Tag Archives: Carnival Panorama

Carnival Cruise Line Announces Ship Restarts For January and February 2022

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Carnival Cruise Line announced plans for more ship restarts for January and February, as it works towards the return of its full fleet sailing from U.S. homeports in the spring of 2022, according to a press release.

With 17 ships scheduled to be operating by year-end, Carnival Sunshine will restart from Charleston on Jan. 13 and Carnival Liberty from Port Canaveral on Feb. 11.

With today’s announcement, Carnival’s U.S.-based operations will cover the following homeports and ships by February, and represents 90 per cent of Carnival’s U.S.-based capacity:

• Galveston: Carnival Breeze, Carnival Dream and Carnival Vista
• Miami: Carnival Freedom, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Sunrise and Carnival Conquest
• Port Canaveral: Mardi Gras, Carnival Elation, Carnival Magic and Carnival Liberty (effective Feb. 11)
• New Orleans: Carnival Glory and Carnival Valor
• Long Beach: Carnival Panorama, Carnival Radiance and Carnival Miracle
• Baltimore: Carnival Legend
• Tampa: Carnival Pride
• Charleston: Carnival Sunshine (effective Jan. 13)

“Our restart plan continues to excel across all metrics, and we are looking forward to completing the restart of the fleet in the new year,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “We appreciate the support and patience of our guests, travel agents and port and destination partners who have been key to this successful restart.”

Duffy said that Carnival continues to carefully monitor the status of public health and adjust its operating protocols accordingly. “We are optimistic that vaccines will be approved for children between the ages of 5-11 before the end of the year and we look forward to welcoming more families back on board,” she added. As it relates to ships operating in January and February, Carnival will continue to operate vaccinated cruises under its current protocols.

Cruises on Carnival’s three remaining U.S.-based ships – Carnival Ecstasy from Jacksonville, Carnival Paradise from Tampa, and Carnival Sensation from Mobile – have been cancelled through February.

In addition, Carnival Splendor from Sydney, Australia is cancelled through Feb. 7, and Carnival Spirit from Brisbane, Australia is cancelled through Feb. 20.

Carnival Panorama Marks Carnival Return to the West Coast

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Carnival Cruise Line is returning to the West Coast this Saturday, as the Carnival Panorama resumes service in California.

Based in Long Beach, the 2019-built vessel is departing today on a seven-night cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

The sailing marks the return of the brand to the region after a 17-month operational pause.

One of Carnival’s newest and biggest ships, the Panorama will visit three different destinations in Mexico, including Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta.

Before returning to Long Beach, the vessel also visits Cabo San Lucas, a city known for its rock formations and beaches.

Sailing from Long Beach every Saturday, the ship is set to repeat the itinerary through December.

Built-in Italy, the 4,000-guest Carnival Panorama is the last in a series of three ships known as the Vista Class. Larger than its predecessors, these ships introduced several new features for the Carnival brand, such as the SkyRide a twin-track suspended bike course.

The Vista-class also debuted the Havana Staterooms, Carnival’s first cabin enclave, complete with its own private pool deck and lounge and lanai balconies.

Other highlights are the Sky Zone, a trampoline park and the Carnival Kitchen program, a hands-on culinary experience led by the line’s chefs. Both attractions were first introduced by the Carnival Panorama.

With the Panorama back in action, Carnival has eight cruise ships in revenue operations, including the new Mardi Gras – which entered service from Port Canaveral, on July 31.

In August a total of three vessels resumed operations for the company. In addition to the Carnival Panorama, the Carnival Magic welcomed guests back on August 7 and the Carnival Sunrise did the same on August 14. The ships are now sailing from Port Canaveral and Miami, respectively.

In September and October, seven more ships are set to resume operations, launching service from additional homeports, such as Baltimore and New Orleans.

A ‘Confident’ Carnival Cruise Line plans more European deployment

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Carnival Legends signature Funnel. Photo credit Dave Jones

Carnival Cruise Line’s chief operating officer has suggested more ships will be deployed in Europe after the line gained “confidence” in the US market.

The US-based line has 18 homeports around North America and has never consistently based ships in Europe.

There were no Carnival ships based in Europe last summer.

However, Carnival Legend and Carnival Radiance will both operate in the Mediterranean next summer while yet-to-launch 5,200-passenger Mardi Gras will visit the UK as it repositions to the US.

Carnival will offer nine departures out of Dover on 2,124-passenger vessel Carnival Legend in 2021.

Speaking on the maiden voyage of the line’s new ship Carnival Panorama in the Mexican Riviera, Gus Antorcha said: “With Europe, we focused and then pulled back a little bit and then focused. You will see Europe becoming more important.

Dover seafront photo credit Dave Jones

“We have grown in the US so that gives us more confidence that we can fill a ship at good yields and there is still demand. When we design the right deployment in Europe, it is very popular.”

Antorcha said it was vital that when Carnival tries a market “we should try and stay there for a number of years” as agents were able to build their knowledge and learn from customer feedback.

“It is easier to sell if you’re selling the same product,” he added. “It gives consistency. Some of our sister lines and competitors are moving ships all over the world and they are adding new itineraries every week. That is harder to sell if you are sell.

“If you are selling a consistent product you build the feedback on the product.”

Iain Baillie, the line’s vice president of international sales, called on agents to encourage the line to base ships in Europe by ensuring passengers were “profitable”.

“It is up to us,” he said. “It is how we educate our guests. We want to make sure our guests are profitable – we want them to choose the bars, the casino and the excursions. If we can get those metrics correct we can keep the ships coming.

“For us to have nine ex-Dover departures [in 2021] – we are going to jump all over that. It is going to be a race though because that [European] deployment is very popular with the US market.”

Christine Duffy, the line’s president, told Travel Weekly: “We feel with Carnival Legend – a Spirit-class ship – we can have some consistent European summer deployment.

“We will put the capacity where we feel we can generate the demand.”

Antorcha said the line’s net promoter scores given by passengers had risen by “25% to 30%” since he first took over as chief operating officer in November 2017. Antorcha briefly left Carnival earlier this year to become the chief executive of SeaWorld Entertainment before returning in October to his former role.

“Now we are north of 50ish, which is very high,” he said.