Carnival Cruise Line celebrated 30 years of departing from New Orleans with a ceremony on Carnival Liberty, their new permanent ship at the Port of New Orleans. Local officials and Emeril Lagasse, the cruise line’s celebrity chef, joined the festivities. Carnival is the leading cruise operator in New Orleans and has been sailing out of the city year-round since 1994, transporting nearly 7 million guests.

“It’s an honor to share this great milestone and build on our successful partnership with the city and the port of New Orleans. We sail more than 400,000 guests from Port NOLA annually and for every one of them, our goal is the same: providing a fun and memorable vacation. That’s certainly a shared objective with the City of New Orleans, for all its visitors, which drives our partnership’s continued success,” said Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy.

In the spirit of marking the special 30-year milestone, Carnival donated $30,000 to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation to support New Orleans’ education and culinary programs for youth. Lagasse led a tour of the ship’s main galley for a group of kids from the Belle Chasse Academy, a local school partner of Emeril’s Culinary Garden & Teaching Kitchen, shortly after making the first cut of a special anniversary cake created by Carnival Liberty’s culinary team.

“Even before joining the team, I knew well that Carnival has been a great partner to our incredible city. We’ve all seen and enjoyed the growing popularity of cruising from our port over the years, which continues to bring more people here to enjoy all the rich culture our city has to offer,” said Lagasse. “My restaurants, Emeril’s and Meril, are just a few blocks from the pier, and it’s also special getting to welcome a ship docking here for the first time. We’re proud Carnival Liberty and her great team are now calling New Orleans home.”

Carnival Liberty’s arrival maintains Carnival’s two-ship, year-round deployment strategy in New Orleans. The ship offers a variety of sailing options, with mostly week-long cruises visiting popular destinations in the Bahamas, Mexico and the Caribbean. Two unique 14-day Panama Canal cruises are also open for sale and next year, Carnival Liberty will sail several voyages visiting Celebration Key, Carnival’s all-new, exclusive destination on the island of Grand Bahama. The ship shares its new home with Carnival Valor, which also offers an array of four- to seven-day cruises.

Guests departing from New Orleans on Monday afternoon will sail on a six-day Western Caribbean cruise, visiting Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico as well as Belize City, Belize.           

For additional information on Carnival Cruise Line and to book a cruise vacation, call 1-800-CARNIVAL, visit www.carnival.com, or contact your favorite travel advisor or online travel site.