Carnival Cruise Line provides several updates today as the situation on the east coast of Florida is slowly but surely improving. Nicole has moved further northwards and has been downgraded to a tropical depression. However, several ports have only just completed surveys to ensure the waterways and port entries are safe.
This affected Port Canaveral in particular, while Jacksonville and Charleston had already reopened earlier. Tampa has reopened as well, and PortMiami reopened already yesterday.
The Situation Slowly Returns to Normal for Carnival
Nicole is slowly but surely moving further northwards, and the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression. Following the good news, Carnival Cruise Line was able to provide an update on the status of some of its sailings departing from ports in Florida and further north.
In Charleston, operations have returned to normal, as the port is open and fully functional. Carnival Sunshine will sail from Charleston tomorrow, November 12, on a five-night cruise to Nassau and Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.
Jacksonville in northern Florida has also reopened again, which is good news for guests booked onboard the Carnival Elation cruise initially scheduled to sail yesterday, November 10.
Carnival Elation has already arrived in Jacksonville, and she will depart today on a shortened 3-day cruise to the Bahamas. She will only make one call in Freeport. Guests will be receiving text messages from Carnival with the embarkation schedule, however, guests are requested to disregard arrival appointments and proceed for embarkation between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM. All guests must be on board by 5:30 PM
All guests who choose to sail will receive a one-day pro-rated refund of their cruise fare and a $50 per person onboard credit. They will receive a refund of canceled Carnival shore excursions, taxes, fees, and port expenses for missing the stop in Nassau and a pro-rated refund of any pre-purchased beverage or Wi-Fi packages.
Port Officials Finished Conducting Assessments at Port Canaveral
Carnival Liberty is in position and moving to berth in Port Canaveral. The port re-opened a short time ago. The port only opened now as port officials and the US Coast Guard have concluded their assessments of the waterways and main channel in the harbor and given the clearance that the current Condition ZULU has been lifted.
In a Twitter post, Port Canaveral said the following: “Effective as of 12 NOON, the port is open with restrictions, limiting vessels to a draft of 35′ or less. Cruise ship operations are resuming. Please check with your cruise line for scheduling.”
Carnival Liberty guests from the November 7 cruise will disembark the vessel, and Carnival is providing guests for today’s sailing with updated information on their embarkation times by text. Carnival did say guests should disregard arrival appointments and proceed for embarkation between 4:00 PM and 6:30 PM. All guests must be on board by 7:00 PM.
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Carnival Cruise Line has also confirmed that Carnival Paradise will sail today on a three-day cruise to nowhere from Tampa. This cruise was scheduled to sail yesterday, November 10.
Guests are advised to proceed to the cruise terminal according to the pre-selected arrival appointments and must all be onboard by 3 PM. Due to time constraints, the cruise line was forced to cancel the call to Cozumel for Carnival Paradise.
Guests will receive a 50% refund of their cruise fare and a $100 per person with a maximum of $200 per stateroom onboard credit. Carnival will also refund any canceled Carnival shore excursions, taxes, fees, and port expenses for the missed port and provide a pro-rated refund of any pre-purchased beverage or Wi-Fi packages.
