Carnival’s new Bahamian destination, Celebration Key Grand Bahama, opened on July 19, 2025. Carnival Vista made the inaugural call. Within days, traffic ramped up. On July 22, the first two-ship day (Glory + Conquest) brought over 7,000 guests. On July 25, Mardi Gras tied up alongside Carnival Pride, delivering 9,000 guests in a single day. Momentum was key. Carnival reports that the pier opened with capacity for two large ships at once. An extension is already underway.
Full Cruise Schedule at Celebration Key Grand Bahama
By the close of the opening phase, Carnival’s own planning guidance had 15 ships slated to rotate through Celebration Key Grand Bahama from eight homeports, tallying more than 80 visits through Labor Day weekend. In other words: a full calendar from Day 1.
August Ramp-Up at Celebration Key Grand Bahama
August wasn’t a lull; it was the ramp-up. In the first full month after opening, Carnival Venezia made its inaugural call on August 2. Carnival Magic built the cadence with Celebration Key scheduled as Day 2 on its August 17 sailing (arriving the next morning), and Carnival Paradise called on August 30—a neat early-mid-late pattern that signaled the port was moving from launch to routine operations.
Packed September Schedule at Celebration Key Grand Bahama
That rhythm set up a packed September. The published port schedule shows near-daily calls often two ships a day with marquee visits from Carnival Celebration, Vista, Sunrise, Glory, Liberty, Freedom, Pride, Venezia, Mardi Gras, Horizon, Dream, and more, typically in the 7:00–18:00/8:00–17:00 windows. In short: by the end of summer, Celebration Key Grand Bahama was behaving like a high-traffic Bahamian stop, not a novelty.
September 2025 Ship Calls
The September 2025 port schedule listed 51 ship calls at Celebration Key Grand Bahama. These calls came from at least 15 different Carnival vessels, including Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, Vista, Horizon, Dream, Glory, Freedom, Sunrise, Liberty, Pride, Venezia, Elation, Paradise, Magic, and Sunshine. Ship visits occurred on nearly every day of the month. Often, two ships arrived per day. Scheduled times were generally in the 08:00–17:00 or 11:00–19:00 bands, depending on the itinerary. Cruise Mapper also notes that schedules may change due to weather conditions.
High-Traffic Bahamian Port Performance
With a touted target of welcoming 2 million visitors annually, Carnival Cruise Line’s Celebration Key Grand Bahama is already behaving like a high-traffic Bahamian port—multiple calls per day, marquee ships in the mix, and headline days pushing 7,000–9,000 guests.
Looking Ahead: Q3 Visitor Count
We’ll keep watching for Carnival’s official Q3 visitor count once the company publishes it, but September’s schedule alone shows a destination running near full clip.