Carnival Cruise Line no longer calls Charleston, SC home for one of its ships. After a contract between the cruise line and port expired, Carnival Sunshine moved to Norfolk, VA for year-round sailings.
But that doesn’t mean that cruise ships aren’t still using the South Carolina port, at least as a port of call.
In fact, 18 different cruise ships from 10 cruise lines will be visiting Charleston over the course of the rest of the year.
These cruise ships include the following:
- American Cruise Lines: American Liberty, American Independence, American Eagle, American Legend, American Star, American Glory
- Royal Caribbean: Vision of the Seas
- Viking Cruises: Viking Polaris, Viking Octantis
- Phoenix Reisen: Amera
- Oceania Cruises: Oceania Vista, Oceania Allura
- Celebrity Cruises: Celebrity Silhouette
- Hapag-Lloyd Cruises: ms Europa 2
- Virgin Voyages: Brilliant Lady
- Azamara Cruises: Azamara Quest
- AIDA Cruises: AIDAdiva
Many of these ships will be visiting the port in the spring months and also late in 2025.
Interestingly, for the months of June through September no cruise ships are currently on the schedule to visit Charleston. The heat and humidity in this region during the summer months could be a contributing factor.
Some ships will stay overnight for an extended period of time, but some like Vision of the Seas, Amera, ms Europa 2, and Brilliant Lady, are scheduled for single-day visits as part of a longer itinerary.
Vision of the Seas, for instance, was just in Charleston on February 23, as part of an 8-day sailing out of Baltimore which also visited Port Canaveral, Freeport, and Nassau.
Brilliant Lady will be visiting Charleson in October as part of a 13-day sailing from Quebec, Canada to PortMiami.
Celebrity Silhouette is another notable cruise ship to visit the port. In May of this year the 2,886-passenger vessel is scheduled to arrive in Charleston on May 11 as part of a 10-day Bermuda sailing that begins and ends at Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey
American Cruise Line will make use of the port more than any other cruise line this year with over 50 visits to Charleston. The cruise line operates smaller vessels that carry between 90 and 180 guests, leaving the smallest footprint in the southern port compared to other cruise lines.
In 2025, Charleston will also welcome Viking Cruises’ expedition vessels, the Viking Polaris on March 30th and October 4th, and the Viking Octantis on April 10th and October 11th.
Towards the end of 2025 (November and December), a greater variety of ships will be stopping by the South Carolina port, including visits from cruise lines such as AIDA Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
The city’s port is still an important part of East Coast cruising. While local residents no longer have to deal with heavy traffic on embarkation days from Carnival Sunshine sailings, Charleston still provides a convenient stopping point for ships in addition to being a great historical city to visit for tourists.
