When many people think of cruising from the East Coast, they think of the numerous cruise ports in Florida. From massive multi-terminal ports like Port Canaveral and Port of Miami to one-ship ports like Jacksonville, there are a total of seven major cruise origination points in the Sunshine State.
However, there are several other cruise ports along the coast, including Baltimore, Norfolk, New York City, Boston, and more. But the list is about to shrink by one.
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Charleston, South Carolina, which is one of the most popular tourism destinations in the Southeast – especially for restaurant lovers and history buffs – has a cruise port that is used by Carnival Cruise Line. The Carnival Sunshine sails about 70 times per year from Charleston, mainly on 4- and 5-night Bahamas and Caribbean itineraries.
While the port has been popular for years, and the Sunshine generally sails at or near capacity, Charleston decided not to renew its agreement with Carnival, and the Sunshine will no longer operate from the port after the end of 2024.
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Image source: Carnival Corp.
No longer an origination port
The decision was made in 2022 to no longer allow cruises to begin and end at Charleston’s Union Pier Terminal.
There are a few reasons why. Congestion is a big one. If you’ve never been, Union Pier is located in the heart of downtown. This means that on days when the ship unloaded passengers and boarded new ones, thousands of vehicles were being added to already-crowded downtown streets.
Another reason is that the State Ports Authority has been unsuccessfully attempting to redevelop a warehouse (where the boarding process is currently conducted) into an actual cruise terminal for many years, due to lawsuits from conservation and historical preservation groups.
There have been efforts to develop a new cruise terminal in nearby Mount Pleasant, South Carolina; however, several of that town’s prominent leaders are opposed to such a plan, and it faces an uphill battle.
You can still cruise to Charleston
There’s some good news. Although Charleston will no longer be an origination or end point for cruise ships, it will be used as a destination for ships. In other words, cruise ships can’t start from Charleston, but they can certainly spend a port day there.
To be fair, Charleston makes a lot of sense as a port of call. As mentioned, the cruise port is right in the middle of downtown. Passengers can get off the ship, walk a few blocks, and be in the heart of the city. And having thousands of passengers visit Charleston for a day helps the city’s tourism industry without creating extreme congestion on the streets.
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There are some restrictions designed to prevent the city from getting too crowded. The Ports Authority is voluntarily following the existing limit of no more than 104 cruise ship visits per year (so roughly one every three days) and will not accommodate any ships with capacities of more than 3,500 passengers. So, you aren’t likely to see a Royal Caribbean Oasis-class ship visit Charleston anytime soon.
However, now that itineraries for 2025 and 2026 have largely been revealed, several cruise lines are indeed planning to stop in Charleston. Virgin Voyages, in particular, is incorporating Charleston port days in some of its sailings that leave from New York City, with stops generally scheduled from 8am to 5pm Eastern time.
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Royal Caribbean has also announced a total of 15 sailings – all originating in Baltimore aboard Vision of the Seas – that have Charleston port days scheduled, with some as soon as December of this year.
These are just a couple of examples. However, the point is that while avid cruisers who live close to Charleston (like me) are sad to be losing the ability to cruise from Charleston, it is certainly a good thing for the industry to gain a new and exciting destination.
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