Latest news with #CarnivalSpirit
Epoch Times
25-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
2025 Alaska Cruise Season Gets Underway as First Ship Sails Into Juneau
By Sarah Kuta TravelPulse The 2025 Alaska cruise season is officially underway. On April 14, Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Bliss sailed into Juneau, kicking off another summer of visitors exploring No. 49. Not far behind, the next ship, Carnival Spirit, was expected. Juneau is estimating that roughly 1.65 million passengers will visit this season, which runs from now through October, reports KTOO. One to three ships will arrive in Juneau each week from now through mid-May, when the number will increase to three to five ships per day. Cruise ships will arrive almost daily until the season ends Oct. 14. The city expects to generate about $21.5 million in revenue from a $5 fee charged to the cruise lines for every passenger they bring into the port. That money goes toward basic city services, like emergency response support, as well as new projects intended to serve visitors or ease tourism impacts. The new season kicks off as tensions continue to swirl around the future of cruising in Juneau. Last year, voters rejected a proposal for 'ship-free Saturdays.' But the group behind the initiative is continuing to push for limits on tourism. Related Stories 4/7/2025 3/28/2025 Juneau and major cruise lines have agreed to a limit of five cruise ships per day. And, starting in 2026, they've also agreed to limit the number of daily passengers to 16,000 on weekdays and 12,000 on Saturdays. Earlier in April, city officials signed off on a proposal to develop a fifth cruise ship dock called Áak'w Landing before the 2026 season. Meanwhile, tourism officials are concerned about the effects of recent federal firings at the popular Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. They're also unsure how the ongoing economic uncertainty and Trump's new tariffs will affect travelers' decisions and spending. Copyright 2025 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Visit at Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Dear Readers: We would love to hear from you. What topics would you like to read about? Please send your feedback and tips to
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Carnival Cruise Line to launch new year-round cruise port
Cruise travelers in one region of the U.S. will soon have the opportunity to cruise year-round from one convenient cruise port. Carnival Cruise Line is bringing its cruise operations back to pre-pandemic levels in one port city after running a successful seasonal schedule there for the last few port will join the bigger cruise hubs of New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, and Tampa, Fla. in offering Caribbean getaways from the Gulf Coast all year long beginning in 2027. For many cruisers who live in southern states and prefer to drive to their cruise departure port, the expansion of Carnival's Gulf Coast cruise offerings is exciting will expand its cruise schedule from Mobile, Alabama beginning in spring 2027, bringing back year-round sailings that the cruise line hasn't offered from the port since prior to the pandemic. Carnival Spirit currently sails a seasonal schedule from Mobile that has been very popular with Gulf Coast cruisers. 'This is a testament to our relationship with Carnival and the incredible effort the staff at the Mobile Alabama Cruise Terminal put in to making sure every passenger that comes through Mobile has an exceptional experience,' the City of Mobile wrote in a Facebook post about the news. In a video posted on Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald's Facebook page, Carnival President Christine Duffy revealed that the cruise line shared the news with Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson on his demand high for Carnival's seasonal cruises from Mobile, Mayor Stimpson and city officials have been eager to expand cruise operations from the port with Carnival, or even bring another cruise line to fill the vacancy during the months when Carnival Spirit wasn't sailing from Mobile. The city recently added a new gangway at the cruise terminal to improve the passenger embarkation experience and has even been exploring plans to increase parking capacity to allow the port to accommodate a second cruise ship. City officials have been in talks with both Norwegian Cruise Line and Margaritaville at Sea about the possibility of sending a ship to with increasing its sailings from Mobile, Carnival also plans to up its capacity in the mid-Atlantic region by moving a larger Conquest class ship to Baltimore in 2027. Expanding operations in both Mobile and Baltimore demonstrate Carnival's commitment to serving its secondary markets outside of major cruise hubs like Port Canaveral, Florida, Miami and Galveston, Texas. The cruise line is dedicated to remaining an accessible vacation option for 50 percent of the U.S. population that is within a five-hour drive of a Carnival cruise departure port. Carnival also reinforced this commitment by increasing its cruise operations from Norfolk, Va. in February, bumping the port up from seasonal to year-round sailings just like it now plans to do in Mobile. More Carnival cruise news:Although the focus on these smaller markets is welcome news to many loyal Carnival cruisers, many would also like to see the cruise line turn its attention to smaller ships as it plans for the future rather continuing the megaship trend. Along with sharing deployment updates, Carnival just announced new details on its upcoming Excel class megaships and plans for even bigger ships to come. After the cruise line's brand ambassador shared new ship news on his Facebook page, a number of passengers posted pleas for smaller ships. 'John Heald, please note how many of us want smaller ships,' Stephanie Traver Gaida commented. 'Not everyone loves the big ships: too crowded, too noisy, lack of personal service.' (The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.) , or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Carnival Cruise Line to resume year-round sailings from Mobile
