was to be sold. Carnival Corporation was in an excellent cash position, with US$9.5 billion, but suffered an adjusted net loss of $1.9 billion in the Quarter. In June 2021, Carnival stock shares fell by 6% after it was announced that some early passengers from the first cruises of 2021 had tested positive for COVID-19. More recently, as of October 23, 2022, Carnival Cruise line Passengers are not required to provide COVID-19 test prior to their arrival if the passenger is vaccinated and boosted. Controversies In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, three of the Carnival cruise ships were chartered by the United States government for six months to serve as temporary housing until the houses can be rebuilt. After being chartered for six months, their planned voyages were cancelled, and passengers were refunded. Holiday was originally docked in Mobile, Alabama, and later Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Ecstasy and Sensation were docked at New Orleans, Louisiana. The six-month contract cost $236 million. The contract was widely criticized, because the vessels were never fully utilized, and Carnival received more money than it would have earned by using the ships in their normal rotation. Employment In 2012, the company was reportedly paying cruise ship staff basic salaries equivalent to per hour. For example, a junior waiter would earn a basic salary of a month for shifts lasting at least 11 hours, seven days a week. In response to this controversy, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Brendan Barber, commented: "It's high time the disgraceful practice of allowing the shipping industry to pay poverty wages to workers who don't live in the UK was stopped. Exploitative rates of pay for those working on British ships have no place in a modern society." In October 2013, Carnival revoked retirement benefits for cruise staff. In May 2012, Carnival dismissed 150 crew members from India for protesting low wages. Environmental and pollution Since 2017, Carnival Corporation has been on probation, after having been found to "illegally dumping oil into the ocean from its Princess Cruises ships and lying about the scheme." Carnival Corporation also had to pay a $40 million fine. The Court summary states that "Princess was convicted and sentenced in April 2017, after pleading guilty to felony charges stemming from its deliberate dumping of oil-contaminated waste from one of its vessels and intentional acts to cover it up". In April 2019, Carnival Corporation was