Carnival Cruise Line continues celebrating its 50th birthday, including presenting a cake to the New Orleans Council to thank for the ongoing support. It follows a busy month of festivities so far, with ships meeting up at sea and celebrating 50 years with The Bahamas.
Carnival Birthday Cake to New Orleans
The cruise line presented a special 50th birthday cake to the New Orleans City Council to show appreciation for the city’s support over the years. Carnival continues to have a strong partnership with the city since 1994, when the first Carnival vessel launched a year-round service sailing from the port.
Several ships have been based in the city since 1994, with capacity and cruise options being expanded. The cruise line has already carried upwards of 4.5 million passengers. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Carnival was right there to help with relief efforts. It was also a similar case when Hurricane Ida caused power outages in 2021.
On September 19, 2021, the cruise line finally restarted guest operations from New Orleans with the Carnival Glory for the first time in 18 months. The ship resumed with a seven-day Western Caribbean cruise.
In November 201, sister ship Carnival Valor followed by resuming guest operations from the Port NOLA. The vessel departed on a five-day Western Caribbean voyage.
“Carnival Cruise Line has been a part of the New Orleans community for more than 25 years and we’re absolutely thrilled to provide our guests an opportunity to get Back to Fun, while supporting the local economy in one of our most popular homeports,”ย said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line at the time Carnival Glory resumed sailings.
“Carnival is the number one cruise operator from New Orleans with the greatest variety of cruise choices and itineraries and we are so happy to bring our unique brand of fun back to this fantastic city.”
More than 250 sailings will be on offer from New Orleans over the next two years between the two Conquest-class Carnival ships. They are expected to carry approximately 400,000 guests annually to the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal.
Just a day earlier, on March 10, Carnival Cruise Line celebrated 50 years of visiting The Bahamas. The day before that, on March 9, there was another ship meetup as part of the cruise line’s sailabrations cruises.
As part of the six-ship meetup that took place near Nassau, there was the Carnival Conquest, Carnival Spirit, Carnival Freedom, Carnival Legend, Carnival Liberty and Carnival Sunshine. The Miami-based cruise line will continue its 50th birthday celebrations throughout the year.