Carnival calls off the party

The line made 15 voyages to the island this year and had been expected to confirm a further 12 trips in 2012. But last night Carnival confirmed that an April voyage would be its only trip of the year.

The decision is a huge blow to the island’s economy and will mean the loss of millions of dollars.

Last night an emergency Government meeting was called to discuss why Carnival had pulled the plug and to deal with the fall-out.

By the end of 2011 four different Carnival Cruise ships, the Carnival Pride, Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Glory and Carnival Miracle, visited the island on 15 separate occasions. A sixteenth trip in August was cancelled due to the weather.

The Carnival Pride is still due to arrive in Bermuda on November 8 for a two-day stay at Dockyard. The Carnival ships brought in more than 2,000 tourists to the island on each trip. The firm had been expected to confirm a further 12 trips to Bermuda next year.

But only one ship, the Carnival Pride, will be visiting the island on April 22, 2012. There are no further trips scheduled.

The April voyage is the only trip advertised on the company’s website for 2012.

Officials in Bermuda were only told of the decision this week. Carnival Cruise Lines has not provided any reasons why they have reduced their service to Bermuda.

A spokesman for Carnival told the Bermuda Sun: “Although quite some time ago we had requested berths for several Bermuda calls in 2012, we ultimately only scheduled one voyage.

“Therefore we did not cancel any cruises that were actually scheduled and open for sale.

“However we did just recently notify the relevant people in Bermuda that we would not be needing those slots.

“We are researching internally to determine why the notification was not made earlier.”

The Bermuda Sun contacted the Department of Transport but was told no comment would be forthcoming last night.