also cancelled five cruises scheduled to operate from Sydney, Australia from Jan. 16 – Feb. 8, 2021.

Following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) decision to extend its no-sail order for cruise operations until Oct. 31, Carnival cancelled all but PortMiami and Port Canaveral cruises for the rest of the year.  It has now determined that November 2020 operations will not be feasible.

Carnival continues to work on protocols and procedures that would allow for the resumption of cruise operations, with a gradual, phased-in approach, designating Miami and Port Canaveral as the first two homeports for embarkations.  Cruises currently scheduled for December from those two homeports remain in place for the time being while Carnival evaluates options.  However, guests booked on cruises in December out of Miami and Port Canaveral still have the ability to voluntarily cancel their reservation and receive the same offer that all other impacted guests are receiving, which includes a combination future cruise credit (FCC) and onboard credit (OBC), or a full refund.

In Australia, Carnival is notifying guests and travel agents that five cruises on Carnival Splendor from Jan. 16 – Feb. 8, 2021 have been cancelled.  Those guests will receive the same offer of the combination FCC/OBC, or a full refund.

I’ll have more on this as the story develops. For now, kudos to Carnival Cruise Line for taking the lead and doing the right thing. It’s not time to restart yet.