Carnival's newest ship coming to Port Canaveral

Carnival’s newest and largest ship will homeport in Port Canaveral at a new state-of-the-art terminal, following the approval of a new long-term agreement between the two parties.

The new operating agreement between the Canaveral Port Authority Board and Carnival Cruise Line begins Sept. 1, 2018 and replaces an existing six-year agreement set to expire in 2019, providing a 25-year primary term with four additional five-year renewal options. Under the terms of the agreement, Carnival’s minimum annual guarantee increases from the current fixed $7 million passenger fee to $14.5 million with annual escalators.

New ship, new terminal

Canaveral Port Authority and Carnival will invest in building and equipping a new two-storey 185,000-sq. ft. terminal to accommodate the as-yet-unnamed 180,000-ton Carnival ship, engineered with Carnival Corporation’s state-of-the-art LNG “green cruising” design platform. The new cruise vessel will have a 5,286 lower berth capacity with a maximum capacity of approximately 6,500 guests.

“With its convenient location, excellent facilities and friendly staff, Port Canaveral is one of our most popular and fastest-growing homeports and we’re delighted to bring this exciting, one-of-a-kind ship to the Space Coast in 2020,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

Constructing the new CT-3 terminal, plus an adjacent elevated parking facility to accommodate nearly 1,800 vehicles, and related wharf, road and access improvements will total $150 million – estimated to be the largest single project in the history of the Port. The new terminal is planned for completion by June 2020.

The arrival of the new Carnival ship in 2020 will mark 30 years that Carnival Cruise Line has been sailing from Port Canaveral, the longest of any of the Port’s cruise partners. Here's what the new terminal will look like: