Carnival Cruise Line announced today that it has signed an agreement with the city of New Orleans and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide the Carnival Glory for first responder housing through Sept. 18, according to a press release.

Cruise Industry News reported on Friday that FEMA was looking to charter at least one cruise ship.

Carnival will cancel Glory’s cruise scheduled to depart on Sept. 12 and will plan to restart its guest operations with Carnival Glory from New Orleans on Sunday, Sept. 19.

Carnival had already cancelled the Sept. 5 departure for Carnival Glory.

The Carnival Glory arrived at the Port of New Orleans on Friday and underwent a required U.S. Coast Guard inspection, according to Carnival.

The ship began provisioning food, water and materials to prepare for up to 2,600 hospital workers, first responders, city and utility workers and other emergency personnel to join the ship. The ship will stay in port and serve as emergency housing for frontline workers directly involved in the city’s infrastructure recovery and healthcare needs.

“While we want to provide the city of New Orleans with an economic boost by restarting guest operations, we want to first provide this critical housing support to address emergency needs and to get power restored to the region,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “We appreciate the understanding of our guests, who we know love New Orleans as much as we do.”

Added Brandy D. Christian, President and CEO Port NOLA and CEO of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. “Port NOLA appreciates Carnival’s deployment of Carnival Glory to New Orleans. Her berths will accommodate the hardworking first responders and essential personnel working on storm recovery efforts in our region. Port NOLA, our Federal, state, and local partner agencies all support those who are quickly restoring critical infrastructure in the city and helping to get cargo moving again.”