Staying Put in Jacksonville

It wasn't so long ago, it didn't even look like Jacksonville was going to have a cruise terminal as it was needing to be relocated as the clock was ticking on the current location and the factions involved couldn't settle on a new site.

But a few years later, Carnival has again signed a contract to stay in the city at least through May 2021 and possibly through 2027.

The complete story appeared in the April 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Cruise News Daily Headlines for December 17, 2013

* Jacksonville Decides to Proceed with the Status Quo
Longtime readers (or at least those who have been following the industry since 2008) know there’s been something of a panic in Jacksonville to settle on a site for a new cruise terminal, because the port’s cargo terminal was going to expand onto the location of the cruise terminal. The way things were progressing, the wrecking balls were en route to the port to knock it down (figuratively). At several times the port had even gone so far as to option other parcels of land for the cruise terminal that would actually be in better locations than the current one.
   So it comes as a stunning change that the port has decided to just let the cruise terminal stay where it is - for now.

* CNN Looks at the Carnival Triumph Fire
Last night CNN aired a report on Anderson Cooper 360 based on a lawsuit filed by a small number of passengers who were aboard Carnival Triumph when it experienced an engine room fire. The ship subsequently drifted in the Gulf of Mexico under very unpleasant conditions.
   The report seemed to accept that the plaintiffs were right, which isn’t surprising, but what was surprising was that Carnival actually participated in the story, granting interviews and giving statements.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

The Horns of the Dilemma are Starting to Poke Jacksonville

You may still be planning this year's vacation or even next year's. But the cruise lines are now dealing with the final details of 2012's programs and are just about ready to open them for sale. And they are already deep into the planning for 2013, 2014 and even beyond.
That's why Carnival Cruise Lines need an answer from the Port of Jacksonville: Will you be in the cruise business or not? And Jacksonville doesn't really have an answer.
In this CND article we take a look at the time crunch facing the Florida port.

The complete article appeared in the July 9, 2010, edition of Cruise News Daily.

Carnival Adds Itineraries from Jacksonville and Tampa

Come next year, Carnival customers who sail from Jacksonville and Tampa are each going to have an additional itinerary to choose from when the line begins to offer new 7-day eastern Caribbean itinerary options approximately once a month.

Details appeared in the complete Cruise News Daily article on June 25, 2010.

Dividing up the Pie

There's been a lot of coverage of growing home ports in the southeastern states - Charleston (SC), Jacksonville, and Mobile. Each is working to some degree or another for more or larger ships, and still other ports are marketing themselves to cruise lines looking for their first ship. Generally, there's excitement in those ports.

But for all the excitement there is in those ports, there's a bit of uneasiness a few hundred miles to the south in the larger ports of Port Canaveral and Tampa.

The complete article appeared in the June 4, 2010, edition of Cruise News Daily.