The South Carolina Ports Authority and the Port of Charleston (South Carolina USA) announced a new redevelopment effort for a part of the waterfront of the city that however means Charleston SC will no longer be serving as a homeport for CCL-Carnival Cruise Line.
Residents and local businesses expressed disappointment but according to port officials with the redevelopment, they had determined there was no longer the place to provide a homeport once the current contract ends with CCL in 2024.
The Port of Charleston SC had played a major role for the line for the past 12 years as it provided the homeport as part of the deployment strategy in which CCL positions ships close to large U.S. population bases along the East & West Coasts and the Gulf of Mexico. By positioning ships around the USA, CCL reported that roughly 50% of the U.S. population was within a day’s drive from one of the line's homeports.
Charleston is Carnival's and the industry’s primary southeastern port and lies between the cruise line's homeports in Jacksonville (JAXPORT, Florida) and Norfolk VA (Virginia).
CCL restarted sailing after the COVID crisis from Charleston SC on January 13, 2022. The line offers sailings ranging between 4 and 8 nights from the port.
In Charleston, Carnival homeported its first ship in 2010 - initially using Carnival Fantasy and later (2017-18) Carnival Ecstasy. Starting in 2019, the company rearranged its deployments homeporting in Charleston one of its larger vessels - Carnival Sunshine, for year-round voyages.
The 102850 GT-ton Sunshine has passenger capacity 3002-3765/max. CCL reveals that Sunshine will continue to sail from Charleston SC through the end of its contract with the port in 2024.