Carnival Cruise Line celebrated company's 25th-anniversary of homeporting in Tampa Bay Florida with a cocktail reception and lunch on Carnival Legend. The event was highlighted by a commemorative plaque from Carnival's President Christine Duffy to Paul Anderson - Port Tampa's President and CEO.
Carnival was the first major cruise line to recognize port's potential as a year-round turnaround port when it launched a schedule of 7-day cruises with Carnival Tropicale (now Ocean Dream) back in 1994 carrying around 28,000 passengers per year. Currently, Carnival homeports two liners in Tampa Bay that will carry around 240,000 passengers annually - nearly a 9-fold increase in comparison with 25 years ago.
Tampa is a major part of the line’s close-to-home deployment strategy in which it positions ships close to large U.S. population centers along the US East and West Coasts and Gulf of Mexico.
Carnival Legend arrived in Tampa last month. She will operate a seasonal schedule of 6-, 7-, and 8-day voyages featuring top destinations in the western Caribbean, such as Belize, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Costa Rica, Mahogany Bay, Grand Cayman, and the Panama Canal. In 2020, the ship will offer a 13-day Carnival Journeys trip from Tampa to New York (May 3-16), featuring a partial Panama Canal transit, along with visits to Cozumel, Aruba, Limon, Cartagena, and Grand Turk.
Carnival Paradise which underwent a multi-million-dollar drydock in 2018 that added all of the Fun Ship 2.0 beverage, food, and entertainment options, operates year-round on 4-day “long weekend” voyages to Cozumel and 5-day sailings to Cozumel and Grand Cayman/Mahogany Bay departing on Mondays and Saturdays.