2 weeks Ago By Chester Robards Senior Business Reporter [email protected]
Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) has introduced more short itineraries to The Bahamas, as it begins to include its private Grand Bahama cruise port Celebration Key into more and more sailings, the cruise line said in a statement. According to the statement, those sailings have been released for the cruise line’s 2026/2027 sailing schedule. “Extending the schedules of Carnival Conquest from Miami, as well as Carnival Glory and Carnival Freedom from Port Canaveral, Carnival has added more three-, four- and five-day cruise options to some of the most popular destinations in The Bahamas,” the statement said.
In October, CCL increased the number of sailings to Celebration Key from 400 to 500 for the 2025-2026 sailing period, touting the popularity of the cruise line’s exclusive destination. The exclusive port is set to open in the summer of 2025. Vice President of Itinerary Planning for CCL Fred Stein said in the statement that the many short itineraries to The Bahamas give guests a quick “getaway” from Florida.
“These sailings give our guests many options to enjoy an escape, with all the vibrant onboard activities they know and love, plus a visit to the picturesque ports of The Bahamas, including our premier new destination Celebration Key,” said Stein. Carnival said its three-day itinerary on Carnival Conquest includes Celebration Key, while its four-day itineraries add either Half Moon Cay or Princess Cays to the sailing. CCL said Half Moon Cay is soon set for expansion.
The cruise line added that Carnival Glory and Carnival Freedom will offer three-day and four-day cruise itineraries to the same cays, with a four-day option that includes visits to Nassau. With cruise numbers continuing to grow for The Bahamas, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper reiterated last week that Bahamians are encouraged to take advantage of the growing number of tourists who come by ship, by creating experiences and products for them. “We have been encouraging more and more of our passengers who arrived in Nassau to come off the ship and to support local vendors, so much so that we have several active initiatives through the Tourism Development Corporation to create new tours, new experiences, and new opportunities for our cruise passengers to come onshore,” said Cooper.
“The next thing I will say is that we have been fully engaged to encourage even greater spending. We believe that once we create more opportunities, more things for our guests to do, that they will spend more, and they will spend more time on shore, and I believe we will see a natural uptick in the overall average spend.”.
