Any cruise ports in south carolina?

[welovecruzin]

Do any of the major cruise lines have cruises leaving South Carolina? We are relocating to Myrtle Beach and would be able to cruise more without the cost of airfares. Thanks for the info.

[bdeviled]

I know ncl's majesty goes from Charleston. We are going from there in April. I believe it goes from there, October-April. It is a western caribean trip

[Nickymjw1]

Carnival leaves from Charleston twice a year. Once in the Spring and once in the fall I think. My dad is going May 29th on the Carnival Victory. They say the ship will fill up fast since a lot of people from the northern states will drive down.

 

I have also sailed out of Jacksonvill, FL on Carnival. That should not be such a long drive for you either.

[wraithe]

Do any of the major cruise lines have cruises leaving South Carolina? We are relocating to Myrtle Beach and would be able to cruise more without the cost of airfares. Thanks for the info.

 

In addition to Charleston and Jacksonville, Port Canaveral isnt that far down the state, and Norfolk, VA has cruises (more and more) from there. Congratulations on relocating to SC, wish I was going back down soon, never thought I'd miss Charleston, but after two winters in PA, I wanna go home! LOL.

Wraithe

[seagulls]

Hi there we live just outside Myrtle Beach and we like it just fine. One complaint we have is that it costs a fortune to fly to Fort Lauderdale. We do not have any discount airlines flying right now and so we pay through the nose. Another thing is that we cannot get to Fort Lauderdale without first flying to Altanta or some other place. Charleston does have some ships trouble is we like Celebrity.

[Bonnie J.]

We went out of Charleston on NCL's Majesty for 11 day New Years cruise. We are 250 miles from Charleston but got a very nice Howard Johnson's for night before ($47) where we left our car for free. $6 cab fare to ship. Parking was $15 a day so we saved a bundle. This is not a cruise port. Porters take your bags by a driveway, to the ship, you are bussed with your luggage to the parking lot when you get back. When we got off, we had to call and wait for a cab! The porter took us and our bags out to the street. There were no cabs but a small bus to the airpot driver said she's take us to the hotel but we had called cab all ready. Guess if its raining you just stand in the rain. However, we left Dec.27 and 1st & 2nd days were cold as was last day at sea. Everyone wore jeans and sweaters.

We live near Morhead, NC and now always drive to ports. We drive the day before to Daytona then to Fort Lauderdale or Miami. If ship leaves from Port Canaveral we go there directly. Would do same if we ever sail from Jacksonville, FL. Anyone with questions can email me at bonniejns@hotmail.com, subject 'cruise'.

[Ralphinsc]

Charleston's not yet a big cruise embark/debark spot but i think they are working at making it a better one. I think NCL will stay in Charleston after the Majesty is retired, and may perhaps put a newer ship in there. I also can see Carnival expanding into a partial year routine and would love to see perhaps one more major line get in the act. Charleston is a closer option than driving to South Florida or even the Jacksonville area. I don't think it'll ever compete with those two areas neck and neck, but there certainly is a market there and I think that they'll continue to get cruise buisiness and hopefully will grow in their market. The biggest limiting factor will be that they can only take in one large ship at a time for cruises. MAny of the major lines use Charleston as a Port of Call right now for iteneraries coming out of the Northeast. The cruise dock is right in the middle of downtown with Charleston's famous market and dining and nightlife just steps away. Tons of history there too. Also, selfish as I am, it's only a two hour drive away and I love the city itself and the fact that I'm going to embark from there in a couple of weeks.

[seagulls]

Problem is Charleston isn't sure that they want cruise ships. They like the revenue but not the crowds. If another line does end up ther I am hoping that it is Celebrity.

[Ralphinsc]

I don't know about the crowds. They get a good bit of people downtown right now anyways. I think the biggest problem they have with the crowds is the limited parking in downtown Charleston, something that being a port of call hasn't affected. The biggest thing is I just don't think they are willing to put up the needed funds to expand a second berth to become anything more than just a marginal and occasional homeport. I'd love to see Princess or Celebrity, or HAL put in an occasional cruise out of Charleston but the realistic expectation is probably one of RCCL's ships making a cruise out of there once or twice a year. Currently, there is no big line cruisng from Charleston in the summer so that could be a time sneak an isolated itenerary or two from there in.. It would be nice to have an option without the long travel. My guess is that cruises will continue to use Charleston but it will never be a major home port. I think NCL will stay there after the Majesty leaves because thier recent trend is in offering some varied homeport options and the Majesty has sold well from Charleston. Celebrity would be a good line for Charleston, perhaps the Zenith or another small to mid-sized ship. I know they are on of the lines that have used the city as a port of call.

