Thread: It's Official - Sensation, Ecstacy, Holiday all Cancelled till March

Just got off the phone with my TA & Carnival. I knew before TA did - she gave me false hope and said "No, the Sensation will do your cruise then it is moving."

So now the plan is for the Sensation, Ecstacy & Holiday to go to NO and to house the ill & infirm. All able-bodied refugees won't be picked because they need to work, get kids in school, etc. Carnival signed a big deal $245 million with the government to use the ships.

I am disappointed of course, but this is wonderful and it will help to take the burden off of communities like mine here in TX that are overwhelmed.

They said to expect to receive the refunds in 2-4 weeks on the credit card and some people will be able to get 1/2 off their next fare and some will get $100 pp credits onboard. I think it depends on how you booked and what fare.

Kudos to Carnival. Lots of dissapointment for cruisers, but A God send for the ill and infirm!!Good for them!!!

Carnival Cruise Lines Three Cruise Ships to Federal Government As Part of Hurricane Relief Efforts 09/03/2005 MIAMI (Sept. 3, 2005) – Carnival Cruise Lines has chartered three of its cruise ships to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for six months as part of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

The three cruise ships are the Ecstasy, Sensation and Holiday.

The Ecstasy, normally homeported at Galveston, Texas, operating four- and five-day cruises, and Sensation, normally homeported in New Orleans operating four- and five-day voyages, will be pulled from service effective Monday, Sept. 5. Initial plans are for both vessels to be docked in Galveston.

The Holiday, which is homeported at Mobile, Ala., operating four and five-day Mexico cruises, will be pulled from service effective Thursday, Sept. 8. Initial plans are for the vessel to remain docked in Mobile.

“We sincerely apologize to those guests whose vacations have been impacted by these voyage cancellations,” said Bob Dickinson, Carnival president and CEO. “However, given that Hurricane Katrina is the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, we trust our guests will understand that the decision to enter into these charters was the right one. This inconvenience to our guests will provide desperately needed housing for thousands of individuals affected by this tragedy,” he added.

All guests whose bookings have been cancelled will be offered full refunds and will have the opportunity to re-book their cruise on any Carnival ship. Guests who re-book on any Carnival ship will receive a $100 per person shipboard credit. Carnival is protecting travel agent commissions on cancelled cruises.

As a result of three ships being taken out of service, Carnival is implementing some additional deployment changes within its fleet.

The Elation, which currently operates seven-day cruises from Galveston, will offer a one-time six-day voyage departing Sept. 4, then take over the Ecstasy’s four and five-day Galveston program effective Saturday, Sept. 10. Guests on the Elation’s six-day voyage will receive a 15 percent refund and a $50 per person shipboard credit. The Ecstasy’s five-day cruise of Sept. 5 has been cancelled.

All guests originally scheduled to sail on the Ecstasy during the affected six-month period will be automatically moved to the Elation. The Ecstasy and Elation are sister ships with identical layouts. Guests will be assigned to the same cabins on Elation that they had booked on the Ecstasy.

Carnival Conquest, which is normally based in New Orleans, will move to Galveston after it completes its current drydock on Sept. 11, to operate her original seven-day itinerary to Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The 110,000-ton Carnival Conquest entered service in 2002.

The Ecstasy entered service in 1991, the Sensation in 1993 and the Elation in 1998. All three are sister ships in Carnival’s eight-ship, Fantasy-class series. The vessels measure 70,367 gross tons and have a basis-two passenger capacity of 2,052 and a total passenger capacity of 2,606.

The 46,052-ton Holiday entered service in 1985 and has a basis-two passenger capacity of 1,452 and a total passenger capacity of 1,800.

Carnival shipboard employees will be staffing the three chartered ships. The Ecstasy, and Sensation each have approximately 920 crew and the Holiday has approximately 660.

Affected Carnival guests will be notified of the cancelled and modified sailings this afternoon.

For additional information and questions, guests can contact their travel agent, call 1-800-CARNIVAL or visit carnival.com.

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I'm sorry so many people's cruises will be affected but to Carnival for stepping up in a bad situation. Hopefully the more people that pitch in to help, the sooner things can get back to normal.

Wondering.....where's RCL & NCL? Both sail out of that port part of the year?

I do know that Carnival was approched by the government, I do not know if others were asked!!

I'm glad that they stepped up to the plate.. I knew there was a reason I kept pushing to change our cruise right after we booked it. With all the other things that were happening, it really seemed like some Higher being was telling us that we needed to find something else. How strange.. maybe I'm psychic, lol. Well..now to go find a different cruise!

Great attitude Jennifer, I am sure Carnival will be more than happy to accomodate you!!!

Good luck Jennifer,Let us know what you decide to do.
Jennifer i just noticed you will get 100 shipboard credit if you rebook before December 31st.

Yeah, I saw that too.. I'm looking currently but there are so many choices. If we can wait until Jan-Mar we can book a longer one cause I will have more vacation time. I tried calling TravelEx cause I wanted to know if we could cancel or at least change the dates if we decided to rebook, but they are closed for the holidays

Originally Posted by Jfultz81

Yeah, I saw that too.. I'm looking currently but there are so many choices. If we can wait until Jan-Mar we can book a longer one cause I will have more vacation time. I tried calling TravelEx cause I wanted to know if we could cancel or at least change the dates if we decided to rebook, but they are closed for the holidays

It would have made all this easier on everyone if they had waited to release all this news on Tuesday after the Holiday.