Great News for Charleston! Carnival to Homeport There Year-Round

In news which should make those in the Southeast who are tired of the trek to Florida very happy, Carnival has announced that they will homeport the Carnival Fantasy in Charleston year-round. This does require a bit of a ship shuffle, and the loser in this shuffle is San Diego, which loses the Elation.

The new schedule from Charleston, S.C. will debut on May 18, 2010 with the deployment of the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy. Carnival Fantasy will operate from the Passenger Terminal in historic downtown Charleston.

Carnival said that Charleston's centralized location within the southeastern U.S., as well as the city's strong appeal as a tourist destination, were key factors in the decision to launch year-round service. The Carnival Fantasy is expected to carry more than 140,000 passengers annually from the port.

Carnival Fantasy will operate five-, six- and seven-day voyages on a variety of different departure days. Five-day voyages departing Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays will call at Nassau and Freeport, The Bahamas. Six-day voyages departing Saturdays will visit Freeport, Nassau and Key West, Fla. Seven-day voyages depart Saturdays and will feature Grand Turk, the private Bahamian island of Half Moon Cay, and Nassau.

Replacing the Carnival Fantasy in Mobile will be its sister ship, the 2,052-passenger Carnival Elation, which will reposition from San Diego to launch year-round service from that port May 15, 2010.

Celebrity Mercury & Millennium - Out with Australia, in with Baltimore and Charleston in 2009/2010!

Celebrity Cruise is discontinuing its Australia and New Zealand cruises scheduled for late 2009 and 2010 on Celebrity Millennium, and adding new itineraries for the ship and Celebrity Mercury from Baltimore and Charleston!

The Celebrity Millennium will take over and enhance theend-of-seasion 2009 Alaska sailings previously scheduled for the Mercury, including a 12-night wine themed cruise from Vancouver and a 16-night Panama Canal cruise on October 10, 2009, from San Diego to San Juan, where Millennium will offer a series of 10- and 11-night Southern Caribbean cruises roundtrip beginning October 26, 2009

Celebrity Mercury, from November 2009 to February 2010, will sail a series of 12-night Eastern Caribbean cruises from Baltimore. After, it will offer 10- and 11-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries from Charleston through April 2010. The new Celebrity Mercury itineraries replace the Southern Caribbean cruises from San Juan previously slated from November 2009 to April 2010.

This is absolutely fantastic news for those living near Baltimore and Charleston. While I regret the fact that Celebrity won't be in Australia/New Zealand in 2009/2010, this brings some terrific opportunities closer home. I'm also sure they will return at a later point in the future.

And if you were thinking of Australia/New Zealand for that season, consider moving that up and sailing this year - there are some remarkable values for the 2008/2009 season just about to get underway!

Norwegian Majesty to Sail from Charleston

In a change to her previously-announced schedule, the Norwegian Majesty will sail a series of sailings this fall and winter from Charleston, South Carolina. The new 7-night itinerary will begin on November 15, through April, 2009, and features port calls in Grand Bahama, Nassau, Great Stirrup Cay and Orlando.

Bookings for this new itinerary are open now.