Carnival Cruise Lines will add a third year-round ship in Galveston when Carnival Freedom launches a seven-day cruise schedule in February 2015, marking the first time that a cruise line has deployed three year-round ships in Texas.

Carnival’s repositioning of Carnival Freedom represents a 38 percent capacity increase for the line in Galveston, carrying more than 600,000 guests a year from that port – the most of any cruise operator.

Prior to its arrival in Galveston, Carnival Freedom will undergo a previously announced makeover that will add an array of innovative new features that are part of the line’s fleetwide Fun Ship 2.0 product enhancement initiative.

With the addition of Carnival Freedom, Carnival will offer three highly innovative and exceptional ships sailing year-round from Galveston that offer a huge variety of exciting features. Carnival Freedom will join Carnival Magic, which offers seven-day Caribbean cruises, and Carnival Triumph sailing four- and five-day departures to Mexico. Together, these three ships will operate nearly 200 four- to seven-day voyages annually from Galveston, providing consumers with an array of cruise lengths, departure days and itineraries for “Fun Ship” cruising from Texas.

“Galveston is already one of our most popular embarkation ports and with Carnival Freedom we’re not only dramatically expanding capacity in the market but also providing consumers with yet another exciting opportunity to experience our spectacular Fun Ship 2.0 innovations on a Texas-based ship,” said Gerry Cahill Carnival president and CEO.  “In partnership with the Port of Galveston and the local community we have been able to increase our passenger counts five-fold since we first launched service from Galveston in 2000.  Additionally, we are extremely grateful for the support of our travel agent partners who have played a key role in the growth of our Texas cruise program,” he added.

“We are thrilled to have an additional member of the Carnival Cruise Lines fleet, Carnival Freedom, call the Port of Galveston its new home,” said Galveston Port Director Michael Mierzwa. “For the past 14 years, the Port and Carnival Cruise Lines have enjoyed a wonderful partnership. Not only does home-porting these three ships represent the largest-ever capacity commitment by a cruise line to Texas but it also reinforces the partnership that we have fostered with Carnival through the years.”