Great News for Charleston! Carnival to Homeport There Year-Round

In news which should make those in the Southeast who are tired of the trek to Florida very happy, Carnival has announced that they will homeport the Carnival Fantasy in Charleston year-round. This does require a bit of a ship shuffle, and the loser in this shuffle is San Diego, which loses the Elation.

The new schedule from Charleston, S.C. will debut on May 18, 2010 with the deployment of the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy. Carnival Fantasy will operate from the Passenger Terminal in historic downtown Charleston.

Carnival said that Charleston's centralized location within the southeastern U.S., as well as the city's strong appeal as a tourist destination, were key factors in the decision to launch year-round service. The Carnival Fantasy is expected to carry more than 140,000 passengers annually from the port.

Carnival Fantasy will operate five-, six- and seven-day voyages on a variety of different departure days. Five-day voyages departing Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays will call at Nassau and Freeport, The Bahamas. Six-day voyages departing Saturdays will visit Freeport, Nassau and Key West, Fla. Seven-day voyages depart Saturdays and will feature Grand Turk, the private Bahamian island of Half Moon Cay, and Nassau.

Replacing the Carnival Fantasy in Mobile will be its sister ship, the 2,052-passenger Carnival Elation, which will reposition from San Diego to launch year-round service from that port May 15, 2010.