Carnival Cruise Line is planning to reshuffle its ships again this year as it resumes service in all 10 of its year-round U.S. homeports using its entire fleet.
The repositioning will cause Carnival to freeze affected guests' access to bookings for up to two weeks as the cruise line transfers reservations to the new ships and finds equivalent accommodations.
While the cruise line will resume service in its homeports by March, it will do so without the Carnival Sensation, which was retired this month. The Carnival Ecstasy, the line's oldest ship, will also leave the fleet but not until October. At the time that the ship retirements were announced, Carnival Cruise Line announced a series of ship changes to existing itineraries.
Changes include moving the Carnival Elation from Port Canaveral to Jacksonville, effective April 23 to Oct. 13.
The Carnival Freedom will shift from Miami to Port Canaveral to assume itineraries from the Elation from April 21 to Oct. 15.
The Carnival Spirit will fill in for the Carnival Freedom, including on the Apr. 17 Carnival Journeys sailing from Miami through the Panama Canal to Seattle. The Spirit will then sail cruises to Alaska from May to September with itineraries that go on sale Monday.
The Carnival Splendor will shift to Seattle and assume sailings that were assigned to Freedom. After the summer season, Splendor will sail the Carnival Journeys voyage originally assigned to Freedom. The cruise travels through the Panama Canal to Miami.