Carnival Liberty Resumes Sailing From Port Canaveral

Carnival Liberty has resumed sailing from Port Canaveral after 22 months.

The vessel will operate short cruises to the Bahamas from central Florida. Depending on the itinerary, stops will include Nassau, Half Moon Cay, Princess Cays, or Bimini, Bahamas.

Carnival Cruise Line brought the ship back earlier than it had planned when Carnival Horizon was taken out of service and put into dry dock because of propulsion issues. Along with Liberty, Carnival Sunshine took on Horizon‘s planned cruises in December and into January.

Liberty‘s first cruise for Horizon‘s passengers was on January 16 from Miami. Now, the ship has restarted its own scheduled sailings from Port Canaveral.

Recently, Carnival announced it’ll be exploring the option of adding $10 pierside COVID-19 testing for shorter cruises like the ones Liberty is operating.

Also prior to the cruise industry shutdown, Liberty was sailing short cruises to the Bahamas.

In 2011, Carnival Liberty was the first ship to receive Carnival’s Fun Ship 2.0 program, a multimillion-dollar renovation that introduced new venues like Guy’s Burger Joint, Alchemy Bar, BlueIguana Cantina, Playlist Production Shows, and the revamped Punchliner Comedy Club.

With Carnival Liberty now sailing, that leaves only three Carnival ships left to restart to complete the 22 ship restart in North America. Carnival Paradise, Sensation, and Ecstasy are scheduled to restart in the next two months from Tampa, Mobile, and Jacksonville, respectively.

Down in Australia, the cruising landscape is a bit different with no talks of ships being allowed to return to cruising until spring. Carnival Splendor is homeported in Brisbane, and Carnival Spirit is homeported in Sydney.

On Friday, the line announced that it would be staying the course indefinitely with pre-cruise testing, indoor face mask requirements, and vaccinated cruises.

Through at least December 31, 2022, kids under 12 as well as teens and adults who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons may apply for an exemption to be able to sail. Exemptions are limited based on a number of factors, including how many passengers are on board that are vaccinated, and are not guaranteed.

Watch Carnival Liberty Tour and Review

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