Apr 15 2015
Carnival Magic Heads to Florida, and Other Moves
By Doug Parker
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Port Canaveral is already a cruise ship powerhouse, but with the latest announcement from Carnival Cruise Line, capacity will increase another 34%. Starting in 2016, Carnival is moving a couple new ships in and one ship out of the Space Coast.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"><strong>The Ships </strong></span></span></p><ul><li><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Magic leaves Galveston and joins Port Canaveral in December 2016</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Sensation will head to Miami</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Victory will replace Carnival Sensation in February 2016</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Sunshine stays put in Port Canaveral</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Valor stays put in Port Canaveral</span></span></li></ul><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Magic will join Carnival Sunshine which offers seasonal five- to eight-day Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral. Carnival Victory will take the short three- and four-day Bahamas cruises from Carnival Sensation.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Sunshine will do a short season in NYC in mid-2016 but will return by Fall.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"><strong>Fun Ship 2.0</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">In October 2016, Carnival Valor – currently based in Port Canaveral and scheduled to undergo an extensive dry dock in March 2016 that will add a variety of Fun Ship 2.0 innovations — will take over Carnival Victory’s three- and four-day Bahamas cruises from Central Florida on a year-round basis. Carnival Valor will be the only short run ship offering Fun Ship 2.0. We are not sure where Victory is heading.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"><strong>Special 12 Day Sailing</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Carnival Magic will offer a special 12-day Carnival Journeys cruise departing Galveston Nov. 27 and arriving in Port Canaveral on Dec. 9, 2016. Featured ports will include Cozumel; Limon, Costa Rica; Colon, Panama; Cartagena and Santa Marta, Colombia; Aruba, and Grand Turk. Carnival Journeys is a unique collection of nine- to 15-day voyages featuring exotic, less visited ports in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and Hawaii and offering a number of exclusive on-board experiences and activities.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"><strong>Final Thoughts</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">People laughed when they thought Cape Canaveral would one day position itself to be one of the largest cruise ports on the East Coast – those people now have their foot in their mouths. I’d personally cruise Port Canaveral over South Florida any day because of the easy access and accessibility to the Orlando International Airport. What about you?</span></span></p>