Carnival Could Start Sailing in US Waters Again in December
Several cruise ships made news earlier this year during the pandemic as they had COVID-19 outbreaks or were stranded due to travel restrictions. But now as travel demand is steadily increasing in recent weeks, cruise lovers could have one more option soon.
Carnival Corporation could resume operations in the United States on December 1. But this doesn’t have anything to do with the pandemic. The company has been on probation since 2017 after pleading guilty to dumping oil into the ocean for several years. But, now U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, Patricia Seitz, ruled that Carnival can sail again but would need to validate the environmental protection status for each ship in the company’s fleet 30 days before they reenter American waters, Miami Herald reports.
The ruling helped the cruise line avoid a stricter order that would have required Carnival to make all necessary changes and receive approval from Seitz 60 days before reentering U.S. waters.
“We continue to make strong progress on our efforts tied to compliance and environmental protection across the company,” Roger Frizzell, a spokesperson for the company, said in an email to Miami Herald. “This will be one more action that supports our goal for continuous improvement in these two critically important areas.”
The pandemic did play its part on Carnival removing all of its ships from U.S. waters back in June. This was partly due to a disagreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about how to best control the spread of COVID-19 spread on board. The CDC banned cruises in mid-March and the ban remains in effect until October 31.
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