Cruise news

ALABAMA

Mobile, Ala., gets larger cruise ship to replace aging Holiday

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AP Photo/Carnival Cruise Lines, Andy Newman

The Carnival Fascination passes under the Dames Point Bridge as it arrives in Jacksonville, Fla., in Sept. The ship will run 4- and 5-day voyages to alternating itineraries.

MOBILE, Ala. — Carnival Corp. will replace its Mobile-based Holiday cruise ship with the larger Fantasy vessel next year, boosting its capacity at the Alabama port by 42 percent.

Carnival spokesman Terry Thornton said the 2,056-passenger Fantasy will undergo improvements this fall while in dry dock, turning some open decks into water parks with a 300-foot-long spiral slide. The ship, normally based in New Orleans, will move to Mobile in November 2009.

The 1,452-passenger Holiday, Carnival’s oldest vessel, will operate from Mobile until then, when it will be transferred to Carnival’s Spanish subsidiary Iberocruceros.

The Holiday has been based at Mobile since 2004 when the city entered the cruise market.

Mobile approved spending $3 million to upgrade the cruise terminal to handle a larger vessel and continues to search for a second ship for the city.

Since its arrival, the Holiday on average has sailed full, according to Carnival, and the Fantasy will bring more tourism dollars.

With the Fantasy based in Mobile, Carnival expects to carry about 170,000 passengers annually from the port.

Meanwhile, the cruise industry expects to benefit from the rising cost of air travel, Thornton said.

The Fantasy runs four- and five-day cruises to the west Caribbean.

FLORIDA

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The 855-foot-long Carnival Fascination has arrived at the Port of Jacksonville to begin year-round, four- and five-day voyages.

The 2,052-passenger vessel is the largest cruise ship to ever permanently base in Jacksonville.

Owned by Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines, Fascination is expected to carry about 170,000 passengers each year. Jacksonville Port Authority officials say that will amount to a local economic impact of about $30 million.

Carnival hopes to attract many first-time cruisers residing in southeastern states that are an easy drive to Jacksonville.

Fascination’s alternating itineraries includes port calls to several Bahamian ports and Key West.

MARYLAND

BALTIMORE — A 1,900-person cruise ship will begin sailing from Baltimore to the Eastern Caribbean and down the East Coast next year.

Celebrity Mercury will offer 12-night cruises to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Maarten and Tortola starting in November 2009, The Baltimore Sun reported. It will also offer nine-night excursions to Charleston, S.C., Key West, Fla., Cococay and Nassau.

The Celebrity Mercury will be docked in Baltimore until February 2010.

Celebrity is the latest of several cruise lines that is offering trips from Baltimore starting next year. Carnival Cruise Lines will offer year-round cruises and Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines have scheduled trips to begin in 2009.

— Associated Press reports