By the Caribbean Journal staff

Cruise giant Carnival Cruise Line has launched its newest cruises out of the Port of Charleston.

The company’s Carnival Sunshine, which recently underwent a $200 million makeover, had initially relaunched with a series of cruises from Norfolk.

Carnival Sunshine will be sailing a series of four-to-11-day cruises from Charleston, the latest year-round cruise ship in the area.

That includes four and five-day Bahamas cruises, along with seven-day trips to Bermuda and the Caribbean and what will be the first-ever Cuba cruises from Charleston.

“Carnival launched Charleston’s first-year round cruise program nearly a decade ago and we’re delighted to homeport Carnival Sunshine which offers our guests so many wonderful onboard features and amenities,” said Terry Thornton, senior vice president of nautical and port operations for Carnival Cruise Line. 

Carnival said Charleston was an “important” part of the company’s ship deployment strategy, which looks to position cruise ships near larger U.S. population bases along both the east and west coasts and the Gulf of Mexico.

Carnival now sails from 20 different homeports in North America.

— CJ