Carnival Cruise Line is starting its final departure from downtown Charleston today.
After more than a decade and hundreds of departures from the Union Pier Terminal, the cruise line bids farewell with its final homeport departure today, December 30.
The New Year cruise has long been sold out and calls at Nassau and Half Moon Cay aboard Carnival Sunshine.
It returns to Charleston for the last time on January 4.
The Ports Authority is selling Union Pier to local businessman Ben Navarro who will redevelop the site.
As such, the port authority is not renewing its homeporting contract with Carnival Cruise Line.
“We had to pivot in the way that we were utilizing Union Pier,” said Barbara Melvin, the port’s president and CEO.
“It really reflected nothing about our relationship with Carnival, but just more about what we had decided to do as the South Carolina Port.”
The port area will have new facilities but won’t go back to being a homeporting base for cruise ships.
