Three cruise ships to house hurricane refugees

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Carnival Cruise Lines has confirmed that the US government has booked three of it's luxury cruise ships for the next 6 months to temporarily house some of the displaced refugees from Hurricane Katrina.

The cruise ships -- Ecstasy, Sensation, and Holiday, have been removed from service, and passengers who had already booked vacations on them are being given priority on other cruise ships, or being refunded their deposits.

Ectasy and Sensation, the larger two cruise ships with a capacity of 2,606 passengers each, will be based in Galveston Texas, while the Holiday, which can hold 1,800 passengers, will most likely be docked in Mobile, Alabama.

Carnival Cruise Lines LLC would not comment on how much the US government paid to charter the three cruise ships.