After five years of homeporting at Charleston, South Carolina, Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Sunshine will soon shut down operations there and redeploy to another East Coast port, Norfolk, Virginia.
The move was a long time coming, since the South Carolina Ports Authority confirmed back in 2022 that it would not extend its homeport pact with the cruise line beyond 2024.
At the time, it explained that the authority’s project to redevelop Charleston’s Union Pier Terminal would prevent any cruise ship from homeporting operations.
As a result, there will be no ship based at Charleston for the foreseeable future, however, the port will continue to welcome single-day port calls from various ships.
Among them are Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas in January, February, and March 2025; Oceania Cruises’ Vista in April 2025; and Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Silhouette in May 2025, for example.
Carnival Sunshine, like all other cruise ships, temporarily suspended operations during the pandemic and restarted service from Charleston in January 2022. The ship typically sailed 4- and 5-night itineraries to the Bahamas.
It will continue to sail those routes through December, adding one 10-night Eastern Caribbean departure on December 2, 2024.
The ship’s final departure from the Port of Charleston will be on December 30, 2024, a 5-night Bahamas voyage that calls at Nassau, Bahamas, and Half Moon Cay, the cruise line’s private island destination, during the New Year holiday.
Carnival Sunshine is scheduled to enter dry dock from January 4 to February 15, 2025.
From her new year-round homeport at Norfolk, Carnival Sunshine, a 3,000-guest ship that entered service in 1995, will sail her first cruise from the Virginia port on February 16, 2025. The 8-night Eastern Caribbean voyage will visit the Dominican Republic, Turks & Caicos, and Princess Cays, Bahamas.
The ship will alternate between 6-night Bahamas cruises to Freeport, Nassau, and Bimini, and the 8-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary. Several Canada/New England voyages are scheduled for fall 2026.
Cruise Line’s History at Charleston Goes Back to 2010
The cruise line first deployed Carnival Sunshine to Charleston in May 2019, replacing Carnival Ecstasy, which was shifted to Jacksonville, Florida. The 2,000-guest Carnival Ecstasy had been based at Charleston starting in 2016, replacing the 2,000-guest Carnival Fascination.
But Carnival Cruise Line’s relationship with Charleston goes back even further. The line first deployed a ship at the South Caroline port in 2010, when it homeported the 2,056-guest Carnival Fantasy there, offering 5- to 7-day voyages to the Bahamas and Key West.
Carnival Ship in Charleston
Carnival Fantasy’s introduction to Charleston was celebrated when the ship began operating on May 18, 2010. A gala, onboard luncheon event was attended by city and port officials, and John Heald, who is now the cruise line’s popular brand ambassador. At the time he was a senior cruise director.
Read Also: What to Expect When You Go on a Carnival Cruise
It has not been all smooth sailing for Carnival Cruise Line in Charleston, however. In June 2011, four citizen groups filed a lawsuit against the line, claiming that Carnival Fantasy was a nuisance and did not conform to local zoning regulations.
Pollution, noise, traffic jams, and other complaints were part of the suit, which was bandied about in court for several years. The case ultimately was dismissed.
Appeared first on: Cruisehive.com
