Diplomacy

Carnival Cruise Line is currently building a new port in The Bahamas for their ships to visit, Celebration Key.

Today, Carnival announced that Celebration Key will have more than 30 food and beverage outlets. This includes a new “Island Eats” program that will limit guests to one casual meal while visiting the port.

The dining outlets will serve local Bahamian specialties, beachside favorites, seafood, barbeque, and a number of other cuisines. They include:

• Four full-service restaurants
• A food hall
• Nine food trucks
• Five snack shacks
• Two counter-service kiosks
• 12 bars

Guests on Carnival cruise ships will use a new program called “Island Eats”. Cruisers will use their Sail & Sign card to receive one complimentary “Island Eats” meal on Celebration Key.

This is good for quick casual outlets, snack shacks and food trucks across the port. They can also choose instead to receive 25 percent off one entrée per person at the full-service restaurants (excluding Pearl Cove Beach Club restaurant).

Mingo’s Tropical Bar & Kitchen will serve Bahamian favorites, including fried fish and conch fritters, as well as a classic burgers, seafood, tacos, steak, and sandwiches.

The Captain’s Galley Food Hall will have everything from burgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, pizza, Mediterranean bowls, tacos and burritos.

Surf N’ Sauce BBQ & Brews will be another full-service dining option. It will have meats prepared in an outdoor smoker.

The food trucks will feature beachside classics, like chicken sandwiches and burgers, as well as Bahamian delights, like conch fritters.

Pearl Cove Beach Club will feature a full-service restaurant in the exclusive retreat for guests 18 and older. Access to Pearl Cove Beach Club includes three options for purchase:

• Club access plus a welcome drink
• Club access plus open bar (maximum of 10 drinks)
• Club access, all inclusive (open bar, maximum of 10 drinks, and lunch from the Pearl Cove restaurant)

Gill’s Grill will be a full-service restaurant that is located at the family-friendly Starfish Lagoon. It will specialize in seafood baskets, local fish, lobster, steamed crab and shrimp, along with land-based favorites such as chicken, burgers and kid’s meals.

There will be 100 seats at the in-lagoon Long Necks Bar and 40 swings at Sunshine Swings Bar.

The port will also have Suncastle Grounds Coffee ship and Yumshine Scoops (ice cream).

Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, gave the following statement about the dining options on Celebration Key:

“Great food and beverage options are essential to the Carnival experience, and we’ve designed Celebration Key with an array of dining opportunities, whether our guests want a casual snack, a quick meal or a full dining experience. Just like there will be no shortage of ways to enjoy their day in paradise, there will also be something for everyone to eat and drink at Celebration Key.”

Celebration Key is being built on Grand Bahama Island and is scheduled to open in the summer of 2025. Cruises to this new port are open for bookings.

2025 is already set to be a busy cruise year.  Even with pesky inflation and geopolitical tensions in some parts of the world, cruise lines are selling cabins on cruise ships for next year and beyond.

We analyzed cruises by departure ports for next year and sorted them to find the ten busiest ports with the most sailings. 

Keep in mind, this list does not necessarily include ports of call.  If it did, it would include ports like Cozumel and Nassau.  The list is in order of number of departures.

Every cruise has a starting point, and these are the most common starting points for cruises from January 1^st 2025 through December 31 of the same year.

1. Miami, Florida, United States (1271)

It should be no surprise that PortMiami tops the list with the most departures set for next year.   Whether it’s a 2-night cruise on Norwegian Joy to Great Stirrup Cay and back or an epic 200-night sailing on an Oceania Cruises vessel, Miami is the starting point of 1,271 cruises in 2025.

Miami is in a constant battle for the title of “busiest cruise port” with Port Canaveral, which you will see very soon on this list.

Carnival offers the most cruises out of PortMiami with 318, followed by MSC Cruises with 255, Royal Caribbean with 240 and Norwegian Cruise Line with 154.

Virgin Voyages has been making headway with its new terminal in Miami as well and offers 112 cruises out of the port next year.

2. Amsterdam, Netherlands (1056)

Believe it or not, Amsterdam is set to be the second busiest cruise port by departures in 2025.  This is largely due to the number of river ships that set sail from this port on a daily basis. 

It’s not uncommon for 10 or more ships to depart from Amsterdam in a single day. 

Viking is the most prolific cruise line to use the port with well over 400 sailings next year alone.  Other cruise lines that commonly sail out of the port include AMA Waterways, Scenic Cruises, Emerald Cruises, Avalon Waterways, Tauck, and Uniworld River Cruises.

3. Port Canaveral, Florida, United States (1013)

Capable of handling the largest cruise ships in the world, Port Canaveral will be home to the next Icon-class cruise ship from Royal Caribbean, Star of the Seas.

