Carnival expands presence in New Orleans and Port Canaveral. Who's ready?

[Jason]

Carnival Cruise Lines today announced new ship deployments taking effect in 2014 in several key markets resulting in exciting new product offerings from Port Canaveral, Fla., and New Orleans. Carnival will now feature the widest selection of seagoing vacation choices in these markets aboard some of the most innovative ships in cruising.

Carnival Sunshine, which recently completed a massive $155 million transformation, will be repositioned from New Orleans to Port Canaveral beginning in April 2014. This move will allow Carnival to continue to offer attractive new options from Port Canaveral and marks the first time the line will have a ship in Central Florida featuring all of the fantastic Fun Ship 2.0 bar, dining and entertainment innovations.

In turn, Carnival Dream will reposition from Port Canaveral to New Orleans to operate year-round seven-day Caribbean cruises beginning in April 2014, representing a 22 percent capacity increase on week-long sailings from the Big Easy. The 130,000-ton Carnival Dream is from the line’s newest and largest class of ships and offers an array of on-board facilities and features. Carnival is the only cruise line to operate two year-round ships from New Orleans and will carry more than 400,000 guests annually from this important Gulf Coast homeport.

Carnival will also increase capacity in Port Canaveral by 30 percent when Carnival Liberty launches year-round five- to eight-day Caribbean cruises in May 2014, adding a second Fun Ship 2.0-equipped vessel to the Space Coast. The ship’s many popular features include Guy’s Burger Joint, developed in tandem with Food Network star Guy Fieri, along with BlueIguana Cantina, RedFrog Rum Bar, EA Sports Bar, BlueIguana Tequila Bar and the award-winning Alchemy Bar.

Guests will now have the widest variety of cruise vacations available from Port Canaveral including five cruise durations — from three to eight days — offering seven different itinerary options and the chance to visit 14 exciting destinations throughout The Bahamas and Caribbean. Carnival will be the only cruise line to offer three year-round ships from Port Canaveral, providing fun and memorable cruise vacations to over 600,000 guests annually.

“These deployment changes will enable us to offer our guests even more exciting Carnival cruise vacation choices from Central Florida and the Gulf region and significantly enhance our leadership positions in the Port Canaveral and New Orleans markets,” said Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO.

Carnival Sunshine to Port Canaveral

Carnival Sunshine, which debuted this May in Europe following an unprecedented transformation that added a host of exciting on-board features, will launch year-round seven-day Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral beginning April 19, 2014. A new special 11-day cruise from New Orleans to Port Canaveral, visiting Montego Bay, Aruba, Curacao and St. Thomas will depart April 6, 2014. On April, 17, 2014, a one-time two-day Bahamas cruise will also be offered.

Carnival Sunshine will operate a year-round schedule from Port Canaveral that includes port-intensive seven-day cruises to the eastern and western Caribbean, along with a number of eight-day Caribbean cruises and five-day departures featuring Florida, Caribbean and Bahamian ports. After completion of its 2013 Europe season, Carnival Sunshine will make its North American debut with a series of seven-day Caribbean cruises from New Orleans starting in November 2013 and running through April 2014.

Carnival Dream to New Orleans

Beginning April 20, 2014, Carnival Dream will launch year-round seven-day Caribbean cruises from New Orleans. The 3,646-passenger vessel will mark a significant increase in seven-day capacity for this popular cruise program from the Big Easy. There will also be a unique nine-day cruise departing April 5, 2014, from Port Canaveral to New Orleans with calls in Aruba, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, along with a special six-day cruise round-trip from New Orleans departing April 14, 2014, visiting Costa Maya, Roatan and Cozumel.

On its regular schedule from New Orleans, Carnival Dream will offer three distinctly different three-port, seven-day eastern and western Caribbean options.

Carnival Liberty to Port Canaveral

Carnival Liberty, which is currently based in Miami, will reposition to Port Canaveral and operate a year-round schedule of five- and eight-day Caribbean cruises starting May 4, 2014. Five-day cruises call at Key West, Nassau and Freeport, while two different eight-day options will be offered – a unique eastern Caribbean itinerary featuring Grand Turk, St. Thomas, Tortola, and St. Maarten; and a southern Caribbean program visiting Aruba, Curacao and Grand Turk. A number of seven-day eastern and western Caribbean cruises will also be offered on an occasional basis throughout the year.

Other Florida-Based Ship Deployments

Carnival Pride will reposition from Baltimore to Tampa to launch seven-day cruises from that port from December 2014 through April 2015, joining Carnival Paradise which offers value-packed four- and five-day cruises from Florida’s West Coast. On its new Tampa-based program, Carnival Pride will visit four magnificent western Caribbean destinations: Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Mahogany Bay (Roatan) and Belize. A special five-day cruise will be available on Carnival Pride departing Dec. 16, 2014, visiting Grand Cayman and Cozumel. There will also be unique eight-day one-way cruises available from Baltimore to San Juan on Nov. 30, 2014, and from San Juan to Tampa on Dec. 8, 2014. These voyages include visits to Grand Turk, St. Kitts, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Carnival Pride replaces Carnival Legend which will remain in Tampa through Aug. 17, 2014, and then reposition to Australia to operate a previously announced seasonal schedule of voyages from Sydney, joining Carnival Spirit which launched year-round departures from Down Under in October 2012.

Carnival also announced that Carnival Glory will remain in Miami year-round beginning in November 2013, operating seven-day voyages that alternate weekly to the eastern and western Caribbean with a convenient new Saturday departure. Eastern Caribbean cruises visit St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk and Nassau or Half Moon Cay, while western Caribbean departures feature Cozumel, Mahogany Bay (Roatan), Belize and Grand Cayman.

Source: Carnival Cruise Lines

For more cruise news & articles go to http://www.cruisecrazies.com/index.html

Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more

http://www.cruisecrazies.com

Click here to view the article

[WeCruiseToo]

Guests will now have the widest variety of cruise vacations available from Port Canaveral including five cruise durations — from three to eight days — offering seven different itinerary options and the chance to visit 14 exciting destinations throughout The Bahamas and Caribbean.

With Port Canaveral being less than an hour away this is fantastic news for us! New ships, new itineraries and more cruises in our future!

[DebbieandJerry]

Fantastic news as both ports are SW airline stops (from Tucson). Guess we'll be studying these itineraries on our Sept cruise.