Carnival Cruise Ship Magic will leave Barcelona, and head to Galveston on a year-round basis.

Carnival Cruise Ship Magic will leave Barcelona, and head to Galveston on a year-round basis.

The Magic will leave Barcelona, where it is currently based, late this summer and head to Galveston to become part of that Texas port's growth on a year-round basis.

North America is Carnival’s prime market source and the Caribbean is still the most important destination.

Carnival has created a lot of new U.S. ports to make it easy for customers to enjoy the Caribbean and Mexico, and continue to look for more opportunities that make sense.

With the fuel costs driving up airfares to Europe several Cruise lines are bringing their ships back to America.  

The aim is to have ports as close as they can for our customers. In large-market areas, they don't want customers to be more than a 500-mile drive to a Carnival Port.

Magic's sister ship, the Carnival Breeze, will launch late spring 2012 and follow the Magic's route of staying in Europe for the summer, and will sail a summer schedule of 12day Mediterranean voyages from Barcelona. The program will run from June 15 through Oct. 25, 2012.

The 12-day Mediterranean cruises include stops at Marseilles or Monaco, Livorno, Naples, Dubrovnik, Venice, Civitavecchia (Rome) and Messina -the June 15 and Sept. 7 departures add a stop in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, while the Aug.

14 and 26 voyages also visit Olbia (Sardinia), Italy. Select itineraries also include overnights in Venice or Rome. After crossing the Atlantic, the Breeze will be based in Miami, year-round.

Carnival is not typically considered a premium or upscale cruise line, but they do offer a great product that has high value for the price charged.