Progreso, Yucatan — With 4,555 passengers on board, the Carnival Dream, one of the largest ships of the cruise company’s shipping line, began coming to Progreso in mid-May, replacing a ship nearly half its size.
Gov. Mauricio Vila Dosal on Thursday visited, and live-streamed, his tour of the ship, meeting with the captain and senior executives from Carnival.
Vila Dosal had met with Carnival’s senior executives last November at the 25th Annual Florida and Caribbean Cruise Association in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
By spring, Carnival had swapped the 2,754-passenger Sunrise with the Dream.
The Carnival Dream alternates weekly with the smaller Carnival Valor, which fits 2,974 passengers.
Yucatan considers Carnival an important tourism ally. More recently, Vila Dosal was in New York, meeting with more Carnival executives.
The tour Thursday included Progreso Mayor Julián Zacarías Curi; Integral Port Administration Director Agustín Arroyo Toledo and state tourism official Michelle Fridman.
Further investment in Progreso includes a 2020 federal program to improve the urban image of Mexico’s tourist cities. Progreso’s share will be up to 500 million pesos.
The Carnival Dream joins the ship Le Boreal of the French cruise line Ponant, which first arrived in April. Earliler this month, Progreso welcomed Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas for the first time.
The state counted 55 cruise ships, with a total of 164,551 passengers, in Yucatan so far this year.
Source: Press release
