Cruise Lines Pull Ships from Service for Hurricane Ida Relief

(3:30 p.m. EDT) -- Two cruise lines have pulled ships from service in order to assist with recovery from Hurricane Ida in New Orleans.

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and Carnival Cruise Line have both sent ships to New Orleans to be used as floating accommodations for disaster relief recovery. Both Grand Classica and Carnival Glory are being sent to New Orleans following agreements between the two cruise lines, the City of New Orleans and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA.

Carnival Glory will house first responders through September 18, 2021. Because of that, the ship's September 5 and September 12 voyages will be cancelled. The ship will restart cruise operations from New Orleans on Sunday, September 19.

Carnival Glory arrived in New Orleans on Friday and will house up to 2,600 first responders, according to a press release issued Tuesday by Carnival Corporation.

"While we want to provide the city of New Orleans with an economic boost by restarting guest operations, we want to first provide this critical housing support to address emergency needs and to get power restored to the region," said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. "We appreciate the understanding of our guests, who we know love New Orleans as much as we do."

Bahamas Paradise, meanwhile, stated Grand Classica will house up to 1,500 first responders. The ship is expected to return to service on September 26, 2021 from the Port of Palm Beach on two-day runs to the Bahamas.