Aqua Master

02.02.10

Carnival Cruise Lines and its Fascination ship returned to Jacksonville on Monday, back in action after a month-long absence for $34 million worth of refurbishment and upgrades.

The Fascination’s reappearance in Jacksonville comes as Carnival also counts down toward launching a new year-round service in May from Charleston, S.C.

The service from Charleston will use the same size ship that sails from Jacksonville. In addition, the cruises from both cities will sail to the Bahamas. Carnival anticipates Jacksonville and Charleston will attract passengers from across the Southeast, particularly vacationers who would rather drive than fly to South Florida to catch their cruises.

Despite the similarities in the Jacksonville and Charleston services, Carnival officials say they don’t expect Charleston’s gain in passengers will be Jacksonville’s loss.

“There is such a huge base of potential customers that we do not have any concerns about our Charleston cruises negatively impacting Jacksonville,” said Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz.

[ Via: Florida Times-Union | Read more... ]