Cruise

Carnival Vista to Operate Year-Round Out of Miami

carnival-liberty-Feb19

PortMiami will be the year-round homeport for Carnival Cruise Line’s largest ship to date, the 133,500-ton Carnival Vista, when it launches six- to eight-day Caribbean cruises beginning in December 2016.

Currently under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, Vista will introduce groundbreaking features such as SkyRide, a suspended open-air cycling experience; the world’s first IMAX Theatre at sea; Kaleid-O-Slide, the line’s first water tube slide; and RedFrog Pub, including the line’s first onboard brewery.

Carnival will further bolster its position in Galveston, repositioning Carnival Breeze and Carnival Liberty (pictured) to Texas in 2016, joining Carnival Freedom which is now in Galveston. Breeze and Liberty will replace Carnival Magic and Carnival Triumph, respectively, in Galveston. Details on new homeports for Carnival Magic and Carnival Triumph, as well as year-round departures from San Juan, will be provided in the near future.

“Miami and Galveston are among our most popular points of embarkation and deploying our newest, most innovative ships to these homeports speaks volumes about our confidence in growing these markets,” said Christine Duffy, Carnival’s president. “These ships not only offer our guests incredible on-board experiences but also provide our valued travel agent partners with exciting new choices to market to their clients.”

Carnival Vista kicks off its new schedule from PortMiami with a special four-day cruise to Grand Turk departing Nov. 29, 2016. The ship will then launch year-round six- and eight-day cruises beginning with an eight-day voyage departing Dec. 3, 2016. Six-day cruises feature Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, while a mix of different eight-day itineraries visit some of the Caribbean’s most sought-after destinations, including Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts, St. Maarten and La Romana (Dominican Republic).

The ship will also offer a combination of one-time voyages, including a five-day cruise departing Dec. 11 and seven-day voyages departing Dec. 17 and 24, 2016, that offer a selection of ports including the Caribbean’s newest destination, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, as well as Mahogany Bay, Grand Turk, Belize, San Juan, St. Thomas and Cozumel, depending on the itinerary.

Carnival Vista is slated to operate an inaugural season of European cruises May to October 2016 before repositioning to New York, then launching year-round Caribbean cruises from Miami in November 2016.

(http://www.carnival.com)