Carnival Cruise Line has put its 2028-29 schedule from Port Canaveral on sale, and it's a big one: more than 300 departures spread across five ships, running year-round to The Bahamas, the Eastern, Western and Southern Caribbean.
The five ships based at the Florida port will be Carnival Breeze, Firenze, Festivale, Glory and Mardi Gras. Trips run from quick three-day Bahamas hops all the way up to 14-day Carnival Journeys voyages, so there's a shape for almost every kind of cruiser.
A big theme of the lineup is Carnival's own destinations — the so-called Paradise Collection. The deployment includes over 200 visits to Celebration Key, the line's purpose-built spot in The Bahamas, plus stops at RelaxAway at Half Moon Cay, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, Grand Turk, Puerta Maya in Mexico and Isla Tropicale.
If you want a short escape, Carnival Glory and Mardi Gras handle the three- to five-day market, alternating between The Bahamas and the Eastern Caribbean. Every single Glory sailing includes a call at Celebration Key, which tells you how central that new island is to Carnival's plans.
For a classic week away, the Breeze and Firenze rotate Eastern and Western Caribbean routes, calling at places like Amber Cove, San Juan, St. Thomas, Belize, Cozumel and Isla Tropicale. The Festivale, meanwhile, focuses on six- and eight-day trips: the shorter Eastern Caribbean option pairs Celebration Key with RelaxAway at Half Moon Cay, while the eight-day routes split between an Eastern loop (San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten) and a Southern run taking in Aruba and Curacao.
The headline grabber for serious cruisers is the Breeze's four 14-day Carnival Journeys sailings between October 2028 and February 2029. These push deep into the Southern Caribbean, hitting 13 ports including Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and St. Kitts — a proper island-hopping itinerary rather than a quick escape.
Why it matters: booking two-plus years out is when cruise lines often have their widest cabin availability and, frequently, their sharpest prices. If you already know your 2028 holiday dates — a milestone birthday, a family reunion — locking in a specific ship and itinerary now beats gambling on last-minute inventory. It's especially useful for families tied to Florida school holidays, since the short Bahamas sailings are an easy fit for a half-term break. And with Celebration Key featuring on so many sailings, travellers curious about Carnival's newest private destination have plenty of chances to try it without committing to a long voyage.
For anyone who'd rather go big, those 14-day Southern Caribbean journeys are the standout pick — one booking, ten-plus islands, no airport changes along the way.
