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The Carnival Legend will be on a European vacation for most of next year, leaving the Tampa port without a seven-day cruise for much of its absence.
Carnival will not be moving another ship to replace the Legend during its absence, which runs from April 2013 to the end of November 2013. The Carnival Paradise, the only other Carnival cruise ship to port in Tampa, will continue to offer four- and five-day cruises to the Caribbean.
Andy Fobes, spokesman for the Tampa Port Authority, said while the number of cruise passengers visiting the port will likely decrease for that time, he is confident that Tampa will continue to be a strong cruise market. The shorter cruises, like those of the Carnival Paradise, tend to sail more frequently and generate more of an economic impact on the area, anyway.
"Carnival Cruise Lines has stated that Tampa — a consistently solid cruise market — is and will continue to be an important part of their business," he said.
To expand its European cruise itinerary, Carnival will be redeploying the Legend to Dover, England, where it will sail 12-day cruises through the British Isles and the Mediterranean from April through November.
The ship will resume its regular seven-day cruises to the Caribbean from Tampa in December 2013.
Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said the move is part of a new marketing effort in the United Kingdom. In 2014, after the Legend returns to Tampa, the company hopes to be able to deploy a larger ship to Europe. He said the ship's temporary absence will have no effect on passenger numbers after its return.
Gulliksen said the redeployment of the Legend was unrelated to the loss of the Costa Concordia ship which sank off the coast of Italy in January.
That ship was owned by the same company that owns Carnival Cruise Lines.
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