In a year that included celebrating 50 years of cruising, Carnival Cruise Line welcomed its three millionth guest since the restart of guest operations in July 2021.
This spring, Carnival also recorded its biggest booking week in the 50 year history of the company. The projection for this summer also says Carnival will reach nearly 110% occupancy this summer. 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. 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, which also resumed operations this year, have also been key reaching the three million mark of total guests since restart.
“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. The economic benefit to our homeports and destinations is also significant and we are looking forward to restarting cruise operations in Australia this October.”
Carnival president Christine Duffy
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 helped create the 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.
Carnival also recently broke ground on a new $200 million cruise port in Freeport, Grand Bahama which officials believe will breathe new life into the economy of the second-largest city in The Bahamas.
This rapid success has also triggered growth, five new ships will join the Carnival fleet in the coming 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.
There is so much happening with Carnival Cruise Line and so much to come. We here at the Crescent Lake Club would love to help you plan your next voyage on a Carnival ship. Contact your Crescent Lake Club agent today!
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