Positioning Carnival Dream to sail from New Orleans, Carnival Cruise Lines becomes the port’s largest cruise operator with two ships carrying more than 400,000 passengers annually. That’s good reason for the Fun Ship cruise line to be excited about the deployment.  For cruise travelers, adding  3,646-passenger Carnival Dream is exciting news too.  Between already New Orleans based Carnival Elation and new Carnival Dream, five different itinerary options will be offered.

“New Orleans is one of our most popular homeports and Carnival Dream provides vacationers with a spectacular ‘Fun Ship’ cruise option from the Big Easy offering an incredible array of on-board innovations,” said Gerry Cahill, Carnival’s president and CEO.

Where Do They Go?
Carnival Dream will launch year-round seven-day service from New Orleans offering three distinctly different itineraries – western Caribbean cruises visiting Montego Bay, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman; or Mahogany Bay (Isla Roatan), Belize and Cozumel; and a Bahamas/Florida route calling at Key West, Freeport and Nassau.  Carnival Elation sails year-round four- and five-day cruises to Mexico.

Working Together
Unlike Charleston, South Carolina where some residents hold their noses when a cruise ship stops by, New Orleans welcomes visitors with open arms, a productive attitude and a vision for the future.

“The arrival of the Carnival Dream is the culmination of a lot of hard work and a strong commitment by Port of New Orleans officials, tourism leaders and Carnival Cruise Lines to build strong cruising demand from the Crescent City,” said Port of New Orleans President and CEO Gary LaGrange.

130,000-ton Carnival Dream is so big that $2.3 million in special modifications were done to the Erato Street Cruise Terminal in New Orleans.  Between Dream and Elation, Carnival Cruise Lines will carry over 400,000 cruise passengers each year…each of which will add a little something to the local economy.

 

Images- Carnival Cruise Lines