By
Rebecca Gibson |
Carnival has announced that its Dream-class vessel, the 3,690 passenger Carnival Magic will be homeported in Galveston after its inaugural season in the Mediterranean.
The move comes with the repositioning of Carnival Triumph, which will be moved from New Orleans in October 2011.
Magic will operate seven-day Caribbean cruises, beginning its services from Galveston on 14 November 2011. Homeporting both ships in Galveston represents the largest-ever capacity commitment by a cruise line to
Texas. The two deployments are expected to carry in excess of 450,000 passengers from Galveston each year.
“To be selected as homeport for this new Dream-class ship and the repositioning of Carnival Triumph clearly speaks to the relationship the Port of Galveston has developed with Carnival Cruise Lines and demonstrates strong confidence in the Texas travel market,” said Steven Cernak, director of the Port of Galveston.
In anticipation of the new ships, the port is completing an approximate US$10 million upgrade of its Cruise Terminal Number 1, adding more passenger capacity, ticketing, baggage handling, seating and other amenities, as well as a new state-of-the-art passenger loading system supplied by Swedish port equipment company FMT.
“Deploying the new Carnival Magic to Galveston and increasing capacity on our popular short cruise programme with the Carnival Triumph is a clear indication of the tremendous popularity and growth of this key homeport, which consistently earns high marks from our guests,” said Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO.
Currently ranked as the sixth busiest cruise port in the United States, with approximately 869,000 passengers each year, Galveston expects significantly to improve its standing with the addition of Carnival’s ships, seeing them move in excess of one million passengers per year.