On July 19, 2025, Carnival Cruise Line cut the ribbon at Celebration Key in the Bahamas in a ceremony that included a Bahamian brass band, company executives and celebrity Shaquille O’Neal.
One year later, the cruise line welcomed 2.4 million guests to its Grand Bahama Island destination, where they enjoyed the Caribbean’s largest freshwater lagoon, a 10-story sandcastle with two waterslides, swim-up bars, food trucks, Bahamian culture, and more. Over the past 12 months, Celebration Key has hosted 500,000 thrill-seekers down its waterslides, sold 400,000 sweet treats with its Mini Donut King food truck, served 100,000 piña coladas and brought visitors hundreds of lively Junkanoo parades.
“We’ve created something special here at Celebration Key. Our goal is to create unforgettable memories for our guests, and this destination did just that for more than 2 million people in its first year,” Kristin Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Lines, said in a news release. “We are proud to be part of the moment while creating a real and lasting impact in our local communities. Looking to the future, we are excited to build on this momentum, create new experiences for our guests, and deepen our commitment to Grand Bahama and its people.”
Carnival recently completed the Celebration Key pier expansion project, adding two berths, allowing up to four ships to visit the destination at a time and more than 13,000 guests each day. It is expected to host an estimated 3.5 million guests in its second year.
The charm of Celebration Key
Colorful, sunny and cheerful, Celebration Key welcomes thousands of guests every day and is organized into five portals, including Paradise Plaza, which guides guests to their destinations, where you can choose your indulgence.
From there, guests spread out to Calypso Lagoon, which is for adults and guests 13 and older, and Starfish Lagoon, a family-friendly area. Shop from Bahamian vendors at Locono Cove, just behind the towering Suncastle waterslide. Pearl Cove Beach Club is open to guests age 18 and older, and day passes and drink packages are available for a fee.
Jonathan Stafford, founder of Freestyle Travelers and Carnival Cruise Blog, said the $600 million development is aimed at catering to cruise passengers with a curated experience. Unlike other private destinations, guests here also have the freedom to explore outside of Celebration Key.
“In working on this project, they wanted to create a destination like Royal Caribbean’s Coco Cay or Norwegian’s Great Stirrup Cay, which Carnival owns in the Bahamas,” he said. “Celebration Cay has its own advantages because you can still go to Freeport, unlike Coco Cay or Great Stirrup Cay, where you’re on a cruise ship island and have no other options.”
With options to swim, eat, drink, relax, play sports, listen to live music, slide down waterslides and more, it’s an experience the whole family will enjoy. Freeport’s proximity also opens up opportunities for shore excursions such as island tours, alcohol tastings, and boat tours.
“I think that’s what a lot of cruisers want right now. They want a relatively safe, all-inclusive cruise experience in select ports and a curated experience that also includes transportation from the ship to their destination,” Stafford said. “They’re building more beach club experiences like this across all cruise lines because that’s what a lot of travelers want. They want to go on vacation and know what they’re getting themselves into.”
Stafford said the Pearl Cove Beach Club, swim-up bar, lagoon pool and cabana rentals have been well-received by visitors.
In addition to serving cruise passengers and Carnival revenue, Celebration Key supports 1,000 jobs in the Bahamas with 80% local ownership of the destination’s food and retailers, including Bahama Mama Seafood Pit, Flippin’ Fritters and Mini Donut King.
Celebration Key also achieved a milestone this year by becoming the first cruise destination to earn Sensory Inclusive Certification through its partnership with KultureCity.
growing pains
It’s logical to compare Celebration Key, a private resort area on a large island, to Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day. CocoCay and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Great Stirrup Cay both offer the following benefits: Complimentary food and drink packages carried over from the ship for cruise passengers.
At Celebration Key, some guests were frustrated after discovering that not all food was included at their destination and that their beverage packages were not transferred onshore.
“When they first announced this project, I think they leaned a little too far into the realm of private islands,” Stafford said. “They tried to revamp the dining program to give people more options so that it felt like more options were included.”
With the Island Eats program, guests can enjoy complimentary meals at fast-casual spots (usually food trucks) and receive 40% off one entrée at a full-service restaurant. Compared to other private islands where all employees are employed by cruise lines, Carnival employs a partnership model with Bahamian businesses, the government, and local tourism boards.
During Celebration Key’s first year, two American tourists in their 70s drowned in separate incidents one day last August. In May, an 88-year-old guest died after driving his mobility scooter off the Celebration Quay pier.
“Our thoughts are with the families affected by this incident,” a Carnival spokesperson said in an email. “Safety is and always has been a top priority for Carnival. As part of our standard business practices, we continually evaluate and enhance safety measures on all of our ships and destinations.”
expansion plan
Carnival just completed a $100 million pier expansion project that will help accommodate the company’s newest and largest fleet. Starting in September, we will begin accepting ships from Princess Cruises and eventually Ayda Cruises, and three- and four-ship days at Celebration Cay will become more common.
Carnival has room to expand its footprint at Celebration Key, with an area marked as “Phase 2 Expansion” on the map. When the destination was first announced, the cruise line said future expansion would include a water park and zipline course, but those plans have not been confirmed recently.
Currently, only 68 acres of Celebration Key’s 379 acres are fully developed. The cruise line has the potential to expand to an additional 154 acres, with 110 acres set aside as a wetland preserve.
According to Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, the development, construction and continued operation of Celebration Quay is projected to create more than 2,500 direct jobs in the Bahamas, generate $3.2 billion in government revenue and contribute $9.7 billion to GDP growth over the next 20 years.
paradise collection
Carnival Corporation CEO Josh Weinstein said on a previous earnings call that by expanding production capacity at Celebration Key and introducing the giant Ace-class ships, Carnival Corporation will be able to host an estimated 11 million guests across Caribbean destinations by the end of the decade. These include the newly upgraded Isla Tropical in Honduras and RelaxAway at Half Moon Cay, a private island shared with Holland America in the Caribbean.
In the coming years, Carnival also plans to invest in other ports and cruise terminals in the Paradise Collection: Grand Turks Cruise Center (Turks and Caicos Islands), Amber Cove (Dominican Republic), and Puerta Maya (Cozumel, Mexico). Princess Cays in the Bahamas is also one of seven properties in the collection.
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