Carnival Cruise Line deployed two ships as part of a united front to highlight the impact of a 14-month ban on sailings from US ports.
The ships Carnival Breeze and Carnival Vista visited the Texas port of Galveston – the fourth most popular in the US – as part of the cruise restart rally.
Crew members from both ships received Covid-19 vaccinations on site from the University of Texas medical branch.
The action came amid growing indications that US cruising will be allowed to resume from July.
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The only cruise port in Texas generates $1.6 billion in expenditures a year and supports 27,000 jobs in the state.
Carnival operates from 14 US homeports – the most in cruising – on the east and west coasts and Gulf of Mexico.
The Carnival Corporation line’s president Christine Duffy said: “Today was yet another significant milestone in our efforts to resume cruising in the US.
“We’ve said all along that we would like the cruise industry be given equal treatment of other travel and hospitality companies and this event sent a strong and unified message that we need to start sailing again.”
Galveston mayor Craig Brown added: “Cruising is so critical to the Galveston economy and today’s event clearly demonstrated our community’s desire that cruising return to bring much-needed visitors and jobs back to our community.
“Galveston has grown to become one of the top homeports for seagoing vacations and the time is right to resume cruising and all the wonderful benefits it brings to our city.”
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