The Carnival Elation loads up its thousands of passengers for a four-night sail out of Jacksonville on July 3, 2025. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today
Published on July 9, 2025 at 1:29 pm
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If you want to sail away to the Bahamas, Carnival Cruise Line can get you there from Jacksonville, having served 3 million passengers for the past 20 years.
This summer, Carnival will sail nearly 55,000 guests from Jacksonville, resulting in an estimated $21 million in economic impact to the area.
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On a busy mid-day in July, guests arrived in the terminal to board the Carnival Elation for a four-night cruise. This year — for the first time — teenage interns are telling passengers where to queue up before boarding the ship.
Beachside High School senior Ashlee Countryman used the hand signals of a traffic cop to keep the crowd orderly. She deftly answered their questions.
Ashlee is paid $14 an hour to work part time in the terminal this summer. Although she doesn’t board the ship for her work, she enjoys the pre-boarding customer service and hopes this internship, followed by a local college education, will lead to a travel agency job specializing in cruise line bookings.
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“I’ve definitely had a few interesting experiences,” Ashlee said. “My favorite experience, though, is being able to meet all new people, especially the people I’m interning with. They’re very sweet and I love them, and I feel like I’ll make really good friendships with them that will last a lifetime.”
The new internship program was offered to students in Jacksonville, Tampa and some other Carnival ports up the East Coast. Carnival’s regional manager of guest support, Moises Clarena, said the 15 high school students really help the team, especially on a mid-summer day when the ship is filling up with nearly 3,000 travelers.
“High season it’s obviously a demanding time so I have extra bodies to help, it’s good.” Clarena said. “I know they’re doing very good in all the ports that we have them in, and they’re very proud of helping us.”
Clarena said the so-called “Fun-ternship” program offers the students customer service experience as well as exposure to the ship’s check-in process. Clarena said the program provides potential for a rewarding career, perhaps starting as an agent and moving into other leadership roles.
Carnival expects to expand the student internship program to all of its ports next year. Retired seniors also find work part-time in the terminal.
Carnival supports 800 local jobs per year, and the cruise line’s excursions generate about $187 million in annual economic growth to Jacksonville.
Carnival’s primary supplier of fresh produce in Jacksonville is Sunrise Fresh Produce in Jacksonville, but Carnival’s public relations manager, Matt Lupoli, did not have statistics on the amount of business.
More than 200,000 Carnival cruise passengers sailed from the JAXPORT cruise terminal in 2024. And changes are on the horizon. Carnival will share the terminal with Norwegian Cruise Lines in the fall as Norwegian also begins cruising out of Jacksonville.
The two cruise lines will use the same terminal, but signs will change on different days of use. Eventually JAXPORT plans to expand the terminal because Carnival wants to bring in bigger ships, Clarena said.
Meanwhile Carnival says the Carnival Elation is contracted to continue year-round service from Jacksonville through spring 2027.
