Carnival Cruise Line gives small ship fans a surprise gift

Carnival Cruise Line tends to provide its longer Caribbean cruises out of larger U.S. ports — particularly Port Canaveral and Miami. While it offers cruises from loads of other ports in the Southeast, just like Mobile, Alabama, as well to Tampa and Jacksonville in Florida, they're inclined to be rather short trips on Carnival’s smaller and older ships.

But it, or not it is now set to change. While the smaller ports are still utilizing Carnival’s smaller ships, there are some new and engaging itineraries so that you can be now to be had to book.

Carnival brand ambassador John Heald shared a series of new itineraries for the 2026-2027 Caribbean cruising season out of Mobile, Alabama, and Tampa, Florida on his well known Facebook page.

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Carnival’s new small-port Caribbean cruises

Out of Mobile, the Carnival Spirit may well be offering six-to-eight night agendas from November 2026 through March 2027, all of which consist of stops at the cruise line’s upcoming Celebration Key inner most island, as well to ports that consist of Key West, Princess Cays, Bimini, and more. There’s also a 14-day “Journeys” cruise that visits a series of ports, loads of so that you can be in the Southern Caribbean.

From Tampa, Carnival is planning cruises on two ships – the Legend and the Paradise. While the Paradise is largely offering shorter itineraries, the Legend is offering mainly six-to-eight-night cruises, a range which consist of stops in Belize, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman, simply to call some.

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For comparison, we can take a look into what these ships and ports are offering for the 2024-2025 season. To be clear, all three ships sail out of these two ports now. That isn’t a transformation.

But it, loads of the destinations are a transparent improvement. Cruises from Mobile all getting a stop at Celebration Secret's a gigantic difference, and there currently aren’t itineraries that visit the Bahamas on a 6- or 7-day time out. There are also some itineraries with a purpose to appeal to cruisers who aren’t comfortable navigating foreign countries, just like a 7-night cruise that visits Key West, Florida, and the cruise line’s two inner most islands.

From Tampa, there’s an itinerary on Paradise that allows cruisers to experience Celebration Key in a four-night cruise. And there are a prolonged way more Bahamas options than exist presently – essentially, the Legend is solely sailing Western Caribbean and Panama Canal itineraries in the 2024 winter months but is adding a new three-stop, 6-night Bahamas itinerary (including both inner most islands) in December 2026.

In a nutshell, the newly-announced itineraries offer more variety to cruisers preferring these smaller ports – particularly for those cruisers who revel in inner most island stops and trips to the Bahamas.

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These itineraries are using Carnival’s older ships – or are they?

All three of the ships scheduled to sail from Mobile and Tampa for the 2026/2027 Caribbean season are on the smaller side, and all three are relatively old.

Carnival Spirit turn into the first in the Spirit class and completed its maiden voyage in 2001. Carnival Legend is a member of the identical class and launched the next year. Both ships are listed at 88,five hundred GT (gross tons), and for context, Carnival’s most modern ships, just like the Mardi Gras, are greater than twice this size. The Paradise is a fine older and smaller ship, having been in service since 1998 and with volume about 20% smaller than either of the Spirit class ships.

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But it, it’s important now not to necessarily believe these ships “old.” In actuality, all three are scheduled to enter dry dock for modernization and upgrades between now and when these new itineraries start. This is able to mean additional and as much as date dining options, and other upgrades and renovations.

In short, while Carnival has no plans to construct new, smaller ships, or not it's a prolonged way certainly investing in the modernization of this a part of the fleet – and rolling out some appealing new itineraries for cruisers preferring to sail from smaller, less-congested ports.

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