The 5 best destinations you can visit on a Carnival Cruise Line ship

Aug. 20, 2024

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11 min read

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Quick summary

Some cruise lines offer voyages to every corner of the world. Others are more focused on where they operate.

Carnival Cruise Line, one of the world's largest cruise brands, is firmly in the second category.

Carnival is all about relatively short, affordable cruises from U.S. ports. You'll find at least one of its ships sailing out of pretty much every major port city around the country, but it's rare to find them based anywhere else.

Catering heavily to budget travelers who reach its ships by car, Carnival rarely offers voyages in Europe, Asia and South America — destinations that are much more integral to the schedules of such rival lines as Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Holland America.

However, Carnival is the undisputed leader in cruises out of U.S. ports to the Caribbean and the Bahamas, with a wide range of sailings to the regions from ports on the East Coast and along the Gulf of Mexico.

Some of Carnival's East Coast-based ships also sail to Bermuda, New England and Canada. For Carnival ships based on the West Coast, sailings to Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska are the norm.

Carnival also offers some Panama Canal voyages.

The overarching idea for Carnival's ship deployments is that a large percentage of the U.S. population can reach one of the line's vessels by car, saving the cost of flights. For that reason, it takes a much broader approach to ship deployments around the U.S. than other lines.

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Carnival's biggest operations are out of PortMiami and Port Canaveral in Florida; Galveston, Texas; Long Beach, California; New Orleans; and Seattle — all major cruise hubs. You'll also find Carnival ships in secondary cruise ship ports such as Baltimore; Charleston, South Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; Jacksonville and Tampa in Florida; and San Francisco.

For the most part, Carnival ships sail relatively short voyages of three to eight nights.

Here's our take on the five best places Carnival sails.

The Caribbean and the Bahamas

Carnival is, quite simply, the king of Caribbean and Bahamas cruises. If you're looking for a quick, easy and — perhaps most importantly — very affordable cruise getaway to the region, Carnival is your line.

Carnival currently has 22 of its 27 ships — including its newest and biggest ships, 5,282-passenger Mardi Gras and sister vessels Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee — scheduled to sail to the Caribbean and the Bahamas for at least part of the coming year.

To put that in perspective, that's more ships than exist in the entire fleet of Norwegian Cruise Line, which itself is a major player in Caribbean cruises.

Carnival offers a broad range of Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries from no fewer than 11 U.S. ports.

If you're looking for something short, the line has you covered in the form of quick three- to five-night trips to the Caribbean and the Bahamas from Florida ports such as Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and Port Canaveral, as well as from Mobile, New Orleans and Galveston.

Itineraries from the eastern ports often include stops in the Bahamas and at Grand Turk Island in Turks and Caicos. From the Gulf ports, they often focus heavily on the ports of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, including Cozumel and Progreso.

Carnival is also big in the market for six- to eight-night sailings to Caribbean and Bahamas ports, which break down into three broad categories:

Eastern Caribbean voyages
Western Caribbean voyages
Southern Caribbean voyages

A typical seven-night Carnival sailing to the Eastern Caribbean includes stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos.

However, each of Carnival's six- to eight-night Eastern Caribbean itineraries is a little different. There are typically three and sometimes four calls on these Eastern Caribbean cruises.

Carnival's six- to eight-night Western Caribbean voyages will typically include three or four stops in some mix of the following destinations: Mexico (Cozumel and Costa Maya), Honduras, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Belize.

The line's Southern Caribbean itineraries — typically eight nights in length — will often bring visits to Aruba and Curacao, as well as one or more northerly Caribbean ports such as Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic.

Carnival also offers a handful of longer 10- to 14-night sailings in the Caribbean, but not many.

The Mexican Riviera

The 4,008-passenger Carnival Panorama sails to Mexico out of Long Beach, California. CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE

Carnival is one of the leaders in cruises to the Mexican Riviera — the string of resort towns running down the west coast of Mexico.

Carnival operates cruises to the west coast of Mexico out of the California ports of Long Beach and San Francisco, with Long Beach being its main West Coast hub.

Notably, Carnival is one of just two cruise lines to base ships in the Los Angeles area year-round for voyages to Mexico (the other is Royal Caribbean). One of the line's newest vessels, the 4,008-passenger Carnival Panorama, is based year-round in Long Beach for six- to eight-night Mexican Riviera voyages. The smaller 2,764-passenger Carnival Radiance operates three- to six-night trips out of Long Beach to Mexico for most of the year (it also offers some sailings to Hawaii).

