Carnival Cruise Line has announced that Carnival Splendor will be returning to Sydney following its deployment in the US.
Carnival Splendor was originally slated to return to Aussie waters in June, however, the ship was redeployed to operate sailings out of Alaska that were previously assigned to Carnival Freedom, in response to the continued uncertainty around in Australian waters.
Upon completion of the summer season in Alaska, Carnival Splendor will return to Australia with a new Journeys cruise to Sydney, that will be available soon.
Carnival Cruise Line US president, Christine Duffy, reconfirmed the cruise line’s commitment to Australia.
“We are continuing to make plans for a return to guest operations in Australia upon completion of our Alaska season,” Duffy said.
Carnival Cruise Line said it looks forward to resuming operations in Australia as a two-ship market, despite, Australia’s cruise ban having recently been extended for another two months.
Health Minister Greg Hunt extended the human biosecurity period on Friday, meaning cruise vessels will continue to be banned from Australian waters until at least 17 April 2022.
According to Hunt, there was an agreement at National Cabinet that the Commonwealth, NSW, Victoria and Queensland agreed to work with the industry to implement new protocols to enable the resumption of cruising over the coming months.
“The Commonwealth can remove the restrictions on cruising as soon as it is advised that it is safe to do so and the Minister will regularly review this advice,” Hunt said.
