Carnival Cruise Line is resuming its Grand Bahama cruises on Oct. 11, the cruise line said this week.
The company’s Carnival Pride cruise ship will dock in Freeport, Grand Bahama on Friday, the first Carnival ship to dock in Grand Bahama since Hurricane Dorian.
Carnival Elation will follow with a call to Grand Bahama on Oct. 13, with Carnival Freedom cruising to Grand Bahama on Oct. 15.
Carnival expects to host more than 39 cruise calls in Freeport through the end of the year, the company said in a statement.
The return of Carnival will be a major economic boost for the island.
“Carnival Cruise Line is proud to be such a big year-round supporter for cruise tourism to Freeport so we are very excited to provide our guests the opportunity to again visit this popular destination,” said Terry Thornton, Carnival’s senior vice president of nautical and port operations. “Cruise ship visits are important to the local economy and our shore excursion team has been working closely with local tour operators and has confirmed a variety of attractive onshore excursions for our guests.”
For the full year, more than 400,000 passengers will visit Grand Bahama on a Carnival cruise from nine different ports in the United States.
“The rebuilding of Grand Bahama has begun,” said James Kwasi Malik Thompson, the Bahamas’ Minister of State for Grand Bahama. “We welcome the return of Carnival Cruise Line back to Grand Bahama after Hurricane Dorian. Carnival is an incredible partner for the Bahamas and Grand Bahama.”
— CJ