Carnival Miracle names New York City as its home-port
Carnival Cruise Lines has announced that the 2,124-passenger Carnival Miracle will make New York City its home-port from next spring, operating on a year-round basis.
Beginning in April 2012, the Carnival Miracle will make an additional 21 calls at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, with destinations that include the Bahamas and Caribbean Islands.
The ship calls will bring an estimated 52,000 additional embarking passengers into New York City, resulting in an estimated $13 million in direct spending. The Carnival Miracle will be the third major cruise ship to call year-round in New York City.
“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,” said Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill.
“New York City’s cruise industry is so vital to the health of our $31 billion tourism industry—as more cruise lines call on New York, more visitors will get a chance to experience the five boroughs’ unique energy, diversity and dynamism. We applaud Carnival for their announcement that they will establish a year-round presence in New York,” said George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company, the city’s marketing, tourism and partnership organisation.
The Carnival Miracle will launch a year-round program of eight-day cruises to the Caribbean and Bahamas from New York. On this schedule, Carnival Miracle will offer three different itineraries that visit a diversity of islands:
Eastern Caribbean departures to San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand Turk, offered on a rotating basis between April and October.
Bahamas sailings featuring stops at the private Bahamian island of Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and Nassau, offered on a rotating basis between April and October.
Bahamas/Florida cruises with port calls to Port Canaveral (Orlando), Nassau and Freeport, offered between November and April.
Cruise passenger arrivals in New York City were significantly higher in 2010 than 2009. In 2009, there were 445,718 combined embarking and transit passengers and 181 ship calls.
These numbers jumped to 582,979 combined embarking and transit passengers and 241 ship calls in 2010. The Economic Development Corporation currently projects this upward trend to continue in 2011 with an expected 264 ship calls and 645,000 passengers.
City.Mobi
Also in North America today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to New York.
City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.
However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.
New York.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.
Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.
Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.
City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.