With over 1,000 cruises offered out of the Florida port in 2025, the port is still looking to expand with plans for new terminals.

Carnival Cruise Line has 303 cruises scheduled to depart out of Port Canaveral next year, with Royal Caribbean right behind at 246.

Not far from Disney World, the port is also offering 231 Disney Cruise Line sailings next year.  Other cruise lines to sail out of the port include Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Princess Cruises.

4. Budapest, Hungary (951)

Located on the Danube River, Budapest offers more river cruise departures than any other port.

Viking River Cruises offers the most sailings out of Budapest in 2025 with 366 sailings.  Avalaon Waterways and AMA Waterways also offer a significant number of voyages with 180 and 161 respectively.

Other cruise lines to sail out of this beautiful port city include Emerald Cruises, Scenic, Tauck, and Uniworld.

Cruises from this port range from 4-nights to a 21-night cruise offered by Scenic

5. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States (889)

Port Everglades will see 889 cruises launch from its terminals next year.  In addition to homeporting two Oasis-class ships, the port will cater to nine different cruise lines.

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises will see the most cruises out of the port with 223 and 200 respectively.  Holland America will see 135 cruises sail out of the port and Disney Cruise Line will see 101.

Princess Cruises also sails out of Port Everglades quite a bit with 187 next year alone.

You will also see some luxurious cruise lines sailing out of the port with Silversea Cruises and the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection using the port, in addition to Viking. 

Viking actually offers a 137-night world cruise out of Port Everglades next year, and Holland America has a couple “Pole to Pole” voyages that are 100-nights + in duration.

6. Bergen, Norway (877)

With 877 cruises sailing out of Bergen next year, the Norwegian port sees most of these departures with Hurtigruten, the exploration cruise line that specializes in sailings along Norway’s coastline.

832 cruises out of Bergen will be through Hurtigruten on one of the eight ships that carry around 500-700 passengers. 

Viking cruise ships will be offering 31 sailings out of Bergen in 2025 with 7- to 28-night sailings.

A few other cruise lines offer a handful of cruises out of the port as well.  These include Windstar Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Lindblad Expeditions, Scenic Cruises, and Ponant Cruises.

7. Barcelona, Spain (753)

This port city has been in the news lately over some attempts by local residents to curb tourism.   But there’s no doubt about it, it’s still one of the busiest cruise ports in the world.

With an impressive list of voyages, 26 different cruise lines will be sailing out of Barcelona in 2025.  For good reason, this is one of the best ports to start a Mediterranean cruise.

753 cruises will make their start in Barcelona next year.

MSC Cruises offers 178 cruises out of the Spanish port in 2025, whole Costa Cruises offers 135.

Other cruise lines to offer a significant number of voyages out of the port include Viking (76), Royal Caribbean (36), Celebrity Cruises (34), Princess Cruises (31), and Explora Journeys (36). 

8. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy (722)

So, it’s not exactly Rome, even though most itineraries list it as such.  We recently wrote an article about port cities that aren’t really close to where cruise lines say they are if you want to run down that rabbit hole.

Still, “Rome” will be saying bon voyage to 722 cruise ships next year across 25 cruise lines.

Similar to Barcelona, MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises dominate most of the sailings as both companies have a heavy presence in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Oceania Cruises has the longest sailings out of the port with a 34-, 46-, and 56-night sailing, offering some of the most port-intensive itineraries you will find.   

9. Athens (Port of Piraeus), Greece (666)

Another Mediterranean cruise port on this list shows just how popular this region of the world is.   Although it’s a 15-minute drive from the actual cruise port in Piraeus to Athens, most itineraries just list the departure port as the Greek capital.

Over 600 sailings on 25 different cruise lines will depart from this port in 2025.    Adding to this is the fact that Athens is both a port of call and homeport to many ships

Just last year the port broke its own record with over 1.5 million travelers passing through.  It is able to handle larger vessels as well, as signified by Norwegian Viva and Sun Princess sailing out of the port next year.

10. Basel (Saxon), Switzerland (582)

This Rhine River cruise port hosts a handful of cruise lines, and Viking River Cruise ships supply more than half of the sailings with 315 of them. 

Other popular river cruise lines to offer departures out of Basel include AMA Waterways, Avalon Waterways, Emerald Cruises, Scenic, Tauck, and Uniworld.   Durations of sailings range from 4-night to 15-nights.

The cruise port’s proximity and location to three country borders (France, Germany, and Switzerland, make it a popular launch point for river cruises along the beautiful and historic Rhine River.

Other Notable Cruise Ports

The list above tops out the top 10 cruise ports with the most sailings offered for departures.  Below are the next six in terms of sailings with that number of cruises shown for 2025. 

