According to Carnival Cruise Line, three million passengers have boarded its ships since guest operations resumed in July 2021, and this summer, ships are expected to be 110 percent full.
“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.”
The rise of visitors across the fleet demonstrates that this expectation is being met. Carnival announced in a statement that its total guest count, which had reached two million in May, had increased to three million in fewer than 75 days, or an average of 95,000 visitors each week.
PortMiami, Fla., Port Canaveral, Fla., Galveston, Texas, Long Beach, Calif., and New Orleans, La., Carnival’s five busiest homeports, were among the first to resume guest operations and are responsible for 77 percent of all Carnival embarkations and a total of 2,324,823 passengers, according to the cruise line.
Homeports in Tampa, Florida, Charleston, South Carolina, Baltimore, Maryland, Mobile, Alabama, Jacksonville, Florida, Norfolk, Virginia, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York—many of which resumed operations this year—have also been crucial to Carnival’s strategy in bringing the total number of guests on board since restarting to three million.
The cruise line’s three-ship deployment to the Pacific Northwest kicked off its biggest Alaskan season ever, in addition to sailing from all 14 of its year-round and seasonal U.S. homeports.
Carnival’s position as the cruise line that embarks the most passengers from California than any other operator is strengthened by the fact that the Port of San Francisco is its newest seasonal homeport.
Carnival ships have made more than 3,000 port calls in 92 different ports in 36 countries. Carnival ships have completed nearly 800 calls to Mexico, half of which were to Cozumel, making it the cruise line’s most popular port. Other locations in the top five after Cozumel (385 calls) are Nassau (320 calls), Half Moon Cay (155 calls), Amber Cove, Dominican Republic (159 calls), and Mahogany Bay, Roatan (123 calls).
