Carnival Cruise Line announced Thursday that it has canceled its remaining cruises through February 2021, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise nationwide.
“We apologize to our guests but we must continue to take a thoughtful, deliberate and measured approach as we map out our return to operations in 2021,” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in a statement.
“Our commitment to the health and safety of our guests, crew and the communities we visit is at the forefront of our decisions and operations.”
Carnival said it is canceling cruise operations in February 2021 from Miami, Port Canveral and Galveston. The cruise line is also moving the inaugural sailing of its Mardi Gras ship to April 24, 2021, the news release stated.
The news comes less than a month after Carnival had announced its voyages would be canceled through January 31, 2021. Now, the voyages’ tentative restart date has been pushed to March.
The cruise industry has been among those hit hardest by the pandemic, with the US Centers for Disease Control issuing a No Sail Order for Cruise Ships in March that banned cruising out of US ports through October.
On October 30, the CDC issued a Framework for Conditional Sailing Order, which outlined a phased approach to resuming cruises.
Cumulative CDC data from March 1 through July 10, 2020, showed a total of 2,973 Covid-19 or Covid-like illness cases on cruise ships, in addition to 34 deaths. Eighty percent of ships within US jurisdiction were affected during the time frame, according to the data.
CNN’s Chris Isidore and Francesca Street contributed to this report.