A third Carnival ship, the 4,125-passenger Carnival Firenze, operates four- to seven-night sailings to Mexico out of Long Beach year-round.

The typical seven-night Carnival voyage to the Mexican Riviera brings stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

Three- and four-night Carnival trips to the west coast of Mexico typically only feature a single Mexico call in Ensenada and, at times, a stop at Catalina Island off the coast of California.

Alaska

Carnival isn't the biggest player in Alaska cruises. The giants of cruising to Alaska are Princess Cruises and Holland America, which are sister lines to Carnival that control a large percentage of the market. Still, Carnival has sent more vessels to Alaska in recent years than in the past, and for the coming year, it has three ships sailing to the destination.

Carnival's fun-focused, affordable ships are a popular pick with families looking to visit Alaska during the short Alaska cruise season that lasts roughly from May to September.

For 2025, Carnival plans to deploy the following ships to the Alaska market:

Carnival Luminosa: The 16-year-old vessel will operate seven-night voyages to Alaska round-trip out of Seattle. Most departures will feature calls at Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, Alaska; and Victoria, British Columbia. It also will visit the Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska for glacier viewing. A few sailings have a slightly different lineup of ports.
Carnival Legend: The 21-year-old vessel will operate 10-night voyages to Alaska round-trip out of San Francisco. It will call at Skagway, Juneau and Icy Strait Point in Alaska and Victoria, British Columbia. It also will visit Tracy Arm for glacier viewing.
Carnival Spirit: The 24-year-old vessel will mostly operate seven-night voyages to Alaska round-trip from Seattle. It will call at Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, Alaska; and Victoria, British Columbia. It also will visit Tracy Arm for glacier viewing.

Unlike some lines such as Princess, Holland America and Royal Caribbean, Carnival does not offer Alaska cruisetours that combine an Alaska cruise with multiple days of overland touring.

Bermuda

At least a couple of Carnival ships typically sail to Bermuda every year between May and October.

While the line doesn't offer a huge number of Bermuda departures, it usually operates Bermuda trips out of at least three ports every year: New York, Baltimore and Norfolk, Virginia.

Most of the sailings are six or seven nights in length and include two or three days in Bermuda. The line also typically offers some shorter four- and five-night Bermuda sailings.

Note that the shorter Bermuda sailings can offer very little time in the country, sometimes as little as eight hours.

For 2025, Carnival is offering sailings to Bermuda on three ships: the 3,002-passenger Carnival Sunshine, the 2,124-passenger Carnival Pride and the 4,208-passenger Carnival Venezia. The latter ship is a Costa Cruises vessel that Carnival began operating in May 2023. Costa is a sister line to Carnival with similarly designed ships.

Australia

Carnival may be all about cruises from U.S. ports, but not all its vessels always are based in North America.

In what might seem like an unusual diversion for a line known for short, easy-to-reach, affordable voyages for Americans, Carnival has deployed two of its vessels to Australia in recent years to operate trips from Sydney and Brisbane.

The two ships — most recently 2,260-passenger Carnival Luminosa and 3,012-passenger Carnival Splendor — typically operate a mix of three- to 10-night sailings along the Australian coast and to New Zealand.

Carnival's Australia trips, notably, aren't really aimed at Americans. They're aimed at Australians. A few years ago, Carnival discovered that Australians love the sort of fun-focused, affordable cruises it offers just as much as Americans, and it set out to build a business in Australia catering to them.

That doesn't mean an American can't book one of the trips.

The typical Carnival cruise along the coast of Australia includes stops at Airlie Beach, Cairns and Willis Island. Some longer Australia voyages add in stops at Port Douglas or Moreton Island.

Shorter Australia voyages might include a stop at just one of the above destinations or even no stops at all — a so-called "cruise to nowhere."

Carnival is likely to grow its operations in Australia over the coming years. Earlier this year, the line announced it soon would absorb two Australia-based vessels currently operated by P&O Cruises Australia. The latter is an Australia-focused cruise line that is owned by the same parent company as Carnival.

The two ships — 2,636-passenger Pacific Adventure and 2,600-passenger Pacific Encounter — will transfer to the Carnival fleet in 2025, and executives have hinted they will remain in Australia to cater mostly to Australian vacationers.

Bottom line

Carnival focuses heavily on cruises in North America. If you're looking for a voyage to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda or the west coast of Mexico, you'll find an unparalleled array of choices from Carnival. If a cruise vacation in Europe, Asia or South America is what you're after, you probably should focus on another line.

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Featured image by LORRAINE BOOGICH/GETTY IMAGES

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.