Carnival Cruise Line’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered Mardi Gras ship arrived in Nassau on Friday with more than 4,000 passengers who were able to disembark and enjoy the island, the cruise line’s President Christine Duffy told local media as they prepared to tour the ship.
Duffy said that as the COVID-19 situation improves, the Excel-class vessel will bring almost 6,000 passengers every other week.
“We have over 4100 guests that are on board with us and this ship is only sailing with about 70 percent of its full capacity,” Duffy said.
“So in the future, as things evolve with the restart, we’ll have close to 6,000 guests that will be coming. This ship will sail here as part of our Eastern Caribbean itinerary.”
She added that by October 15, Carnival ships will have begun sailing with passengers once again after a 16-month pause because of the pandemic.
Duffy said as cruising ramps up once again, The Bahamas remains an important destination for Carnival.
“As you may know we call on five different places here in The Bahamas and its proximity to our US home ports, where we bring our ships from, is obviously a real advantage, but also the experience, the warmth, the different things and different destinations that our guests enjoy when we come to The Bahamas on our Eastern Caribbean itineraries,” she said.
“We’re very excited to be back after such a long pause in our business and we hope that the people of The Bahamas are as happy to see Carnival back as we are to be here.”
With local and international concerns about the environmental effect of cruise lines at a peak, Carnival’s Vice President of Environmental Operations Richard Pruitt introduced the media to the Mardi Gras’ unique features that ensure the ship has the lowest impact possible on the waters it sails in.
Pruitt explained that much of the waste produced by humans, through cooking or through ballast water, is either meticulously cleaned with filters and ultraviolet light before being discharged overboard, or is stored until it can be properly disposed of.
He pointed out that LNG is one of the cleanest burning fuels on the market.
“With LNG you can see that it’s almost a complete elimination of those pollutants (sulfur dioxide, smog, particulate matter),” said Pruitt.
“For every kilometer this ship sails we’re generating about 27.5 percent less CO2 than we would on another type of fuel. So across the board LNG is a huge improvement.”
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/carnivals-newest-ship-brings-4000-to-nassau/
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