USA TODAY International Edition
December sailings, from exotic to familiar
Cruise lines are constantly tweaking their schedules. Sometimes it’s just the addition of a single port to a long-established itinerary. Other times it’s the rollout of an all-new route. Here, some of the more notable new itinerary announcements from the past few weeks.
Carnival to expand in Galveston, New Orleans
Cruise giant Carnival is boosting capacity for short cruises out of Galveston, Texas and New Orleans.
The Miami-based line will replace the 2,974-passenger Carnival Valor in Galveston with the bigger, 3,646-passenger Carnival Dream in May 2019. Dream will take over Valor’s four- and five-day, year-round sailings to Mexico, expanding Carnival’s capacity on short cruises from Galveston by 22%.
Valor will move to New Orleans to replace the Carnival Triumph on yearround trips to Mexico.
Dream will be the newest and largest Carnival ship to sail short cruises from Galveston. Valor becomes the largest vessel to offer a year-round short cruise schedule from New Orleans. Both of the ships will visit Cozumel, Mexico and, on the five-day departures, either Progreso or Costa Maya, Mexico.
Royal Caribbean, Norwegian set to do big battle in Alaska
Get ready for the Battle of the Megaships in Alaska. Royal Caribbean plans to re-deploy one of its newest, biggest vessels, Ovation of the Seas, to The Last Frontier for the summer of 2019.
The announcement comes as Norwegian Cruise Line prepares to send its giant ship, Norwegian Bliss, to the state.
At 168,666 tons, one-year-old Ovation is tied with two sisters as the world’s fifth largest cruise vessel. It can hold nearly 5,000 passengers. Scheduled to debut in April, Bliss is expected
to be roughly the same size.
Currently based year-round in Asia and Australia, Ovation will operate seven-night sailings to Alaska out of Seattle after re-positioning to the city from Sydney in the spring of 2019. Bliss also will be based in Seattle.
While mega-size cruise ships as big as 226,963 tons have appeared in the Caribbean and Europe in recent years, nearly all of the vessels spending summers in Alaska still measure less than 100,000 tons.
Celebrity plans new vessel based in the Galapagos
Celebrity Cruises has ordered a new, upscale ship that will be based yearround in the Galapagos starting in 2019.
To be called Celebrity Flora, the 100passenger vessel will feature all-suite accommodations the line says will be the largest and most luxurious in the destination.
Celebrity operates three ships in the Galapagos: the 100-passenger Celebrity Xpedition, 48-passenger Celebrity Xperience and 16-passenger Xploration. When Flora arrives, Xperience and Xploration will leave the fleet, in keeping with permitting rules that regulate the number of tourists that operators can carry in the wildlife-filled islands.
Flora’s accommodations will include two Penthouse Suites that measure 1,288 square feet — more than five times the size of the typical cabin on a Galapagos-based vessel. Also available will be two Royal Suites measuring 560 square feet and Sky Suites that measure 330 square feet. All will come with private balconies. It’ll also have an open-air stargazing platform — a first for the destination.
Disney Wonder to expand voyages out of San Diego
The 1,754-passenger Disney Wonder will return to San Diego in early 2019 for an expanded season of Mexico voyages.
The 18-year-old Disney ship will operate a variety of two-, four-, five- and seven-night sailings that include stops in such ports as Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan.
The trips will take place starting in March through May of 2019.
Before San Diego service, Wonder will operate three cruises to the southern Caribbean out of San Juan, Puerto Rico as well as trips to the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral, Fla. The Caribbean and Bahamas trips will take place in January and February of 2019.
New Azamara ship to sail in Europe, South America
The first new Azamara Club Cruises ship to debut since the line’s founding in 2010 will spend its first winter in South America.
Arriving in August, the 690-passenger Azamara Pursuit will operate voyages around South America out of Lima, Peru; Buenos Aires; and Santiago, Chile starting in November 2018. The sailings will include trips to Antarctica and the Chilean Fjords — both firsts for the line.
Pursuit will debut Aug. 3 with a 10night sailing from Barcelona to Southampton.