Carnival Cruise Lines appear to be ready to position its newest locally-based liner in Australia year-round, according to longrange port booking information.
Carnival Legend arrived in Sydney for the first time in Sep last year (CW 23 Sep) to kick off its first temporary deployment during the peak wave seasons.
However, it now appears the 2,124-passenger ship will remain at its Sydney base through the winter from 2017, joining its sister Carnival Spirit, which has called Sydney home since 2012.
Legend will remain a part-time visitor in Sydney through the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons.
From its arrival on 11 Oct 2016 though, the Port Authority of New South Wales has the ship scheduled to berth in Sydney at varying intervals of no more than two weeks through the winters of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
During a recent visit for Legend’s inaugural Sydney departure, then-president Gerry Cahill hinted strongly at a year-round local deployment for the ship.
CCL vice-president Australia Jennifer Vandekreeke backed that suggestion by saying Brisbane and Melbourne were being strongly considered for future seasons.
Carnival Cruise Lines was coy on the matter when asked by CW, saying it “has not finalised its 2017 deployments,” with details to be confirmed by mid-2015.
Cruise lines routinely schedule port bookings years in advance, especially for high-demand cities such as Sydney, which has bookings in place to Mar 2021.