Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy announced plans on Thursday to bring the 4,000-passenger cruise ship Magic to Norfolk in May next year.
“We can’t wait to get back to Norfolk with our cruise ship, and I hope it will be sooner than later,” Duffy told attendees of an online “State of the Cruise Industry” talk hosted by CIVIC Leadership Institute.
Magic was originally slated to come to Norfolk this year, but the announcement to bring the largest ship yet to Norfolk was made one month before the coronavirus pandemic hit and took the wind out of the city’s tourism sails. Duffy said the cruise line is able to incorporate lessons learned from sister brands that have been operating during the pandemic and that the health and safety of guests and crew are paramount.
Magic is slated for 11 four-to-eight-day voyages in May, June and October, she said. The Carnival website lists cruises to Bermuda, The Bahamas, and the eastern Caribbean.
That means Norfolk will host up to 8,000 passengers coming and going in a day, and more than 40,000 passengers spending two visits in the city, said Stephen Kirkland, executive director of Nauticus.
Additionally, roughly 1,700 crew members will also be coming to the region and spending money, he said. Waterside and MacArthur Center are big draws for the crew.
The five-year agreement between Carnival and Norfolk previously announced in February 2020 will shift forward accordingly, Kirkland said. Carnival has been coming to Norfolk since 2001.
Some attendees of the leadership talk reported they already booked cruises from Norfolk. Duffy said Carnival’s booking pace is better for 2022 than it was even before the pandemic in 2019.
She said cruise stops also help small businesses, vendors, hotels and restaurants as many vacationers will stay a weekend before or after in the city they board. She said Norfolk is becoming a stronger market for Carnival, especially with the trend of multigenerational vacationing where people will travel from different places to meet up for the cruise.
Carnival isn’t going to mandate COVID vaccines unless required to do so, but is encouraging them, she said, pointing out that she got a vaccine. The company is asking for clearer updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now that vaccines are becoming more readily available and is asking policymakers for workable solutions and to not be treated differently than other segments of the hospitality industry.
So far, the city’s cruise terminal, the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center, has about 30 cruise ships, including Magic, on the books for next year, he said. The other ships are port of call visits that are stopping in town for the day, and Kirkland expects that schedule to grow by 20% to 25% as the tourism industry reopens.
Between last year and this year, about 70 cruise ships were lost because of the pandemic, he said.
Some smaller vessels the size of riverboats have been stopping in, like the American Constitution, a small vessel carrying 70-some passengers at less than half its capacity.
“I don’t anticipate any further activity this year,” Kirkland said.
Tara Bozick, 757-247-4741, tbozick@dailypress.com
