Carnival Cruise Lines Announces Concert Series

Carnival’s senior vice president of guest operations, Mark Tamis, announced the program Carnival Live, a concert series intended to help restore Carnivals image after three ships broke down last year. Images of passengers stranded at sea, ships towed back to port and trip cancellations created a torrent of bad publicity for the company that depressed ticket prices and revenue.

Jennifer Hudson will be headlining the series, and other performers and bands scheduled to perform are Chicago, Daughtry, Foreigner, Gavin DeGraw, Jewel, Kansas, Lady Antebellum, LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride, Olivia Newton-John, REO Speedwagon, STYX and Trace Adkins.

So far 49 shows are confirmed for the year. The concerts will be held evenings when ships are in one of three ports: Cozumel, Mexico; Nassau in the Bahamas, or Catalina Island off the coast of California. The 75-minute shows will be held in ship lounges that seat 800 to 1,500 people, depending on the ship. Tickets are available only to those taking the cruise.