April 13, 2006 – The Carnival cruise ship, Liberty, which now stops at St. Thomas during the winter season, will make calls year-round starting Nov. 19.
Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said Thursday the 110,000-ton ship will depart from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.
Gulliksen said the ship will stop at St. Thomas every three weeks on its eight-day trip to the Eastern Caribbean.
"That's 13 stops a year," he said of the St. Thomas arrivals.
Carnival business development manager Jill Potash said that the Liberty's normal occupancy is nearly 3,000 people.
When the Liberty is not in the Eastern Caribbean, Gulliksen said it will make six-day trips to the Bahamas and eight-day trips to the Western Caribbean from its Fort Lauderdale base.
"The Carnival Liberty's six- and eight-day cruises from Fort Lauderdale have been a huge success, and consumers will now have even more opportunities to sail on this spectacular ship and enjoy these unique cruise itineraries," Carnival President Bob Dickinson said in a news release issued Thursday.
Potash said that on the Eastern Caribbean route, the Liberty will call at San Juan; St. Thomas, with an optional shore excursion to St. John; Antigua; and Tortola, with an optional shore excursion to Virgin Gorda. It also stops in Nassau before heading home to Fort Lauderdale.
The Liberty will spend this summer in the Mediterranean before returning to the Caribbean and the Bahamas in November. Gulliksen said Carnival is changing its itinerary because a new ship, the Freedom, will take over the Mediterranean route next summer.
The Liberty joins the Carnival ships Destiny, Elation, Legend, Valor, Glory, Victory, and Triumph in calling at St. Thomas during various times of the year.
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