Citing the economy and high airfares, Carnival Cruise Lines said the Carnival Liberty will remain in Miami to operate year-round Caribbean cruises. Originally, the ship was scheduled to operate Europe cruises during summer 2009.
The Liberty will offer its current seven-day Caribbean schedule through April 2009, and will then begin a new seven-day program, also out of Miami.
The Carnival Pride, currently based in Long Beach, Calif. and originally scheduled to move to Miami for a five-month Caribbean deployment in summer 2009, will instead launch its year-round Baltimore program on April 27, 2009, four months early.
"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," Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO, said in a statement.
Cahill said the Pride would launch Baltimore's first year-round cruise program, which is already "proving to be extremely popular based on advanced bookings."
The move means Carnival will have no ship in Europe next summer. Cahill said the company would offer assistance to passengers booked on the Liberty in Europe, to try and put them on other European cruises, including on Carnival sister lines such as Holland America and Princess.
Carnival will offer European cruises on the 3,646-passenger Carnival Dream, currently under construction and slated to debut with a series of three 12-day Grand Mediterranean cruises from Civitavecchia, Italy, in September and October 2009.
