Published: Sep 3, 2005 Federal officials are chartering three of Carnival Cruise Lines' ships for six months, part of a plan to provide shelter for as many as 7,000 people displaced by devastating Hurricane Katrina.
Posted on 09/03/2005 10:25:45 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
Carnival Cruise Sending Three Big Ships for Katrina Refugees
Published: Sep 3, 2005 Federal officials are chartering three of Carnival Cruise Lines' ships for six months, part of a plan to provide shelter for as many as 7,000 people displaced by devastating Hurricane Katrina.
The three ships - the Ecstasy, Sensation and Holiday - will be pulled from regular use starting Monday.
Ecstasy, normally ported at Galveston for four-and five-day cruises, and Sensation, normally in New Orleans for similar trips, will both be pulled Monday and are scheduled to dock and house Katrina refugees in Galveston, Texas.
The Holiday, which normally sails four and five-day Mexico cruises out of Mobile, Ala., will be pulled Thursday and likely docked in Mobile.
Approximately 920 crew members will staff the 70,367 gross-ton Ecstasy and Sensation, with about 660 running the 46,052-ton Holiday. The Ecstasy and Sensation can each take 2,606 total passengers, while then Holiday can hold 1,800.
"We sincerely apologize to those guests whose vacations have been impacted by these voyage cancellations," Carnival CEO Bob Dickinson said in a news release. "This inconvenience ... will provide desperately needed housing for thousands of individuals affected by this tragedy."
Federal officials asked Carnival, the world's largest cruise line, shortly after Katrina slammed into the Gulf coast if their ships could be used as emergency shelters.
Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said Saturday from Miami, where the corporation is based, that it does not disclose the price of charter contracts, and it's virtually impossible to tell precisely many trips will be canceled.
"I can't put a number on it, but we are displacing people to accommodate the FEMA charter," he said. "You're looking at tens of thousands."
A FEMA spokeswoman did not immediately return a telephone message Saturday seeking comment.
All guests with canceled bookings will get full refunds and the opportunity to re-book on any Carnival ship with a $100-per-person shipboard credit.
Because of the deployments, The Elation, which 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 starting next Saturday. Guests will receive a 15 percent refund and a $50-per-person shipboard credit. The ship's five-day cruise, scheduled to leave Monday, has been canceled.
AP-ES-09-03-05 1256EDT
There's a big hospital ship due to arrive from Baltimore today I believe.
hmmm.....I don't like to be too pessimistic, but this sounds like trouble.
Finally, they asked them days ago and they said they had to meet on it. Better late than never I guess.
I suspect a lot of the reasons more corporations don't do more like this is because of liability concerns.
Help out thousands of people and some lawyers exploit a few honest failings to win themselves some more summer homes.
These ships will have to be fully restored after this mission.
Will Kathy Lee be singing for them?
Those ships are going to be some sight after a couple of weeks UNLESS there are enough enforcers who don't use kid gloves
I think life on any of them will be a nightmare
They need an on ship police presence or it will be a disaster.
Hope they don't get a case of the Carnival craps.
As a publicly-owned company, they can't make decisions quickly since they have to put the needs of their stockholders (and their lawyers) first. Kudos for them.
You can be sure that and more will occur.
"These ships will have to be fully restored after this mission."
They will be written off.
I guess Carnival will be asking for one hell of a big security deposit!
*sigh*
I'd say the boats will be trashed in short order by the new residents and then they will start complaining about the conditions.
Not to mention the headcount on return may be 95% of that on departure
Welcome aboard (I think...)
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