The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

TWO new Carnival Cruise Line ships will call on The Bahamas over the next two years, company officials have told The Tribune.

CCL stressed this destination will continue to be an important vacation hotspot for guests, adding The Bahamas is also an important business partner for the company.

The cruise line released a statement over the weekend after The Tribune inquired about news reports circulating that it was cancelling some voyages due to financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, it was reported that four ships — Carnival Magic, Carnival Paradise, Carnival Valor, and Carnival Spirit —are all delaying voyages until between March and May 2021.

“Carnival Cruise Line has only announced the retirement of four ships, and those are the same four ships that were announced earlier this summer,” the statement read. “Our pause in operations is currently only through October 31, with the exception of specific ships and specific circumstances.

“The Bahamas will continue to be an important destination for our guests and an important business partner for our company, and we are excited about the two new ships we will be taking over the next two years who will call frequently on The Bahamas.”

While news of newer ships is welcomed, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said the resumption of the cruise industry still depends on the United States’ Centres for Disease Control.

“It is still very much an unknown when specifically, they are going to receive approval from the CDC to resume things,” the minister said yesterday. “No one quite knows yet when that is going to happen.

“Really and truly there is nothing that The Bahamas government could do. We’ll just wait and see what the CDC says in its deliberations of the cruise industry.

“I think a voluntary no sail order was in place until October 31. It’ll be certainly nothing before then. So, we will have to wait and see in this upcoming month if not the latter part of the month or sometime in October what the decision is to continue or not to continue.

“However, I am getting optimistic signs of what the outcome will be. At this point what won’t sit well with most Bahamians is the cruise companies when they resume will be very very cautious. They won’t want to screw anything up and they don’t want anything to go wrong because they don’t want it shut down again. So, they will probably start off with a trip to a private island because they can control that.

“Obviously it’s not as economically impactful and then they will then come to Nassau, but go on pre-arranged tours only and then, phase three I guess it’ll be, allowing people to go into the general public.”

Numerous reports have said Carnival will be selling at least 18 ships, which amounts to 20 percent of the company’s fleet. Two ships, Carnival Fascination and Carnival Imagination — both of which launched in the 1990s — have already been sold.

In July, the company sold Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration.