Carnival Cruise Line gives small ship fans a surprise gift

Carnival Cruise Line tends to offer its longer Caribbean cruises out of larger U.S. ports — especially Port Canaveral and Miami. While it offers cruises from a number of other ports in the Southeast, such as Mobile, Alabama, as well as Tampa and Jacksonville in Florida, they tend to be rather short trips on Carnival’s smaller and older ships.

However, that is now set to change. While the smaller ports are still utilizing Carnival’s smaller ships, there are some new and interesting itineraries that are now available to book.

Carnival brand ambassador John Heald shared a series of new itineraries for the 2026-2027 Caribbean cruising season out of Mobile, Alabama, and Tampa, Florida on his popular Facebook page.

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Carnival’s new small-port Caribbean cruises

Out of Mobile, the Carnival Spirit will be offering six-to-eight night agendas from November 2026 through March 2027, all of which include stops at the cruise line’s upcoming Celebration Key private island, as well as ports that include Key West, Princess Cays, Bimini, and more. There’s also a 14-day “Journeys” cruise that visits a series of ports, many of which are in the Southern Caribbean.

From Tampa, Carnival is planning cruises on two ships – the Legend and the Paradise. While the Paradise is largely offering shorter itineraries, the Legend is offering mainly six-to-eight-night cruises, some of which include stops in Belize, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman, just to name a few.

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For comparison, we can look at what these ships and ports are offering for the 2024-2025 season. To be clear, all three ships sail out of these two ports now. That isn’t a change.

However, some of the destinations are a clear improvement. Cruises from Mobile all getting a stop at Celebration Key is a big difference, and there currently aren’t itineraries that visit the Bahamas on a 6- or 7-day trip. There are also some itineraries that could appeal to cruisers who aren’t comfortable navigating foreign countries, such as a 7-night cruise that visits Key West, Florida, and the cruise line’s two private islands.

From Tampa, there’s an itinerary on Paradise that allows cruisers to experience Celebration Key in a 4-night cruise. And there are far more Bahamas options than exist right now – in fact, the Legend is only sailing Western Caribbean and Panama Canal itineraries in the 2024 winter months but is adding a new three-stop, 6-night Bahamas itinerary (including both private islands) in December 2026.

In a nutshell, the newly-announced itineraries offer more variety to cruisers who prefer these smaller ports – especially for those cruisers who enjoy private island stops and trips to the Bahamas.

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These itineraries are using Carnival’s older ships – or are they?

All three of the ships scheduled to sail from Mobile and Tampa for the 2026/2027 Caribbean season are on the smaller side, and all three are relatively old.

Carnival Spirit was the first in the Spirit class and completed its maiden voyage in 2001. Carnival Legend is a member of the same class and launched the following year. Both ships are listed at 88,500 GT (gross tons), and for context, Carnival’s newest ships, such as the Mardi Gras, are more than twice this size. The Paradise is an even older and smaller ship, having been in service since 1998 and with volume about 20% smaller than either of the Spirit class ships.

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However, it’s important not to necessarily consider these ships “old.” In fact, all three are scheduled to enter dry dock for modernization and upgrades between now and when these new itineraries start. This could mean additional and modern dining options, and other upgrades and renovations.

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In short, while Carnival has no plans to build new, smaller ships, it is certainly investing in the modernization of this part of the fleet – and rolling out some attractive new itineraries for cruisers who prefer to sail from smaller, less-congested ports.

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