More guests, more fun in the busiest home ports and top destinations
MIAMI, August 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — In a year of many milestones – including his 50thth Birthday – Carnival Cruise Line has reached another milestone, welcoming three million guests since resuming guest operations on July 2021amid a busy summer season on its 23-ship fleet.
In a year of many milestones – including its 50th anniversary – Carnival Cruise Line has reached another milestone, welcoming three million guests since resuming cruise operations in July 2021 amid a season of busy summer in its fleet of 23 ships.
After recording its biggest booking week in the cruise line’s 50-year history this spring, Carnival Corporation’s latest quarterly business update predicted Carnival Cruise Line ships will reach nearly 110% occupancy this summer. This expectation is being realized in the increase in guests across the fleet. Carnival saw total guests in May top two million and has now grown to three million in less than 75 days – an average of 95,000 guests per week.
Carnival’s five busiest ports, PortMiami, Fla., Port Canaveral, Fla., Galveston, Tex., Long Beach, California.AND New Orleans, La., were among the first to resume guest operations and accounted for 77 percent of all Carnival boardings and an impressive guest total of 2,324,823. Port Canaveral is also home to Carnival’s new Excel-class flagship and the first ship in the North America powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) Mardi Gras, which is reaching a milestone of its own, welcoming 250,000 guests on board since its inaugural voyage. In terms of number of sailings, Carnival’s hometown of PortMiami leads the way with more than 215 sailings to date.
The gates of the house in Tampa, Fla., Charleston, SC, BaltimoreMD, Cell, Ala., Jacksonville, Fla., Norfolk, Va., Seattle, San Francisco AND New York, many of which resumed operations this year, have also been key to Carnival’s strategy to reach the three million guest mark since relaunch. However, Carnival has generated significant economic impact in all 14 of its US home ports, both year-round and seasonal operations, and in a variety of destinations that its ships and guests have visited in the past 13 months.
“Carnival set the pace for the industry as the first major cruise line to return to full U.S. guest operations, and we continue to lead as we’ve now welcomed three million guests who have enjoyed much-needed vacations,” said the president of Carnival. Christine Duffy. “The economic benefit to our ports and destinations is also significant and we look forward to resuming cruise operations in Australia this October”.
In addition to sailing from all 14 of Carnival’s year-round and seasonal U.S. home ports, the cruise line’s deployment of three ships to the Pacific Northwest set in motion its largest Alaskan season ever, with nearly 100,000 guests expected to Unforgettable holidays start from both. Seattle AND San Francisco. The port of San Francisco it is also Carnival’s newest seasonal port, strengthening its position as the cruise line has more visitors than any other operator from California.
Carnival Pride is spending the summer in Europeoffering packed itineraries with stops in 40 popular ports in 17 countries, and departures from both Barcelona, Spain AND Dover, England. The ship will return to Tampa and resume operations there November 12, 2022.
In total, Carnival ships have made more than 3,000 calls to 92 individual ports in 36 countries. Carnival ships have called Mexico most with around 800 visits – half of which have been in Cozumel, making it the cruise line’s most popular port. after Cozumel (385 calls), other destinations included in the top five are: Nassau (320 calls) and Half Moon Cay (155 calls) in The Bahamas, Amber Cove, Dominican Republic (159 calls), and Mahogany Bay, Roatan (123 calls). Not surprisingly, some of the highlights are destinations developed specifically for travelers, and building on that premise, Carnival recently opened a new 200 million dollars cruise port at Freeport, Grand Bahama which officials predict will breathe new life into the tourism economy of the second largest city in The Bahamas.
Guests are also enjoying shore excursions to all those destinations, and have gone to two million since the relaunch, bringing trade and economic activity to those communities and local businesses. IN Cozumel, the most popular excursion includes a catamaran cruise and snorkeling at Paradise Reef, enjoyed by 30,000 guests. A fun-filled day trip to Blue Lagoon Island is the most popular of it Nassau, attended by more than 25,000 guests. At Mahogany Bay, 13,000 guests have chosen to “Discover Roatan” by observing the island’s wildlife and natural beauty on a guided tour.
The rapid turnaround of Carnival’s guest base is in line with previously announced growth, with five ships joining the fleet over the next two years. This November, Costa Luminosa will become Carnival Luminosa and begin sailing seasonally from Brisbane, Australia. Carnival Celebration, an Excel-class ship powered by LNG, will join her groundbreaking sister Mardi Gras as part of the Carnival fleet and begin service from PortMiami in November. A third Excel-class ship, Carnival Jubilee, will debut next year from Galveston. Carnival also continues to plan the launch of its new concept, “Choose Carnival Fun, Italian Style,” which will bring two additional ships from Costa to Carnival’s fleet in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
For additional information on Carnival Cruise Line and to book a cruise vacation, call 1-800-CARNIVAL, visit www.carnival.com or contact your favorite travel advisor or online travel site.
ABOUT THE CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE
Carnival Cruise Line, part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is proud to be known as America’s Cruise Line. Since its founding in 1972, Carnival has continuously revolutionized the cruise industry, making cruise vacations an affordable and popular option for millions of guests. Carnival operates from 14 US domestic ports and employs more than 40,000 crew members representing 120 nationalities. Carnival’s newest ship, Mardi Gras, with the first coaster at sea, is America’s first cruise ship powered by environmentally friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG). Carnival returns to Australia IN October 2022 and will welcome four additional ships over the next two years, including Carnival Celebration, which arrives in Miami in November to close the carnival’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
SOURCE Carnival Cruise Line
