The first cruise ship to make call since March 12, 2020, in Kailua-Kona arrived in Kailua Bay Sunday morning.
The Carnival Miracle, with a passenger capacity of 2,214 and a crew capacity of 930, made its way into the West Hawaii bay early Sunday. It was one of the 963-foot vessel’s four stops in the Hawaiian Islands after departing Long Beach on Jan. 9.
The vessel is set to make call in Hilo today.
The Miracle will be the second cruise ship to visit East Hawaii since operations resumed with port agreements last week in the state ahead of the expiration of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s conditional sail order on Saturday. The cruise ship industry came to halt in Hawaii after a no-sail order was issued by the CDC on March 13, 2020, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
The first cruise ship passengers to arrive on the Big Island since the start of the pandemic came in to Hilo on Carnival Corp.’s Grand Princess on Tuesday.
It was the third and final stop in the state for the vessel that sailed from Los Angeles with 2,138 passengers and crew members aboard.
The Norwegian Cruise Line vessel Pride of America, which specializes in seven-day Hawaii-only interisland cruises, won’t be making any port calls in Hawaii until at least March 5. The Pride of America was the last cruise ship to make call in Kailua-Kona on March 12, 2020.