Carnival drops New York winter cruises

The Carnival Splendor will return to Miami in November, leaving New York without a wintertime Carnival "Fun Ship" option.

The 3,006-passenger Splendor had been cruising year-round from the Big Apple since 2012.

"The repositioning was simply a strategic business decision driven by guest demand," spokeswoman Jennifer De La Cruz told Paste BN.

In Miami, the Splendor will become Carnival's seventh South Florida-based ship. The Splendor will sail on seven-day cruises, alternating between Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries, beginning Nov. 9.

Before that, as the ship repositions, the line has added two eight-day cruises – a New York to San Juan sailing on Oct. 24 and a San Juan to Miami sailing embarking on Nov. 1.

Carnival officials did not say when Splendor would return to New York for spring/summer cruises in 2015.

New Yorkers are not exactly being left out in the cold.

The 4,000-passenger Norwegian Breakaway, which debuted earlier this year, and the 2,394-passenger Norwegian Gem both cruise year-round from the Big Apple. Royal Caribbean will beef up its presence next year with the brand-new, action-filled 4,180-passenger Quantum of the Seas arriving for year-round cruises from Bayonne, N.J., next November.

Fran Golden is the Experience Cruise expert blogger and a contributing editor of Porthole Magazine. She is the co-author of Frommer's Alaska Cruises and Ports of Call. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while Paste BN Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.