As the first major American cruise company with its full fleet back in service since the restart last summer, CCL-Carnival Cruise Line has now reached the milestone of welcoming 2 million passengers.
The milestone was commemorated on May 19 in Port Canaveral (Orlando, Florida) aboard Carnival Freedom as the Gibbs family, Kristi and Daniel with their son Mason and grandmother Theresa Campbell from Ocala FL, boarded the liner. They were surprised by a fanfare from Captain Mario Imbimbo, the ship's Cruise Director, Hotel Director, and team members.
CCL’s industry pace-setting restart commenced on July 3, 2021, when Carnival Vista set sail from Galveston (Texas) and since then 22 additional boats have restarted service, from 13 USA homeports all while passengers were helping to raise USD 2.25 million for a partner, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
During this time, passengers have taken 1.3+ million shore trips in Carnival’s destination ports, and 2M Carnival-branded items have been sold in the gift shops fleetwide, of which 150,000 items from the 50th Birthday collection of the line.
Christine Duffy (CCL's President) said they were so pleased to have sailed 2 million guests since their restart, providing much-needed vacations featuring their signature fun to an array of destinations in The Bahamas, the Mexican Riviera, the Caribbean, Alaska, and Europe.
“All the while, providing an economic boost to those destinations and providing our crew members with opportunities to support their families.”
CCL will restart in its 14th homeport of NYC New York in June 2022 with Carnival Magic and announced plans that Carnival Splendor would restart in Australia following an Alaskan season with a 3-day voyage departing Sydney NSW on October 2, 2022. And in November 2022, Carnival Celebration, CCL's newest vessel featuring a roller coaster and LNG-powered, will debut in PortMiami Florida.