Carnival has stepped up and will be chartering 3 of their ships to FEMA
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive September 2005:
Carnival has stepped up and will be chartering 3 of their ships to FEMA
3 Carnival ships will be used for housing for 6 months. one in Mobile and two in Galveston. WOW.
MIAMI, Sept. 3 -- Carnival Cruise Lines has chartered three of its cruise ships to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for six months as part of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
The three cruise ships are the Ecstasy, Sensation and Holiday.
The Ecstasy, normally homeported at Galveston, Texas, operating four- and five-day cruises, and Sensation, normally homeported in New Orleans operating four- and five-day voyages, will be pulled from service effective Monday, Sept. 5. Initial plans are for both vessels to be docked in Galveston.
The Holiday, which is homeported at Mobile, Ala., operating four and five- day Mexico cruises, will be pulled from service effective Thursday, Sept. 8. Initial plans are for the vessel to remain docked in Mobile.
"We sincerely apologize to those guests whose vacations have been impacted by these voyage cancellations," said Bob Dickinson, Carnival president and CEO. "However, given that Hurricane Katrina is the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, we trust our guests will understand that the decision to enter into these charters was the right one. This inconvenience to our guests will provide desperately needed housing for thousands of individuals affected by this tragedy," he added.
All guests whose bookings have been cancelled will be offered full refunds and will have the opportunity to re-book their cruise on any Carnival ship. Guests who re-book on any Carnival ship will receive a $100 per person shipboard credit. Carnival is protecting travel agent commissions on cancelled cruises.
As a result of three ships being taken out of service, Carnival is implementing some additional deployment changes within its fleet.
The Elation, which currently operates seven-day cruises from Galveston, will offer a one-time six-day voyage departing Sept. 4, then take over the Ecstasy's four and five-day Galveston program effective Saturday, Sept. 10. Guests on the Elation's six-day voyage will receive a 15 percent refund and a $50 per person shipboard credit. The Ecstasy's five-day cruise of Sept. 5 has been cancelled.
All guests originally scheduled to sail on the Ecstasy during the affected six-month period will be automatically moved to the Elation. The Ecstasy and Elation are sister ships with identical layouts. Guests will be assigned to the same cabins on Elation that they had booked on the Ecstasy.
Carnival Conquest, which is normally based in New Orleans, will move to Galveston after it completes its current drydock on Sept. 11, to operate her original seven-day itinerary to Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The 110,000-ton Carnival Conquest entered service in 2002.
The Ecstasy entered service in 1991, the Sensation in 1993 and the Elation in 1998. All three are sister ships in Carnival's eight-ship, Fantasy-class series. The vessels measure 70,367 gross tons and have a basis-two passenger capacity of 2,052 and a total passenger capacity of 2,606.
The 46,052-ton Holiday entered service in 1985 and has a basis-two passenger capacity of 1,452 and a total passenger capacity of 1,800.
Carnival shipboard employees will be staffing the three chartered ships. The Ecstasy, and Sensation each have approximately 920 crew and the Holiday has approximately 660.
Affected Carnival guests will be notified of the cancelled and modified sailings this afternoon.
For additional information and questions, guests can contact their travel agent, call 1-800-CARNIVAL or visit carnival.com.
Source: Carnival Cruise Lines
my mom is scheduled to go out on The Elation on the 21st of October, wonder if this will end up effecting her trip? I'm glad that they are finding more places for people to go.
Tell her to check the website it has all cruises that are cancelled listed.
What a wonderful thing for Carnival to do. People are really stepping up doing some great things for the people that have been impacted by this.
What an incredible way to help!
The generosity coming through is so heart warming and hopeful!
That is so nice of them!
Are they renting the ships to the government? When I hear the word chartered I think rented?
yes for I believe $249 million so not really an act of generosity. A great business decision is more like it.
Oh please, they still have to stay in business! It's still a generous offer. Are any of us offering rooms in our homes?
I agree, they have to stay in business, the government will be paying other places - hotels/motels and releasing funds for apartments other places, so it is fair to pay Carnival for housing on the cruise ships. I venture to say, the ships will be in need of repair once this is over.
Don't get me wrong I am NOT bashing Carnival. I just wanted to make it clear that they are getting paid a generous sum. All 3 ships are due for dry dock by next year so I am sure they will do that after the contract.
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