More Guests, More Fun at Busiest Homeports
and Top Destinations
MIAMI, Aug. 1, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- In a year of many milestones – including its
50th Birthday – Carnival Cruise Line has reached another
important mark, welcoming three million guests since the restart of
guest operations in July 2021, amidst
a busy summer season across its fleet of 23 ships.
After recording its biggest booking week in the cruise line's
50-year history this spring, the last quarterly Carnival
Corporation business update projected Carnival Cruise Line's ships
to reach nearly 110% occupancy this summer. That expectation is
being realized in the increase of guests across the fleet. Carnival
saw its total guest count hit the two million mark in May and it
has now risen to three million in less than 75 days – an average of
95,000 guests per week.
Carnival's five busiest homeports, PortMiami, Fla., Port
Canaveral, Fla., Galveston, Tex.,
Long Beach, Calif., and
New Orleans, La., were among the
first to resume guest operations and account for 77 percent of all
Carnival embarkations 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 North
America powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG)
Mardi Gras, that is reaching
a milestone of its own, welcoming 250,000 guests on board since its
inaugural sailing. In terms of the number of sailings, Carnival's
hometown of PortMiami leads the way with more than 215 voyages to
date.
Homeports in Tampa, Fla.,
Charleston, S.C., Baltimore, M.D., Mobile, 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 in reaching the three million mark of total
guests since restart. All told, Carnival has generated significant
economic impact to all 14 of its U.S. homeports, both year-round
and seasonal operations, as well as the scores of destinations its
ships and guests have visited the past 13 months.
"Carnival set the pace for the industry as the first major
cruise line to return to full guest operations in the U.S., and we
continue to lead as we now have welcomed three million guests who
have enjoyed much-needed vacations," said Carnival president
Christine Duffy. "The economic
benefit to our homeports and destinations is also significant and
we are looking forward to restarting cruise operations in
Australia this October."
In addition to sailing from all 14 of Carnival's year-round and
seasonal U.S. homeports, the cruise line's three-ship deployment to
the Pacific Northwest set in motion its largest Alaskan season
ever, with approximately 100,000 guests expected to embark on
unforgettable vacations from both Seattle and San
Francisco. The Port of San
Francisco is also Carnival's newest seasonal homeport,
strengthening its position as the cruise line embarking more guests
than any other operator from California.
Carnival Pride is spending the summer in Europe, offering itineraries packed with stops
at 40 popular ports across 17 countries, and embarkations from both
Barcelona, Spain and Dover, England. The ship will return to
Tampa and resume operations there
on Nov. 12, 2022.
In all, Carnival ships have made more than 3,000 port-of-call
visits at 92 individual ports in 36 countries. Carnival ships have
called on Mexico the most with
about 800 visits – half of which have been to Cozumel, making it the cruise line's most
popular port. After Cozumel (385
calls), the 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). It's not surprising several of the top
spots are destinations developed specifically for cruisers, and
building on that premise, Carnival recently broke ground on a new
$200 million cruise port in
Freeport, Grand Bahama which
officials anticipate will breathe new tourism life into the economy
of the second-largest city in The Bahamas.
Guests are also enjoying shore excursions in all those
destinations and have gone on two million since restart, bringing
commerce and economic activity to those communities and local
businesses. In Cozumel, the most
popular excursion includes catamaran sailing and snorkeling at
Paradise Reef, enjoyed by 30,000 guests. An excursion featuring a
fun-filled day at Blue Lagoon Island is the most popular in
Nassau, frequented by more than
25,000 guests. In 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 return of Carnival's guest base is consistent with the
growth that has been previously announced, 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 its
innovative sister Mardi Gras
as part of the Carnival fleet and begin service from PortMiami in
November. A third Excel-class ship, Carnival Jubilee, is set to
debut next year from Galveston.
Carnival also continues to plan the launch of its new concept,
"Choose Fun with Carnival, Italian Style," which will bring two
additional ships from Costa into the Carnival 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 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
continually revolutionized the cruise sector, making a cruise
vacation an affordable and popular option for millions of guests.
Carnival operates from 14 U.S. homeports and employs more than
40,000 team members representing 120 nationalities. Carnival's
newest ship, Mardi Gras,
featuring the first roller coaster at sea, is the first cruise ship
in the Americas powered by eco-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 to
Miami in November to close out
Carnival's 50th birthday festivities.
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SOURCE Carnival Cruise Line