Are you cruising soon on the Carnival Fascination? Well, you may be pulling into an island that is considered “enemy territory” to Carnival.
Starting on March 11th, the Carnival Fascination and Carnival Ecstasy will be calling in Nassau, Bahamas and Little Stirrup Cay, otherwise known as Coco Cay – Royal Caribbean’s private island. The ships would have originally called in Key West, but the Navy recently closed it’s pier in Key West to cruise traffic. This decision by the Navy forced Carnival to look for an alternative port, which resulted in the addition of Little Stirrup Cay. This addition of Little Stirrup Cay comes seems permanent until at least April 28, 2014.
The addition of Little Stirrup Cay seems to have come out of nowhere. Who would have expected Carnival to use their largest competitor’s own private island? According to the Fascination’s itinerary, the ship would only call in Little Stirrup Cay each Thursday when there are no Royal Caribbean ships using the island.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Carnival can integrate it’s guests with Royal Caribbean’s Coco Cay.
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Photos: Mike Faust
