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Carnival Cruise Line will restart some North American cruises by August

Eight ships will depart from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston, Carnival said in a statement.
Image: The Carnival Miracle cruise ship sits near the Long Beach port off the coast of California on April 23, 2020.
The Carnival Miracle cruise ship sits near the Long Beach port off the coast of California on April 23, 2020.Mike Blake / Reuters

Carnival Cruise Line on Monday announced a plan to phase in some North American cruises beginning August 1.

Eight ships will depart from Miami, Port Canaveral, Florida and Galveston, Texas, Carnival said in a statement.

"In connection with this plan, our pause in operations will be extended in all other North American and Australian markets through August 31," the statement said.

All North American cruises from June 27 to July 31 will be cancelled. All Spirit Alaskan cruises from Seattle, the Spirit Vancouver-Honolulu cruise on September 25 and the Honolulu-Brisbane transpacific cruise on October 6 will also be cancelled. Carnival, the world's largest cruise line, said all of its Splendor cruises in Australia from June 19 to August 31 will also be cancelled.

Affected guests are being notified by email and will have the options of a combined future cruise credit and onboard credit package, or a full refund.

"We are committed to supporting all public health efforts to manage the COVID-19 situation," Carnival said. "We are taking a measured approach, focusing our return to service on a select number of homeports where we have more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of our guests."

Carnival, which has been at the center of the coronavirus pandemic since the beginning, said it will continue to engage experts, government officials and stakeholders on additional protocols and procedures "to protect the health and safety of our guests, crew and the communities we serve."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issued a no-sail order for cruise companies in U.S. waters, requires that cruise ship operators, among other things, develop plans to prevent, mitigate and respond to the spread of COVID-19 onboard cruise ships.

Last week, Carnival said it has more than 10,000 healthy crew members onboard its ships and is planning to have them home over the next seven days.