Carnival Ships Moving From Galveston

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Carnival Cruise Lines says it will return to pre-Katrina capacity levels at the Port of New Orleans when it positions two of its ships there to operate year-round starting next year.

Officials say the 2,974-passenger Carnival Conquest and 2,052-passenger Carnival Ecstasy will be moved from their current berths in Galveston, Texas, to New Orleans for departures beginning in fall 2011.

Carnival’s president and chief executive, Gerry Cahill, said Wednesday that the move is a positive indicator of the city’s continued growth and recovery since Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005.

He says the ships are projected to carry nearly 340,000 passengers annually from New Orleans, more than any other cruise line.

Cahill says they will move the line’s current New Orleans-based ship, the Carnival Triumph, to Galveston.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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