Carnival Pride returned to Baltimore on April 9 after a 22-day dry dock in Freeport, Grand Bahama, resuming the year-round service Baltimore cruisers have loved for nearly 16 years.

The ship first arrived in the city in April 2009 as Baltimore’s first year-round cruise ship, briefly relocated to Tampa in late 2014, and has called Baltimore home again since March 2015.

How the ship has changed over the years

The largest transformation came in 2015, when Carnival Pride received the Fun Ship 2.0 upgrade. That overhaul added Guy’s Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, WaterWorks, RedFrog Pub, and several other venues that are now staples across the Carnival fleet.

In 2019, the ship returned to the Grand Bahama shipyard for a refresh that brought new carpeting and tiling throughout public areas, a renovated and relocated arcade, and the addition of The Cove, a dedicated lounge space for teens.

The most recent major overhaul came in 2023, when the Pride spent nearly a month at the Navantia Shipyard in Cadiz, Spain.

That dry dock brought the most visible changes yet, including new livery, the Heroes Tribute Bar and Lounge, a venue honoring U.S. military service members that had already appeared on several other ships in the fleet.

David’s Steakhouse was rebranded as Fahrenheit 555, and in the process, the ship said goodbye to its longtime replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David, which had occupied the space since the ship’s debut in 2002.

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The 2023 dry dock also added the Carnival Adventures shop, Dreams Photo Studio, an upgraded Cloud 9 Spa, Starlink internet, and a full repaint in Carnival’s red, white, and blue hull livery.

What’s new from the 2026 dry dock

The latest shipyard visit was more modest by comparison. The casino underwent a full refurbishment, with updated décor throughout the gaming floor, and the Effy Jewelry boutique in the retail area was refreshed.

Routine maintenance and technical work were also completed during the 22-day stay.

Where Carnival Pride goes from here

With dry dock complete, Carnival Pride resumes its year-round Baltimore schedule, offering seven-day cruises to The Bahamas and Bermuda, along with select Carnival Journeys sailings to more far-flung destinations.

Itineraries also include stops at Celebration Key, Carnival’s newest private destination on Grand Bahama, which opened in July 2025.

Baltimore cruisers have more to look forward to beyond the Pride’s return. Starting in November 2027, Carnival Miracle will join Pride in Baltimore, marking the first time two Carnival ships will homeport simultaneously in the city.

The cruise ship of the future might sound more like a library than an engine room.

No rumble underfoot. No funnel overhead. No exhaust cutting across the view from your deck chair. German shipbuilder Meyer Werft unveiled a concept this week for a cruise ship that runs entirely on batteries and says it could carry nearly 2,000 passengers by 2031.

Called Project Vision, the concept was announced at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami. The ship would measure 275 meters (about 900 feet) long, carry 1,856 passengers, and weigh in at around 82,000 gross tons, comparable in size to ships sailed by Norwegian Cruise Line and Holland America today.

What would be different onboard

Because the ship runs entirely on batteries, there are no main engines and no exhaust to manage. That eliminates the funnel that typically dominates a ship’s upper deck and the internal exhaust shaft that cuts through the interior.

Meyer Werft says that frees up prime sun deck real estate for unobstructed views that passengers rarely get on modern-day cruise ships.

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The aqua park, rather than sitting exposed on an upper deck, would be fully enclosed at the stern and usable year-round regardless of weather.

And with no combustion engines running beneath your feet, passengers would experience significantly less noise and vibration throughout the ship.

Can it actually work?

The battery system would be supplied by Corvus Energy, a Norwegian company that has already equipped more than half of the world’s hybrid and fully electric seagoing vessels. Meyer Werft says the technology exists today, not in some distant future.

A fully charged ship could cover popular European itineraries such as Barcelona to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. For longer crossings, including transatlantic voyages, the design can be built as a hybrid with small backup generators.

By 2030, roughly 100 European ports are expected to have the shoreside charging infrastructure needed to support electric cruise ships.

Meyer Werft isn’t the only one working on this

Norwegian coastal line Hurtigruten has its own zero-emission ship project, called Sea Zero, targeting a 2030 launch.

That vessel would cut energy consumption by 40 to 50% compared to today’s ships, running primarily on a 60 megawatt-hour battery system Electrive charged at ports along the Norwegian coast.

The design also incorporates three retractable, autonomous wing rigs that combine solar panels and wind sails, with Hurtigruten reaching 164 feet tall when fully extended.

The key difference is scale. The Hurtigruten concept is built for 500 passengers along a fixed coastal route, Robb Report not open-ocean cruising. Meyer Werft’s Vision targets the mainstream cruise market at more than four times that passenger capacity.

Still a concept

No cruise line has placed an order. Meyer Werft presents a new concept at Seatrade each year, and Project Vision joins a growing list of industry proposals for cleaner ships.

If a cruise line signs on this year, Meyer Werft says the first ship could be delivered in 2031.

Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the shipyard is making the case that the technology to build it already exists.