Sailing roundtrip from Seattle, the vessel’s first Alaska voyage features visits to three ports in Alaska: Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway.
Before returning to its Washington homeport, the seven-night cruise also includes scenic cruising at the Tracy Arm Fjord, in addition to a visit to Victoria, in Canada’s British Columbia.
The itinerary is set to be repeated through mid-September – when the Carnival Luminosa sails to Australia via a 30-night transpacific cruise.
Sailing from San Francisco and Seattle, respectively, the Carnival Miracle and the Carnival Spirit will also spend the next months in the Last Frontier.
Carnival Cruise Line today opened reservations for the inaugural season of its next new ship, the Carnival Venezia, which will begin sailing year-round from New York City starting June 15, 2023, and will showcase “Carnival Fun Italian Style,” the company said.
The ship will offer guests a wide range of sailing options, with 10 different cruise durations and 22 unique itineraries featuring visits to 25 ports across 14 countries.
“Our summer season in New York has been extremely popular, so increasing our offerings with a larger, newer ship that sails year-round provides the opportunity for more guests in the tri-state area and beyond to enjoy the convenience of sailing right from Manhattan,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “Carnival Venezia will give guests our signature fun, combined with Italian theming, to beautiful destinations from The Bahamas and the Caribbean to Bermuda and Canada.”
Following a 15-day trans-Atlantic Carnival Journeys cruise from Barcelona that departs on May 29, 2023, the Carnival Venezia will sail a variety of cruises from New York’s Manhattan Cruise Terminal, and for the summer will alternate between sailing four-, five- six- and eight-day sailings to the Caribbean, Bermuda and ports in Canada and New England, including Halifax and Saint John.
Beginning Sept. 29, 2023, the ship will alternate between operating eight- to 12-day cruises to the Eastern Caribbean, Southern Caribbean and The Bahamas, visiting destinations like St. Thomas, San Juan and Aruba, along with four of Carnival’s private destinations: Half Moon Cay, Princess Cays, Amber Cove and Grand Turk. In addition, Carnival Venezia’s nine-day cruises will feature Miami as a port of call.
Sample Cruises:
Nine-Day sailing to Miami and the Bahamas (10/14/2023) – Miami, Nassau, Half Moon Cay and Freeport, Bahamas
10-day Eastern Caribbean sailing (1/23/2024) – Princess Cays, Bahamas; Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic and San Juan, Puerto Rico
12-day Southern Caribbean Carnival Journeys sailing (2/11/2024) – Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Maarten
15-day Caribbean Carnival Journeys sailing (9/29/2023) – Grand Turk, Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and St. Thomas
Built-in 2019 and set to undergo enhancements before entering service, Carnival Venezia will be home to many of the activities and experiences guests enjoy aboard other Carnival ships, including Carnival Waterworks, Piano Bar 88, Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, Bonsai Sushi, Seafood Shack, Cloud 9 Salon & Spa and the Serenity Adult-Only Retreat.
In 2024, Carnival Cruise Line will welcome a second Carnival Fun Italian Style ship, when the Carnival Firenze joins the fleet, scheduled to sail year-round from Long Beach, Calif.
MSC Cruises has signed a five-year agreement with Cruise Saudi for preferential berthing rights at the port of Jeddah.
According to the cruise line’s press release, this is a “further sign of its long-term commitment to support the development of the local tourism sector by operating cruises in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf.”
The announcement was made in Jeddah as one of the company’s most modern ships, the MSC Bellissima, celebrated the opening of the city’s new passenger terminal with a commemorative event onboard.
The new cruise terminal will welcome guests onboard for MSC Bellissima’s inaugural season in the Red Sea with three- and four-night cruises from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to both Egypt and Jordan until the end of October.
The event onboard the MSC Bellissima was hosted by Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises and Fawaz Farooqui, managing director of Cruise Saudi, for local dignitaries, senior officials from the Saudi Tourism Authority, Cruise Saudi, the Saudi Ports Authority – Mawani as well as members of the Saudi Arabian media and travel community.
The Master of the ship Captain Roberto Leotta, who will helm the MSC Bellissima in the months ahead, exchanged crests with Fawaz Farooqui in a traditional maritime ceremony to celebrate a vessel’s maiden port call.
MSC said that those onboard for the event were given guided ship tours, treated to a special show by MSC Cruises’ entertainment team and also enjoyed fine dining in a range of the ship’s specialty restaurants.
“This is a very special, historic day for all of us. The largest and most modern cruise ship to operate in the Red Sea has set sail from Jeddah’s new terminal to mark a new beginning for cruising in Saudi Arabia and, more broadly, for its growing tourism industry,” said Vago.
“We can now allow our global guest base to come and experience our unique itineraries in this beautiful country with its historic UNESCO World Heritage sites and pristine shores. And with the new agreement in place, together with Cruise Saudi we will work in unison to develop this very special aspect of Saudi Arabia’s determined and sustainable growth in tourism which mirrors exactly our own strategy and ambition … And we will work together in attracting guests from all corners of the world as well as local markets for a Red Sea and Arabian Gulf holiday like no other onboard our modern and environmentally high performing vessels,” he added.
Chief Operations and Commercial Officer for Cruise Saudi, Mark Robinson, said that the event marked a great milestone for Cruise Saudi and for the tourism industry in Saudi Arabia, “in line with Vision 2030.”
“The creation of Cruise Saudi, tasked with launching the cruise industry in Saudi Arabia, happened just six months ago at FII in Riyadh. Yet in these few months we have been able to work with international partners such as the Cruise Division of MSC Group and national bodies such as the Saudi Ports Authority, MAWANI, the Red Sea Gateway Terminal, the Saudi Tourism Authority, the Ministries of Transport, Culture, Health and Tourism, Saudi Customs and Immigration, the Saudi Border Guard, Jeddah Chambers of Commerce and many more such organizations to build Saudi Arabia’s first cruise terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port, and to mobilize the infrastructure, manpower and systems required to host global cruise lines for Saudi Arabia’s first full summer and winter cruise seasons,” Robinson said.
He added: “The remit of Cruise Saudi; to create 50,000 jobs by 2025, to facilitate the building of an additional five ports, with Jeddah as a homeport, and to welcome 1.5 million annual passenger visits by 2028; is an ambitious one, which will play a major part in strengthening the tourism industry in Saudi Arabia. It is a vision that we would not be able to accomplish were it not for our trusted business partners such as MSC.”
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