Newest Carnival Cruise Ship Delayed for Next Sailing

Carnival Jubilee is just completing her fourth cruise and will be delayed returning to Galveston on Saturday, January 20, 2024 due to a medical emergency.

Consequently, this will delay the embarkation for the next cruise. Guests have been contacted and asked to adjust their arrival appointments, while guests already on board have been given a timeline for what to expect on debarkation morning.

Carnival Jubilee Delayed

A “medical deviation” has delayed Carnival Jubilee on her return to Galveston, Texas. The incident happened while the ship was north of the Yucatan Peninsula, at sea making her way back to Galveston at the and of a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise to Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Roatan.

While details of the medical emergency have not been released in order to protect the privacy of the individuals involved, it did require the ship to reverse course significantly.

Because of this deviation, Carnival Jubilee will not be in Galveston as early in the morning as planned. Guests booked on the next sailing are being asked to adjust their arrival to the cruise terminal.

“Due to a medical deviation on the return to Galveston, the ship will be arriving later than scheduled,” the email notification explained. “As a result, embarkation for your cruise has been revised. We must allow debarking guests to leave the terminal before we can accommodate your arrival.”

The embarkation delay is expected to be just one hour. If guests had selected an 11-11:30 a.m. arrival appointment, for example, their new arrival time would be 12-12:30 p.m. instead.

“Guests who arrive earlier will be asked to return at their newly assigned time,” the email warns.

All passengers must be onboard Carnival Jubilee no later than 3:40 p.m. for the ship’s departure, so it is critical that no one be late even with the day’s brief delay. The scheduled departure time from Port of Galveston is 4 p.m.

If guests have purchased transfer services through Carnival Cruise Line, their transfer times will be automatically adjusted based on the revised embarkation windows. Guests who will be driving to the port or who have made independent arrangements with shuttle services, ride shares, or other transportation will need to adjust their plans accordingly.

How This Affects Guests Onboard

Meanwhile, guests already onboard Carnival Jubilee have been alerted to the delay as well, and provided a timeline for how their slightly delayed debarkation will work on Saturday morning.

The estimated time for the ship to arrive to the Port of Galveston is 9 a.m., with actual debarkation expected to begin by 9:30 a.m. after the ship has been cleared by local customs and immigration officials.

Guests are asked to vacate their staterooms no later than 10 a.m. This will permit the cabin attendants to begin cleaning, changing bedding, exchanging towels, and doing other turnover work to prepare the staterooms for embarking guests. Public areas will be available for guests to wait until it is their time to debark.

Guests using self-assist debarkation – carrying all their own luggage off the ship – will debark first, followed by guests with priority debarkation privileges.

Read Also: Carnival Cruise Line Expands New Debarkation Procedure

All guests must have left Carnival Jubilee no later than 12:30 p.m.

It should be noted that the earliest terminal arrival appointment on the revised schedule is 11:00-11:30 a.m. This does not indicate an actual embarkation time, however, but only when incoming guests will be able to complete their cruise terminal check-in and paperwork. As soon as all guests have left the ship, embarkation for the next cruise will be able to begin.

As the 183,521-gross-ton Carnival Jubilee can welcome 5,347 passengers at double occupancy or up to 6,631 guests when fully booked with all berths filled, it can take some time to process all travelers from one cruise to the next.

At this time, there is not expected to be any further impact on the ship’s next sailing, an identical 7-night Western Caribbean sailing. All ports of call remain as scheduled on the original itinerary.