[lula24]

We live on the state line in NC (Sunset Beach) 20 min. from Myrtle Beach. Even though Charleston is our closest port they are very limited on cruises, like everyone has said. But it is nothing to drive to Jacksonville, Port Canaveral,or Tampa being the longest of the trips. We can get to Jacksonville in just over 5 hours. Port Can. about 8-9 hrs. Tampa about 10-11. Hope this helps.:o

[Bonnie J.]

We live on the NC coast, a 4 1/2 hour drive to Charleston. That is why we cruised many times on the Fantasy, Carninavl's oldest ship. When it was moved to, I think Mobile, the Ecstasy, the 2nd oldest ship, replaced it. Charleston was/is their home port.

 

However, the Sunshine, our favorite Carnival ship, is moving to Charleston, as it's home port, in May 2019. It used to be the Destiney but $155 MILLION was spent on it and it became the Sunshine. It holds about 3,000 passengers.

 

The Serenity deck is 3 decks! Pool on deck 11, sitting with lots of shade & sun on deck 12, a full bar and towel station to get towels, plus hammocks, bed size shades and those round wicker things to recline in on deck 14.

 

The only drawback is there are only 2 elevators which go from deck 0 to deck 14 so there is a long wait sometimes. ( same elevators for cabins on the front of deck 11 & 12 so don't get cabin here unless you like waiting for an elevator!)

 

It will probably do 5 days cruises to Nassau & Freeport but 1, maybe 7 days to the Caribbean as the Fantasy & Ecstasy did/do.

 

We don't care where it goes, we will drive again to Charleston, instead of Port Canaveral, to get on our favorite ship. Been on her more than dozen times, Carnival, 84 times over, 100+ since 1985.

 

Be glad to try to answer any questions. Oh, the town approved building a new port here but it will take forever to get every part approved to start actually building it!

Edited September 1, 2018 by Bonnie J.
Add about port

[Texas Tillie]

We live on the NC coast, a 4 1/2 hour drive to Charleston. That is why we cruised many times on the Fantasy, Carninavl's oldest ship. When it was moved to, I think Mobile, the Ecstasy, the 2nd oldest ship, replaced it. Charleston was/is their home port.

 

However, the Sunshine, our favorite Carnival ship, is moving to Charleston, as it's home port, in May 2019. It used to be the Destiney but $155 MILLION was spent on it and it became the Sunshine. It holds about 3,000 passengers.

 

The Serenity deck is 3 decks! Pool on deck 11, sitting with lots of shade & sun on deck 12, a full bar and towel station to get towels, plus hammocks, bed size shades and those round wicker things to recline in on deck 14.

 

The only drawback is there are only 2 elevators which go from deck 0 to deck 14 so there is a long wait sometimes. ( same elevators for cabins on the front of deck 11 & 12 so don't get cabin here unless you like waiting for an elevator!)

 

It will probably do 5 days cruises to Nassau & Freeport but 1, maybe 7 days to the Caribbean as the Fantasy & Ecstasy did/do.

 

We don't care where it goes, we will drive again to Charleston, instead of Port Canaveral, to get on our favorite ship. Been on her more than dozen times, Carnival, 84 times over, 100+ since 1985.

 

Be glad to try to answer any questions. Oh, the town approved building a new port here but it will take forever to get every part approved to start actually building it!

 

This thread is 12 1/2 years old!!! :eek::confused::cool:

[Krazy Kruizers]

I saw that as well.

This is when I wish the Hosts would go through and put locks on old threads.

[MCC retired]

I saw that as well.

 

 

 

This is when I wish the Hosts would go through and put locks on old threads.

 

 

 

[emoji34] Agreed !

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[fishywood]

A thread is never too old for a bump which is more or less a blatant advert for the bumper's favorite cruise line. Over 100 Carnival cruises? Sounds like someone with access to interline rates to me...

[JMorris271]

The thread looks active to me.

[donaldsc]

I saw that as well.

This is when I wish the Hosts would go through and put locks on old threads.

 

I wonder what the record for the oldest regurgitated thread is. Is there any way to find out?

 

DON

[spookwife]

I wanna say 12 or 13 years. it was an impressive jump IIRC.

[OCruisers]

At this point only Carnival does roundtrip cruises out of Charleston, SC.

[zqvol]

I had a response and then discovered the age of this thread, so I think that I'll just delete it and move on.

[sail7seas]

A thread is never too old for a bump which is more or less a blatant advert for the bumper's favorite cruise line. Over 100 Carnival cruises? Sounds like someone with access to interline rates to me...

 

 

Sounds to me like you are 'assuming' and we all know that is often a trap.

 

I have sailed more than100 HAL cruises and NO IN terline rate applies to me. My late DH and I paid the same fare as everyone else So there is no reason to think that poster (necessarily) has interline privileges.