Carnival Reveals Fall Cruise Ship Deployment; Announces Mobile COVID Testing Units Pierside

(4:46 p.m. EDT) -- Carnival Cruise Line announced further details of its fall cruise restart Thursday, along with plans to deploy new mobile COVID-19 rapid testing facilities at its U.S. homeports for vaccinated travelers who are unable to secure testing before embarkation.

Carnival will restart several cruise ships this fall:

• Carnival Valor November 1 from New Orleans

• Carnival Legend November 14 from Baltimore

• Carnival Radiance December 13 from Long Beach

• Carnival Pride November 14 from Tampa

• Carnival Conquest December 13 from Miami

• Carnival Sensation January 2022 from Mobile

Several vessels have had their entry into service pushed back from their originally anticipated start dates. Carnival Radiance -- the former Carnival Victory -- has had its debut pushed once again, from November 5 to December 13, owing to drydock planning for the ship's conversion.

Carnival Conquest was due to restart October 8 from Miami, but that debut has been pushed to December 13. Finally, Carnival Sensation -- Carnival's only Fantasy Class vessel currently on the books to resume sailing -- has had its entry into service pushed from October 21 to January 2022, when it will restart cruises from Mobile, Alabama.

The line also revealed it will set up mobile rapid-testing locations at each homeport as a back-up plan for passengers who are unable to secure pre-cruise COVID-19 testing prior to embarkation. Carnival's current health and safety protocols call for passengers to be fully vaccinated, and to provide proof of negative COVID-19 testing taken up to 72 hours prior to embarkation. Starting September 13, passengers will have to provide proof of a negative test taken within 48 hours of embarkation, as per the latest CDC guidelines.

Carnival says exact details on the new homeport testing sites will be forthcoming.

"We are making slight adjustments to our timeline to take into account supply chain realities and ensure that our destination and shore excursion offerings can meet the strong demand we are seeing from our guests," Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy said in a statement. "Our teams, ship and shore, are prepared to continue delivering on our great guest experience and manage all health and safety protocols."

Additionally, Carnival is advising all passengers booked on voyages slated to depart in November and December that its masking and vaccination policies will continue for those sailings.

Carnival will have 15 of its vessels back in the water operating revenue cruises by mid-November. Carnival has also canceled voyages on select vessels until 2022, including Carnival Liberty, Carnival Sunshine, Carnival Paradise and Carnival Ecstasy.