Carnival Cruise ships are docked at the Port of Tampa Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Tampa, Fla. Thousands of cruise ships employees are not working in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
By Dee-Ann Durbin
Carnival Cruise Lines said Monday that it plans to gradually resume cruising in North America in August, nearly five months after it halted operations due to the new coronavirus.
Sailings will begin on Aug. 1 with eight ships setting off from Galveston, Texas; Miami; and Port Canaveral, Florida. A majority of customers can easily drive to those ports, the company noted.
Carnival said its operations from other North American and Australian markets will be on hold through Aug. 31. It is also canceling planned sailings from Vancouver to Honolulu on Sept. 25 and Honolulu to Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 6.
Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines is the largest brand owned by Carnival Corp., which also owns Princess, Holland America Line, and other brands. Carnival Cruise Lines has 27 ships and transported 5 million passengers last year.
The company has taken a huge hit from the new coronavirus, which stranded some ships at sea with sick passengers. Multiple ships reported outbreaks and struggled to find places to dock. In early April, two Holland America cruises disembarked in Florida with at least nine passengers sick with COVID-19.
Carnival Cruise Lines halted new sailings on March 13. It initially expected to be able to sail again on April 10.
Still, parent Carnival Corp. is in strong financial shape. It has raised nearly $6 billion in debt and equity since the crisis began. The company wasn’t eligible for loan assistance from the U.S. government because it is incorporated in Panama.
Carnival Cruise Lines said it is offering future travel credits or refunds to passengers whose cruises are canceled. The company said it will engage government and health experts to ensure that it can safely sail in August.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
