Carnival Corp may stick to its plan to sail in US waters by December, thanks to a federal judge's change of heart.
US District Judge Patricia Seitz on Friday indicated that Arnold Donald-led Carnival had to give 60 days' voyage notice before she cleared a ship as environmentally compliant.
However, she decided in Wednesday's final ruling — given along with probation and a $20m environmental fine handed down months ago — that it had to give only 30 days' notice.
"The court continues to recognise the significant impacts of Covid-19 on the operations and financial resources of the defendant Princess Cruises, its parent corporation Carnival Corp, and related corporate entities," she wrote in her ruling filed in US District Court for Southern Florida.
Carnival by 2017 served two years of a five-year probation and paid a $40m fine for dumping oil from Princess Cruises ships for eight years and lying to US authorities.
While on probation, Carnival tried to avoid unfavourable findings by preparing ships before court-ordered audits and falsifying records while dumping plastic into the sea and grey water into Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park.
The company, which acknowledged all incidents, also tried to covertly lobby the US Coast Guard to change the terms of the settlement.
Full compliance
Carnival, which now has a felony record, said it would comply with Seitz' decision, as it plans to start offering itineraries from Florida's Port Miami and Port Canaveral on 1 December.
"Our highest responsibility and top priorities are compliance, environmental protection and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, crew, shoreside employees, and the people and communities our ships visit," spokesman Roger Frizzell said.
He would not say which ships the company planned to sail from these ports and what their itineraries would be.
Since September, Carnival has begun carrying out limited voyages on a handful of ships owned by Italy's Costa Cruises and Germany's AIDA Cruises.
The vast majority of its 90 or so ships across nine brands are still at anchor amid the pandemic, which has caused billions in losses for Carnival and peers Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
