On September 10, 2025, Carnival announced its 2027-28 deployment plan for the port of Galveston. The cruise line planned for Carnival Breeze and Carnival Jubilee to continue homeporting from the Texas port, while Carnival Horizon and Carnival Spirit would homeport in Galveston for the first time.
However, the cruise line announced a change to that deployment plan and will be moving Carnival Sunshine to homeport in Galveston instead of Carnival Spirit. The cruise line is making this change to support the demand for cruising from the Texas port. Carnival Spirit will now homeport from Tampa in the Sunshine State.
“We’re excited to introduce Carnival Sunshine to Galveston for the first time and bring Carnival Spirit to Tampa,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “This move allows us to serve more guests in Galveston where we continue to see strong demand and introduce new, longer Caribbean itineraries for guests sailing from Tampa.”
Carnival will maintain the four-ship deployment plan in Galveston. The ships will sail a range of 4- to 10-day Caribbean sailings. Shorter itineraries will call on ports in Mexico, while longer itineraries will call throughout the Caribbean, including Celebration Key and Relax Away, Half Moon Cay. Carnival Sunshine will also offer 8 new itineraries, which includes a 10-day itinerary that will call on Cozumel, Isla Tropicale, Montego Bay and Grand Cayman.
From Tampa, Carnival Spirit will sail a variety of 6- to 8-day itineraries to ports throughout the Caribbean. She will also sail to the Panama Canal with calls in Limón, Grand Cayman, and Colón as well as a 13-day Carnival Journeys cruise to Grand Cayman, Limón, Colón, Aruba, Curaçao and Ocho Rios.
This change in deployment brings a Sunshine-class ship to Galveston instead of a Spirit-class ship, meaning about 1,000 cruisers can sail at a time.
Additionally, in 2019, Tony was able to be on Carnival Sunshine after its $200 million upgrade and name change. Not only did he film this great ship tour, but he also toured 6 of the cabins while onboard. Enjoy!