Over the coming days 18 different Empty Ships belonging to Carnival Cruise Line will rendezvous in the Bahamas to undertake what is a once in a lifetime crew change.
At present all the empty ships are either at anchor or on route to meet up in the Bahamas to give the opportunity for as many crew members to swap ships allowing them to get home to family in a safe and timely manner.
The plan is to use 9 different ships thus allowing Carnival to sail home more than 10,000 healthy crew members who remain on board due to restrictions limiting air travel to Asia, Africa, Europe, India and Latin America.
READ MORE ABOUT THE ORIGINAL PLAN TO TAKE CREW HOME:
7 Carnival Cruise Ships to Transport Team Members Home
The ships have been at various U.S. homeports provisioning supplies and bunkering fuel for their journeys. Certain crew will join ships using water shuttles off the coast of The Bahamas. Once completed, nine ships will sail to their destinations with crew members from North American-based ships on board.
Crew members who will be returning home have undergone a health check and cleared fit for travel by Carnival’s medical team. The company has been working closely with immigration officials in arriving countries on an efficient debarkation process.
Lets take a look at where each of the 9 Empty Ships will be heading too:
- Carnival Breeze: Sailing to Europe including stops at Southampton, UK; Cadiz, Spain; Civitavecchia, Italy; and Dubrovnik, Croatia.
- Carnival Magic: Sailing to Europe including stops at Southampton, UK; Cadiz, Spain; Civitavecchia, Italy; Dubrovnik, Croatia and Istanbul, Turkey.
- Carnival Glory: Sailing to the Caribbean with stops at St. Lucia, the Grenadines Islands including St. Vincent; Jamaica; Mexico and Panama.
- Carnival Fantasy: The ship is sailing to the Colon, Panama and from there the crew will transit to Central and South America.
- Carnival Dream: Is sailing to east Asia with stops in Durban, South Africa; Jakarta, Indonesia and Manila, Philippines.
- Carnival Conquest: Sailing to east Asia with stops in Durban, South Africa, and Manila, Philippines.
- Carnival Fascination: The vessel is taking crew back to Mumbai, India, and Durban, South Africa.
- Carnival Liberty: the ship is also sailing to Mumbai, India and Durban, South Africa.
- Carnival Ecstasy: The ship is the third to sail to Mumbai, India and Durban, South Africa
Approximately 6,000 additional crew will be repatriated by air charters or three ships that already departed from Australia and Long Beach. Carnival Spirit and Splendor are both currently in Asian waters sailing crew home to Indonesia and the Philippines. Carnival Panorama is already on its way to Asia as well having left Long Beach last week.
OTHER CURRENT CRUISE NEWS:
Cunard Extends Pause to some Voyages until September
Princess Cruises Extends Pause of Global Operations Through June 30
Holland America Line Extends Temporary Pause Of Its Global Ship Operations
Prior to Carnival’s pause in operations on March 13, its fleet of 27 ships had nearly 29,000 crew members on board. Since that time, Carnival has already repatriated more than 10,000 crew via flights and another 10,000 will be traveling on the nine voyages leaving this week.
