CARNIVAL FREEDOM's 2009 Europe schedule was also recently cancelled.

Only the new CARNIVAL DREAM, due to be delivered next September, will now sail in Europe on three sailings until she too, crosses the Atlantic.

Carnival pulls Liberty from Europe in ’09
27/10/2008

Citing economic uncertainties and high air costs, Carnival Cruise Lines said Carnival Liberty, scheduled to reposition to Europe in May, will instead remain in Miami to operate year-round Caribbean cruises.

The ship will continue its existing seven-day program before introducing new itineraries in April.

‘Based on current market conditions, continued economic uncertainty and high air costs to Europe, we are shifting our focus to an even greater extent toward our core, close-to-home cruise options which are clearly the preference of the vast majority of the mainstream vacation market right now,’ said Carnival president and ceo Gerry Cahill.

The change also means that Carnival Pride will be deployed four months earlier than planned to start up Baltimore’s first year-round cruise program, which Cahill said is proving ‘extremely popular based on advanced bookings so far.’

Currently based in Long Beach, Calif., and scheduled to shift to Miami for a five-month Caribbean deployment from April through August, Carnival Pride will instead launch its Baltimore program on April 27.

Prior to the Baltimore deployment, Carnival Pride will operate its scheduled Panama Canal cruise from Long Beach to Miami on March 22, as well as a six-day cruise departing April 5 and two seven-day Caribbean cruises sailing April 11 and 18, all from Miami.

It was the second ship Carnival pulled from Europe in 2009, after announcing, in June, that it would keep Carnival Freedom stateside as well. That vessel will now operate year-round from Port Everglades starting late next month.

Cahill noted that Carnival will still offer several European cruises next year when the 3,646-passenger Carnival Dream debuts with three 12-day Mediterranean sailings from Civitavecchia in September and October.

Cahill said Carnival will assist customers booked on Carnival Liberty in finding alternative cruises in Europe, including on the ships of sister companies Princess and Holland America.

Customers booked on Carnival Pride’s canceled Caribbean cruises from Miami will be automatically shifted to the same accommodations on Carnival Liberty.

Carnival Liberty’s new seven-day program, beginning April 25, will consist of Western and ‘exotic’ Eastern Caribbean sailings through Nov. 28 next year. The new Eastern route will visit Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. The Western Route will call at Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

Royal Caribbean doesn't have the multiple brands like Carnival does, so Royal Caribbean does a lot of marketing and sourcing outside North America. In fact they have dedicated ships for the European market. The fact they don't rely on just North America to fill their ships in Europe means they are better positioned to keep ships in Europe, rather then move them all back to N. America.

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Originally posted by NWLB:
I wonder more about their being able to fill that big Carnival Dream than anything else. 4,600 pax on a ship like that? On Freedom of the Seas, I can see it. But it just gets hard to think that milk carton can comfortably handle that many people.

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In practice, I believe the ships max out at about 110% of basis-two occupancy, so you would never see the DREAM sail with 4600 pax!

To summarise, there were 3055 passengers in total, of which 1408 were 'international', i.e. non-US. Of that 1400 or so, about 700 were Canadian, which I would have thought would have the same economic response as US citizens as regards cruising in Europe. So that leaves 700 out of 3000 passengers who were not from N America, thus suggesting that 2,300 out of 3,000 had flown across the Atlantic for the cruise. That's about 75%.

[ 10-30-2008: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]

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Originally posted by HomeLines:

The Carnival Dream will only carry 3,646 passengers (based on two people to every room). Her capacity is lower than the Freedom-class ships.

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