Tag Archives: Mardi Gras

Carnival’s Mardi Gras to sail four cruises before Port Canaveral arrival

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The Mardi Gras, Carnival Cruise Line’s largest ship when it enters service, will sail four cruises before its Port Canaveral deployment in October 2020.
The Mardi Gras’ maiden voyage will be a nine-day cruise from Copenhagen to Southampton, England, departing Aug. 31 and calling at Kiel, Germany; Gothenburg, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Zeebrugge, Belgium; and Le Havre, France.
A 14-day transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York is scheduled to depart Sept. 9.
The following cruise will be a six-day roundtrip from New York to Portland, Maine, and Saint John, New Brunswick, departing Sept. 24.
There will be a 15-day Carnival Journeys voyage departing New York on Sept. 30 and making various stops in the eastern and southern Caribbean before arriving at Port Canaveral on Oct. 15.
The Mardi Gras will accommodate 5,200-plus passengers and feature six design zones and the first roller coaster at sea. The ship will sail seven-day cruises from Port Canaveral.

Carnival brings back classic name for the new ship: Mardi Gras

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Carnival said its largest ship due in 2020 will be named the Mardi Gras, bringing back the name of the first Carnival Cruise Line ship that entered service in 1972.
The first Mardi Gras, originally the Empress of Canada, burned bunker fuel and had a water displacement of 27,000 tons. The new ship will burn liquefied natural gas (LNG) and displace 180,000 tons.
Carnival revealed the name to a nationwide television audience on the game show Wheel of Fortune on its signature Puzzleboard at the conclusion of the broadcast.
Currently, under construction in Finland, the ship will accommodate 5,200-plus passengers at double occupancy and offer a variety of new amenities and attractions.
Itineraries for Mardi Gras will be announced in January. Carnival fans who want to be the first to book Mardi Gras can register to get a “first to know” alert and promotional offer before itineraries are opened for sale later in the month.
“Our first ship Mardi Gras was a historic vessel, introducing a brand-new style of cruising to the vacationing public. What better way to pay tribute to our company’s nearly 50-year history of creating wonderful vacation memories than by naming this groundbreaking vessel after our original and beloved Fun Ship,” said Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy.

Alabama port gets another chance to woo cruisers

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Carnival Cruise in Alabama,

You might think that a city with its own Carnival Museum, like Mobile, Alabama, would be a good bet for Carnival Cruise Line.

However, Carnival pulled out of Mobile five years ago, citing poor financial results. This year, the line decided to give the city another try, returning this week for at least a year with one of its oldest ships, the 2,056-passenger Fantasy, to offer 4- and 5-day cruises to Mexico.

The move will bring at least 100,000 visitors over the next year to Mobile, which has many of the same charms as New Orleans, and a lot to offer anyone who wants to tack on a pre- or post-cruise stay.

Take that Carnival Museum, for example. While New Orleans has the most famous and well-attended Mardi Gras in the United States, the Carnival celebration in Mobile pre-dates it and claims to be the oldest in the country. Like New Orleans, Mobile was in French and Spanish colonial territory until being annexed by the U.S. in 1813. There are many antebellum homes and seven historic districts within Mobile recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.

The No. 1 tourist attraction in Mobile, according to TripAdvisor, is the USS Alabama, a World War II battleship that became a museum after it was retired in 1962. It is about three miles from the cruise terminal.

New since Carnival last sailed from Mobile is the GulfQuest National Maritime Museum. Opened in 2015, the five-story attraction has more than 90 exhibits based on the Gulf of Mexico, and is walking distance from the dock.

Also new since 2011 are a Duck amphibious vehicle tour; an historic trolley tour; and a Mobile River/Port of Mobile boat tour from WildNative Delta Safaris that will run only on cruise departure days.

And baseball fans know Mobile’s minor league ballpark is named after native son Hank Aaron, but may not know that it hosts a Christmas light pageant in the off season.

Stacey Hamilton, vice president of marketing and communications for Visit Mobile, said the agency’s Very Important Cruiser program provides discounts to almost twenty attractions to anyone that shows a boarding pass.

Mobile is also trying to liven things up on Sunday for cruisers staying overnight before Monday departures.

Hamilton said Visit Mobile is working with the Mobile Arts Council and the Downtown Mobile Alliance to host an arts and crafts market in the historic Cathedral Square and has asked downtown area shops, museums and art galleries normally closed on Sundays to open on those days.

“We’ve branded this ‘Sunday Funday’ and will promote this heavily as a reason to come to town on Sundays and have some fun,” Hamilton said.

All of these additions helped make Carnival’s decision to return to the city.

“Since we were in Mobile in 2011, the Mobile officials have done a tremendous job of creating thousands of new jobs and business investments in the region,” said Terry Thornton, senior vice president of itinerary planning at Carnival.