• Paris, France (504)
• Galveston, Texas, United States (413)
• Seattle, Washington, United States (359)
• Tampa, Florida, United States (357)
• Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (363)
• Southampton, United Kingdom (321)

Viking celebrated an historic return to China after their ship, Viking Yi Dun, completed her first cruise from Shanghai to Hong Kong.

Viking’s return to China is highlighted by new itineraries with ports that they only have access to. These cruises have also opened up to international travelers for the first time. The cruises can be seen here.

These sailings operate from September to November on the 930-guest Viking Yi Dun, a sister ship featuring the same award-winning design and service as all other ocean ships in Viking’s fleet. The ship originally set sail as Viking Sun before receiving a name change.

A celebration was held in Shanghai to commemorate the launch of these new itineraries. Guests were treated to cultural performances that offered an introduction to China’s rich traditions.

Feedback from guests who sailed on this first cruise were enthusiast. A few quotes from passengers are:

“To be able to have admission into this country that you hear so much about and see so many treasures and interact with people, in a guided way…it’s been extraordinary in every way. I’m going to go home and want to read and learn more. I want to come again.” —Cheryl W.

“It is the support of the Viking team that has enabled us to move through this door into China and experience it. The experience has been so wonderful both on and off [the ship]. I feel really privileged, and I’m going back more curious in many ways.” —Paul S.

 “What I’ve enjoyed most about this voyage is the people—not only our fellow travelers, but the people of China and the staff. I don’t think I’ve met nicer people in the entire world. I think the people of China have been so gracious and kind; it has really shown me the humanity of China.” —Marion D.

“I’ve always been fascinated with China. It’s so easy to see a lot of interesting areas and places because [Viking] makes it so easy for you. All the experiences we’ve had have been wonderful. I will definitely recommend this trip to my friends.” —Donald M.

Viking will be adding new cruises in Asia in 2025 with an expansion of sailings in the region. This includes cruises from 15- to 22-days in length with port stops in Japan and China.

Torstein Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking, gave the following statement about the cruise line’s return to China:

“With its ancient history and rich culture, China is a phenomenal destination that many curious travelers have not yet had the opportunity to experience.

“For 15 years, we introduced China to guests on our Yangtze River itineraries. Now, we are proud to offer these exclusive domestic sailings in China, and we look forward to welcoming people to this part of the world in the Viking way.”

Viking Yi Dun is a 47,800 gross ton cruise ship with 465 cabins and carries up to 930 guests.

Cruise lines are always adding items to their “ban list” as new trends and technologies emerge.  And sometimes the policy page isn’t as up to date with modern devices.

A YouTuber, Richard with the channel ‘No Pants Profits’, recently found himself in a bit of hot water while cruising aboard Carnival Miracle.

After using a Starlink Mini satellite dish to improve his internet connection on the ship, he was approached by security and the device was confiscated.

“I know what this was about,” the YouTuber explained in a video. “They wanted to talk to me in the hotel director’s office.”

Richard revealed that Carnival’s chief information officer had been sent a video showing the use of the Starlink Mini and had instructed the ship to confiscate it.

Despite the device being technically allowed on board, the cruise line argued that it was a “satellite disk” rather than a “satellite dish,” a claim the YouTuber disputed when referring to the wording of the policy.

Carnival’s Prohibited Item list includes the following:

• Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB), communication scanners, wideband receivers, satellite phones, transformers, lasers and laser pointers. 
• Satellite dish, routers and other internet related equipment  

“I’m not going to fight them.  I gave it up.  I just had three simple requests,” Richard said.  He wanted some paperwork to show that the device was being confiscated, and he wanted an Airtag attached to it so he could track it.

Thirdly, Richard wanted the device to be treated as a drone so he could get the Starlink Mini back when he was in port so he could have internet when off the ship.

Richard added that he was disappointed with Carnival’s decision to confiscate the Starlink Mini, especially considering the poor Wi-Fi speeds he experienced while on the ship.

He noted that he would likely be unable to use the device again on future Carnival cruises but expressed hope that other cruise lines would be more accepting of such technology.

“I think that’s important to understand,” he said. “Companies hate competition. This is competition.”

In the video, Richard showed a download speed of about 3.5 Mbps when connected to the ship’s WiFi.  In comparison, he was able to reach download speeds of 140Mbps with Starlink.

With a few crass comments about the cruise line and a promise that he will come back stronger, Richard ended the video, noting that he was not banned from Carnival. 

Cruise ships are increasingly adopting Starlink to provide passengers with reliable high-speed internet access, enhancing the overall onboard experience.

In fact, earlier this year, Carnival announced that Starlink was available on every ship in the fleet.

Of course, if there are a lot of people using the WiFi it could present a problem with slower speeds.