Cruise and Flight Itineraries Altered Following Rita

September 26, 2005

Cruise and Flight Itineraries Altered Following Rita
September 26, 2005 – Travelers can expect changes to cruise and flight itineraries in the days following Hurricane Rita.

 

Carnival Cruise Lines President Bob Dickinson said the company is examining avenues for full resumption of cruise service from New Orleans in the future. "We are eager to return to pre-Katrina capacity levels from New Orleans, a homeport that is extremely near and dear to us," Dickinson said.

 

Royal Caribbean International and Carnival both reported that several ships will be delayed in their return to the Port of Galveston due to Hurricane Rita, according to Travel Pulse Daily. Royal Caribbean said the Rhapsody of the Seas will most likely not return to the Port of Galveston until Wednesday, Sept. 28, three days later than scheduled. The Rhapsody’s seven-night sailing that was scheduled to depart on Sunday, Sept. 25, will now depart at 6 p.m. Wednesday and will be a four-night cruise visiting Cozumel. Guests are asked to continue monitoring Royal Caribbean’s updates to receive the latest information by calling 800-327-6700 or visiting http://www.royalcaribbean.com/. Carnival also altered the itineraries of two ships, the Elation and Carnival Conquest. Updates to cruise itinerary adjustments are available on Carnival’s website, http://www.carnival.com/.

 

Flights resumed at Houston’s two commercial airports Sunday, although flights remained grounded indefinitely at Louisiana’s Lake Charles Regional Airport.

 

Continental Airlines resumed flights on Sunday morning and its regional Continental Express and Continental Connection flights out of Houston are set to begin on Monday.

 

Southwest said it resumed flights from Dallas to Houston and planned to resume service to New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong Airport and to Corpus Christi later Sunday morning. Also according to USA Today, American Airlines and American Eagle scheduled their first flights into Houston since late Thursday for shortly after noon on Sunday. American did not suspend service into New Orleans, which was reduced after damage caused by Hurricane Katrina last month.

 

For more information, visit http://www.usatoday.com/.