Carnival swaps ships in Mobile

Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Holiday has taken her last cruise out of the port. She’s being replaced with the newer and larger Carnival Fantasy which will arrive in the port on Tuesday.

Carnival Holiday is moving to Ibero Cruises, which is Carnival's Spanish subsidiary. She’s Carnival's smallest ship, but over the years since she first home-ported in Mobile she’s delivered around 151,000 visitors annually to the port, sailing from Mobile more than 300 times. Now Carnival officials say that Carnival Fantasy will add another 20,000 people a year to the port’s activity, which comes from a 42% increase in passenger capacity. The decision is sensible as Carnival Holiday was consistently booked beyond the ship’s 1,452-passenger capacity, largely with cruise passengers from across the United States who drove to Mobile to leave their cars in long-stay parking while they took a cruise hoiday.

Carnival Fantasy's maiden voyage from Mobile is a special, six-day cruise to the Mexican ports of Progreso, Cozumel and Costa Maya, is already sold out. Once the six day cruise is over, Fantasy will revert to the classic itinerary that Holiday sailed, four or five day trips to Mexico. Fantasy is a classic fun ship, there’s always something fun to do and it’s the ideal cruise liner for a happy-go-lucky, get involved in everything type of cruise passengers. There’s plenty of deck space for those love to sunbathe and good facilities for children and adults. The Mobile cruise terminal has installed a new movable gangway and created plans to handle the overflow parking that the new, larger ship will create.