2025-2026 Sailings Open from Galveston

[talkorpi]

Carnival released itineraries from Galveston for booking up to 2026 today. In the press release (https://carnival-news.com/2023/08/17/carnival-cruise-line-begins-opening-2025-26-deployment-with-new-sailings-from-galveston/), the execs advertised the itineraries as “new,” “fresh,” and “great new options.”

 

Uhh, correct me if I’m wrong, but these copy & paste itineraries literally haven't changed? I don’t see any new sailings or any type of variety here. It’s the same old rinse and repeat itinerary that they run, and they’ve not even bothered to switch out the ships to attempt any sense of making things “fresh, great NEW options.”
 

Pretty frustrating for me. I get that port selection is somewhat limited from Galveston but there are other ports and/or combinations they are leaving out, like Jamaica and Grand Cayman, etc. The false advertising is just frustrating sometimes. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by talkorpi

[ARcruisin2]

Right!!!!

Doesn't seem like new sailings - just future dates for rinse/repeat

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

[stobe1]

Yeah I agree. Don't oversell it. It is the same ships and same itineraries minus the Miracle.

 

You are correct that options from Galveston are limited without longer sailings. Maybe they will keep Miracle there or put another Spirit or Conquest class ship in the schedule for the longer and more varied ports and itineraries.

[jimbo5544]

Where else can you sail to out of Galveston?

[Rudyard]

I didn't think they'd be changing up the destinations, but was hoping perhaps they'd consider swapping Breeze and Dream and letting Breeze do the 6 and 8 days itineraries. 

[stobe1]

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Where else can you sail to out of Galveston?

Not sure how you meant your statement to come across as either questioning the OP on where else he expected Galveston departures to be able to sail to or if it was just a general rhetorical question.

 

But I think the OP was more pointing out the fact at how Carnival was attempting at marketing the 2025-2026 Galveston season as having "great new options" , but as we all know, that is not possible without longer voyages like Miracle will be doing starting next year. Carnival used some word salad to say a whole lot of nothing about the same itineraries, because, as I stated in an earlier post, unless they are bringing in another ship to do longer and more varied voyages that has yet to be announced, there is nothing new, fresh nor exciting about these itineraries. I believe that is what the OP was driving at.

Edited August 17, 2023 by stobe1

[tidecat]

I would presume Miracle would be back for the winter of 2025-26, but that won't be released at least until the 2025 Alaska season opens for booking.

[Saint Greg]

Wow Cozumel!

[n6uqqq]

1 hour ago, tidecat said:

I would presume Miracle would be back for the winter of 2025-26, but that won't be released at least until the 2025 Alaska season opens for booking.

Speaking of the Miracle, my April 2025 booking out of Galveston has been missing from the site for a few weeks now. When I search it always comes back as " Oh Snap " ! So I think they may be tinkering with the post dry dock schedule for The Miracle in April 2025. 

[n6uqqq]

4 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Where else can you sail to out of Galveston?

The Miracle has some nice ones planned. The 12 day ABC islands caught my fancy in Jan 2025 and a 9 day in April 2025 going to Bimini and HMC also got me booking it but this cruise has disappeared from the post dry dock schedule so I hope it isn't going to be cancelled. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by n6uqqq

[Saint Greg]

[BlerkOne]

Breaking news: Carnival Jubilee is still too big to tender. Forget Grand Cayman.

 

But... Carnival's new port on Grand Bahama should open next year (so 2025).

[jimbo5544]

13 hours ago, stobe1 said:

Not sure how you meant your statement to come across as either questioning the OP on where else he expected Galveston departures to be able to sail to or if it was just a general rhetorical question.

 

But I think the OP was more pointing out the fact at how Carnival was attempting at marketing the 2025-2026 Galveston season as having "great new options" , but as we all know, that is not possible without longer voyages like Miracle will be doing starting next year. Carnival used some word salad to say a whole lot of nothing about the same itineraries, because, as I stated in an earlier post, unless they are bringing in another ship to do longer and more varied voyages that has yet to be announced, there is nothing new, fresh nor exciting about these itineraries. I believe that is what the OP was driving at.

You are correct there are not a lot of options (7 or 8 day wise) from Galveston.  That was my point.  Of course they would spin it in the most positive sense, they are releasing schedule for arguably what they consider their best home port.  One may ask why and the answer is clear as well.  With over ten million people within a three hour drive, there are millions who have never cruised.  Journey cruises are the only answer for variety and Canrival has stepped these up dramatically.  

