Key Aspects:

• Norfolk, Virginia, completed a nearly full year of uninterrupted weekly cruising in 2025 with 338,959 passenger visits.


• The port reported a total of 47 ship calls from Carnival Cruise Line and an additional 15 port-of-call stops from other cruise operators.


• The city is preparing for continued growth in 2026 with its first-ever full year of sailings from Carnival Sunshine.

Norfolk, Virginia, often called the “Mermaid City” due to its charming public-art installations centered around mermaids, celebrated a milestone moment on December 27, 2025, as the final cruise of 2025 sailed away from Half Moone Cruise Center.

Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Sunshine once again departed for the Bahamas from the cruise port, as it had for nearly every week of 2025 since February, completing nearly a year of continuous, weekly cruising from the port.

Since February 11, 2025, downtown Norfolk’s waterfront discovery center, Nauticus, received the 102,853-gross-ton Carnival Sunshine, moving roughly 3,002 cruise passengers onboard and off during each cruise.

That supported the port’s record total of 338,959 unique passenger visits in 2025, exceeding the port’s projections by nearly 40,000.

Nauticus logged 47 ship calls from Carnival Cruise Line overall, and another 15 port-of-call visits from other cruise lines, with nearly 100,000 crew members also passing through the city in 2025.

Nauticus Executive Director Stephen Kirkland said the momentum now sets the stage for long-term growth.

“2025 exceeded expectations and firmly established Norfolk as a dynamic cruise destination,” he said. “The goal now is to build on this success with strategic, prudent, growth.”

The future of that growth includes ship changes and added cruise arrivals. Kirkland confirmed that Carnival Sunshine will not remain indefinitely, with weekly sailings expected to move to Carnival Freedom beginning in late 2027 as Sunshine heads to Texas.

That same year, Norwegian Cruise Line plans to add 20 call visits to Norfolk, projected to deliver nearly 50,000 additional passengers.

But first comes 2026, in which the port will have no paused cruise schedule through the winter for the first time. In fact, Carnival Sunshine will return to the port on January 4, kicking off what is slated to be a full calendar year of sailings.

Full Year of Cruises Scheduled

Norfolk’s 2026 cruise year begins immediately after the New Year holiday, when Carnival Sunshine returns from the Bahamas on January 4, and launches straight into its first new cruise of the year.

The vessel calls in Norfolk nearly every weekend or mid-week through December 2026. Between January and March, all arrivals at the port will be Carnival Sunshine sailings except for a two-day port call from Oceania Cruises’ 1,200-passenger Allura on March 25 and 26.

In April, Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 744-guest Seven Seas Grandeur arrives for a port call on the 2nd, as Carnival Sunshine continues service every weekend. Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam, with up to 1,964 passengers, will also call on April 21 and 24.

The cruise line will also bring its 1,432-passenger Volendam to Norfolk on May 20, as Carnival Sunshine continues alternating Saturday and Sunday departures.

By June, Carnival Sunshine will begin increasing its frequency through the summer as Zuiderdam returns and the only vessel not owned by Carnival Corporation, TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 1, arrives September 25, carrying up to 2,894 guests.

Carnival Corporation-owned AIDAdiva, operated by AIDA Cruises, Ponant’s La’Austral, Mein Schiff 1, and Viking Ocean’s Viking Octantis all visit in October 2026 as Carnival Sunshine continues its service around them.

While there will also be a single visit by Seabourn’s Ovation in November, the year closes with continued Carnival Sunshine arrivals through December, with a final seasonal sailing on December 26, 2026.

It will be the first uninterrupted calendar for Norfolk with weekly cruises across all 12 months.