With the devastation in Galveston following Hurricane Ike, Carnival Cruise Lines has opted to cancel the September 14 sailing of the Carnival Conquest and the September 15 sailing of the Carnival Ecstasy.

Carnival has been closely monitoring the situation in Galveston and said it did not have a lot of information about the status of the shipping channel, cruise terminal or the port access infrastructure. Carnival says that local communication has been very challenging and there are restrictions against incoming traffic into the Galveston area.

“We do not expect the Port of Galveston to be open on Monday and there is tremendous uncertainty about when the port will be available to us next week. Due to this situation, we will now cancel the following cruises:

Carnival Conquest September 14, 2008 departure that was re-scheduled to a 6 day cruise departing on Monday, September 15.

Carnival Ecstasy September 15, 2008 departure

Guests will receive a full refund of cruise fare and we will process these refunds within three weeks.”

Meanwhile, the Carnival Ecstasy, which left Galveston on Thursday, will disembark passengers in New Orleans on Tuesday. Likewise the Carnival Conquest will disembark passengers in New Orleans pm Monday. However, guests of both ships can opt to remain on board and sail back to Galveston with the ships. However, Carnival said it is uncertain about when the Port of Galveston will re-open.

Stay tuned for more information.