[jimbo5544]

10 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

The Miracle has some nice ones planned. The 12 day ABC islands caught my fancy in Jan 2025 and a 9 day in April 2025 going to Bimini and HMC also got me booking it but this cruise has disappeared from the post dry dock schedule so I hope it isn't going to be cancelled. 

Sold out would be my guess

[talkorpi]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Breaking news: Carnival Jubilee is still too big to tender. Forget Grand Cayman.

 

But... Carnival's new port on Grand Bahama should open next year (so 2025).

I was hoping they would use the Dream for that so as to not lose that option. I mean the Jamaica - Cayman - Cozumel run is realistically one of three itineraries that CCL can run from here so it baffles me why they won’t put the 6-8 day smaller ship to work doing that in its rotation. 

[talkorpi]

13 hours ago, stobe1 said:

Not sure how you meant your statement to come across as either questioning the OP on where else he expected Galveston departures to be able to sail to or if it was just a general rhetorical question.

 

But I think the OP was more pointing out the fact at how Carnival was attempting at marketing the 2025-2026 Galveston season as having "great new options" , but as we all know, that is not possible without longer voyages like Miracle will be doing starting next year. Carnival used some word salad to say a whole lot of nothing about the same itineraries, because, as I stated in an earlier post, unless they are bringing in another ship to do longer and more varied voyages that has yet to be announced, there is nothing new, fresh nor exciting about these itineraries. I believe that is what the OP was driving at.

Spot on. When I see “brand new refreshed itineraries” from my homeport but then not a single thing is new or changed, it sets the customer up for disappointment. Not sure why CCL would use that terminology if they never planned on doing anything different, not even mixing up the ships or anything. 

[firefly333]

I looked yesterday when I saw John's post. When rcl cruises are first released, often they are cheaper and everyone rushes to book. I was hoping for a under $1k jubilee lol. Nope. No bargains and nothing to rush to book. 

[n6uqqq]

9 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Sold out would be my guess

I have thought of that as a possibility also but a 4 day cruise also sold out after the dry dock already? Everything after the dry dock is no longer listed which seems a bit unusual for 2025 to be this sold out.

[BlerkOne]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:21 AM, talkorpi said:

Pretty frustrating for me. I get that port selection is somewhat limited from Galveston but there are other ports and/or combinations they are leaving out, like Jamaica and Grand Cayman, etc. The false advertising is just frustrating sometimes. 

The headline is new sailings, not new itineraries. and Jubilee will be fresh and new. Open are new sailings, literally.

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

I have thought of that as a possibility also but a 4 day cruise also sold out after the dry dock already? Everything after the dry dock is no longer listed which seems a bit unusual for 2025 to be this sold out.

Maybe an extended drydock

 

[huntnewt]

I understand that options are limited from Galveston, but Carnival could investigate other options, like possibly a 6 Day Bahamas to Key West and Nassau or somewhere in the Bahamas or an 8 Day Western to change it up in order to offer Bahamas cruises on the 6 day run and western Caribbean on the 8 day run that could include Jamaica and Grand Cayman. There could also be other options for Jubilee, just introducing more ports in the Western Caribbean. I also noticed that Breeze 5 days no longer include Costa Maya and only offer Progreso. This makes sense due to the afternoon arrival into Costa Maya, but I am slightly disappointed in Carnival, as expressed above due to the lack of variety. On the flip side, I do not feel that we have room to complain about our ship offerings, as we have 2 Dream class and 1 Excel class, which is fairly premium compared to other homeports. I hope they put another ship on the longer runs like Miracle will be doing.

[n6uqqq]

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Maybe an extended drydock

 

It is already a fairly long one scheduled for the Miracle from 2/21/25 to 4/1/25 but who knows. I will find out eventually if they cancel my cruise. No worries for now and a call to Carnival probably would not yield an answer from the phone rep, because they likely won't know. 

[LaRue1975]

Now that the Galveston sailings have dropped through April 2026 will the other port’s cruises be released soon? Specifically Miami, I want to book the Horizon in May or June, 2025. 

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

It is already a fairly long one scheduled for the Miracle from 2/21/25 to 4/1/25 but who knows. I will find out eventually if they cancel my cruise. No worries for now and a call to Carnival probaby would not yield an answer from the phone rep, because they likely won't know. 

I doubt they would know.  Possibly something new schedule wise, who knows.  Good luck

Edited August 19, 2023 by jimbo5544

[momof3cruisers]

On 8/17/2023 at 6:12 PM, Saint Greg said:

Wow Cozumel!

Even more exciting—Costa Maya! 🤢