WATCH: First Wall Section of Port Canaveral’s New Cruise Terminal 3 Parking Garage Installed

By Space Coast Daily // August 1, 2019

six-story, 690,000 square-foot parking garage will be part of a $163 million terminal complex

SPACE COAST DAILY: A crane lifted the first precast wall section of Port Canaveral’s new Cruise Terminal 3 parking garage on Tuesday and carried the 52,000-pound, 20-foot-by-16-foot by 1-foot concrete section to its designated location. (Port Canaveral video)

FIRST PARKING GARAGE WALL AT CT-3:

BREVARD COUNTY • PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – A crane lifted the first precast wall section of Port Canaveral’s new Cruise Terminal 3 parking garage on Tuesday and carried the 52,000-pound, 20-foot-by-16-foot by 1-foot concrete section to its designated location.

Set for completion in May 2020, the six-story, 690,000 square-foot parking garage will be part of a $163 million terminal complex that will be the home of Carnival Cruise Line’s newest and most innovative cruise ship, the Mardi Gras, which is scheduled to arrive at the Port in October 2020.

Merritt Island-based Ivey’s Construction oversaw Tuesday’s operation.

Ivey’s Construction was awarded the contract to build the two-story, 187,000 square-foot terminal and adjacent parking garage.

The new terminal dubbed the “Launch Pad” will be home of the 180,000-ton XL-class Mardi Gras, the cruise line’s newest and most innovative ship.

The $163 million terminal project – the largest in the Port’s 65-year history – is scheduled for completion in May 2020 and will be ready for the arrival of Mardi Gras to her year-round Port Canaveral homeport in October 2020.

Cruise Terminal 3’s ceremonial first dig included, left to right, Scott Bakos, Bermello Ajamil & Partners, Inc; Jerry Allender, CPA Commissioner; Wayne Justice, CPA Commissioner; Christine Duffy, President Carnival Cruise Line; Capt. John Murray, CEO Port Canaveral; Micah Loyd, CPA Commission Chairman; and Rocky Johnson, Ivey’s Construction, Inc. (Canaveral Port Authority image)

Construction of the cruise terminal’s marine facility got underway last year with a contract awarded to Titusville, Florida-based contractor RUSH Marine to remove the existing pier structures at the site and build a new 1,309-foot-long berth for Mardi Gras.

Substantial completion of the project is scheduled for December 2019.

Port Canaveral’s Launch Pad will be homeport to Carnival’s largest and most innovative cruise ship, Mardi Gras, which will be powered by liquified natural gas (LNG) – part of Carnival Corporation’s “green cruising” platform.

Mardi Gras will be the first cruise ship in North America to be powered by this clean fuel technology.

Port Canaveral has worked with federal, state and local public safety and regulatory officials to ensure the Port’s safety readiness for the ship’s arrival. Fuel providers will employ widely used and proven safe best practices of a ship-to-ship “bunkering” refueling, which is regulated by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Currently under construction in Meyer Turku, Finland, Mardi Gras will arrive at Port Canaveral mid-October 2020 and will feature BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, 20 passenger decks and six distinctive theme zones of fun, dining and entertainment: Grand Central; the French Quarter with Emeril’s Bistro 1369, the first restaurant at sea created by famed New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse; La Piazza; Summer Landing; Lido; and the Ultimate Playground.

After a special eight-day cruise to the Caribbean on Oct. 16, 2020, Mardi Gras will commence year-round seven-day cruises on Oct. 24, 2020, alternating weekly to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

Eastern voyages will take Mardi Gras to San Juan, Puerto Rico, Amber Cove, Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos, while Western sailings will travel to Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico, and Mahogany Bay (Isla Roatan), Honduras.

Port Canaveral’s Launch Pad will be homeport to Carnival’s largest and most innovative cruise ship, Mardi Gras, which will be powered by liquified natural gas (LNG) – part of Carnival Corporation’s “green cruising” platform. Mardi Gras will be the first cruise ship in North America to be powered by this clean fuel technology. (Canaveral Port Authority image)

First-day bookings for Mardi Gras in January 2019 broke opening-day sales records for a new Carnival ship, according to the cruise line.

Carnival named its newest cruise ship after its first cruise ship.

The original 27,000-ton Mardi Gras, a converted trans-Atlantic liner, entered service in 1972 and popularized cruise vacations in the United States, helping Carnival become the largest cruise company in the world today.

In March 1991, the 1,241-guest Mardi Gras became one of the first Carnival ships to homeport at Port Canaveral, where she offered three- and four-day cruises to the Bahamas until she and sister ship Carnivale were replaced by the Carnival Fantasy in October 1993.

Mardi Gras’ arrival in Port Canaveral in 2020 will mark 30 years that Carnival Cruise Line has been sailing from Port Canaveral, the longest of any of the Port’s cruise partners. The Port Authority Board of Commissioners approved a long-term operating agreement with Carnival in August 2018.

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