MIAMI (June 15, 2011) – Carnival Cruise Lines will launch a year-round program of eight-day cruises to the Caribbean and Bahamas from New York beginning in April 2012 – the line’s first year-round sailings from that port by the Carnival Miracle. On this schedule, Carnival Miracle will offer three uniquely different eight-day itineraries that visit a diversity of beautiful islands throughout the Caribbean and Bahamas. The itineraries include:

• Eastern Caribbean departures to San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand Turk, offered on a rotating basis April through October

• Bahamas sailings featuring stops at the private Bahamian island of Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and Nassau, offered on a rotating basis April through October

• Bahamas/Florida cruises with port calls to Port Canaveral (Orlando), Nassau and Freeport, offered November through April

These cruises also offer the convenience and affordability of sailing from New York on a year-round basis. Residents throughout the Northeast can simply board the Carnival Miracle in New York and start their vacation right away. This program also represents a tremendous savings in airfare cost for these consumers who avoid the inconvenience often associated with air travel today.

According to Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill, Carnival has offered seasonal voyages from New York for more than a decade but the convenience of sailing from the Big Apple on a year-round basis, combined with its unique appeal as a pre- and post-cruise destination, strongly influenced the decision for the new year-round program.

New York is one of the highest-rated homeports for ‘Fun Ship’ cruising. Carnival Miracle’s new year-round eight-day departures offer consumers the best of both worlds -- a choice of three attractive year-round Caribbean and Bahamas itinerary options with the opportunity to depart from one of the world’s great cities,” he said.

“The cruise industry continues to be an economic boon for the City, and today’s announcement that the Carnival Miracle will start offering year-round cruises from New York City will do even more to stimulate our economy, bringing additional visitors and generating nearly $13 million in direct spending,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky.

I wonder if CARNIVAL MIRACLE will leave from the West side piers or Brooklyn? In the past Carnival has historically used the west side.

And yes, I know the Bermudian government limits the number of ships that visit. It's just that none of the 3 itineraries mentioned above are really exciting.

Hope they stay in mid-town; Brooklyn, at least around Red Hook, is depressing...at least to me.

-Russ

[ 06-15-2011: Message edited by: linerguy ]

True it is less developed there and at the end of the Island which makes getting around more difficult but it is also a pretty little town and its still Bermuda.

NORWEGIAN MAJESTY was an ok ship, nothing to write home about. Once was enough and it was the first ship I ever sailed where our inside cabin made those on the Sovereign Class look spacious! Our inside closet was all the way aft and smelled like diesel fuel all the time. We nicknamed it the "diesel dungeon". LOL. Also, after a couple days sitting in St. George the pools looked like mud. Nasty!

All in all it was a really fun cruise though. Made some new friends and as always I loved Bermuda.

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Originally posted by desirod7:
St George sounds ideal for the 600' R-ships. Unfortunately Bermuda is a commodity run and smaller ships could not break even from the rock-bottom fares.

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Originally posted by GregD:

Didnt Azamara sail them there a while ago?

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QE2 obviously sat at anchor off Hamilton but Horizon docked at both St. George's and Hamilton, which was fantastic. The Grandeur trip was kind of a pain because we stayed at Dockyard the entire time and, since we love the beaches near St. George's, we had to take a ferry over; which took a hell of a long time.