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Carnival Cruise Line will once again set sail year-round from the Port of Mobile starting in the spring of 2027, has learned. Storm damage and flooding reported in the News 5 coverage area Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, made the announcement today and outlined the company's plans to resume regular year-round service from Mobile. This follows a successful track record of seasonal sailings. 'As one of the highest-rated ports for customer experience and satisfaction, Mobile has continued to strengthen its relationship with Carnival and invest in the passenger facilities at the Mobile Alabama Cruise Terminal, most recently with a new gangway,' a news release said. Since 2023, the Carnival Spirit has offered a variety of itineraries from the port six months out of the year. 'The return to year-round sailings from the Port of Mobile is a testament to our relationship with Carnival and the incredible effort the staff at the Cruise Terminal puts in to making sure every passenger has an exceptional experience in Mobile,' Mayor Sandy Stimpson said. 'This is great news for Mobilians and the many businesses that rely on our city's thriving tourism industry.' Though Carnival has not revealed which ship will be based in Mobile for its year-round sailings, the Spirit is set to return for its usual seasonal schedule in October. Carnival's broader strategy includes serving 50 percent of the U.S. population living within a five-hour drive of one of its homeports, the release said. Clarke County shooting: 3 dead, 1 critically injured With a strong following across the Southeast, Mobile remains a key player in the cruise line's expanding regional network. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Yahoo
More cruise traffic in Alaska is followed by more wastewater violations, officials say
Tourists walk along Juneau's harbor on April 26, 2024, next to the docked Carnival Spirit, a ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Cruise ship visitation to Alaska has increased in recent years, and so have measured violations of wastewater standards. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) As cruise ship visitation has increased, so have water-quality violations, state officials told lawmakers last week. Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation representatives presented a summary of this data on Thursday to the environmental subcommittee of the House Finance Committee. In addition to tracking the raw numbers, it shows a contrast in the number of violations — also known as 'exceedances' — between the time when onboard observers called 'ocean rangers' monitored wastewater discharges and the period after that program was abolished in 2019. 'We are seeing an increase in exceedances, but we're also seeing an increase in compliance response, post-ocean ranger,' Gene McCabe, director of the Division of Water, told the subcommittee. Compliance actions, which range from letters of warning to enforcement steps, more closely tracked the number of wastewater violations after the ocean ranger program ended, McCabe said. That is because the ocean rangers did not have enforcement powers and could merely forward information to enforcement agencies, he said. For cruise ships, pollution limits are set for what is known as graywater, which is runoff from sinks, kitchens and showers, and for blackwater, which is generally treated sewage. Monitoring is done through water samples, which typically number between about 1,4000 and 1,800 each year, according to the DEC presentation. Large ships, with space for 250 or more passengers, are regulated differently than smaller ships, but wastewater from both categories is tracked, according to the presentation. From 2015 to 2018, while the ocean ranger program was in place, there were generally about 20 to 25 exceedances a year found in samples from both large and small ships, and generally about 10 compliance actions a year, according to the DEC information. But in the past few years, total detected exceedances ranged from about 60 to about 75 a year, according to the DEC information. Cruise traffic has increased dramatically over the past decade. There were a little under 1 million cruise passengers who visited Alaska in 2015. That number grew to about 1.1 million in 2018, according to the DEC presentation. After cruise traffic to Alaska ground to a halt in the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, numbers started to climb again. In 2023, a record 1.65 million cruise passengers visited Southeast Alaska, the state's main cruise destination. Numbers last year were similar, and bookings this year indicate another record, with about 1.9 million cruise passengers expected, according to the DEC presentation. The Cruise Lines International Association 'does propose that Alaska is North America's No. 1 destination, and the numbers are proving that out,' McCabe told the committee. The ocean ranger program was created as part of a 2006 ballot initiative imposing a per-passenger fee and a set of environmental regulations on the cruise industry. Money to employ the ocean rangers came from that fee. The program was abolished after Gov. Mike Dunleavy in 2019 vetoed its funding. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
