Carnival Mardi Gras delayed, Carnival Magic European season cancelled

Carnival Cruise Line has pushed back the launch of its next vessel, Mardi Gras, to February 2021. The company has also delayed the planned refurbishment of Carnival Radiance, which has meant changing the deployment on a number of cruises, including European sailings.

As a result of the delayed arrival of Radiance, Breeze will be redeployed from Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral and will assume the itineraries for Carnival Radiance from November 8, 2020 to April 24, 2021. Consequently, guests on 18 Carnival Breeze sailings from Fort Lauderdale scheduled to operate from November 7, 2020 to Mar. 7, 2021 are being notified that their cruises have been cancelled.

Carnival Magic’s transatlantic and European itineraries from March 13, 2021 to May 3, 2021 have been cancelled.  Seven sailings previously scheduled for Breeze from Fort. Lauderdale from March 13 to April 24, 2021 will move to Miami and those guests will sail on the same itinerary, but on Carnival Magic operating from PortMiami.

“We continue to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global commerce, public health and our cruise operations. In addition to our current pause in service, there have been many other unintended consequences, including shipyard, dry dock and ship delivery delays, and related changes to our deployment plans for our fleet,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

“While we had hoped to make up construction time on Mardi Gras over the summer, it’s clear we will need extra time to complete this magnificent ship. We share our guests’ disappointment and appreciate their patience as we work through this unprecedented time in our business and the lives of so many people. We remain committed to working with government, public health and industry officials to support the response to the pandemic and to return to operations when the time is right.”

The line has previously pushed its restart back to September.