Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras made its first-ever visit to the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on September 22, 2025.
According to the port authority, the call marked both the ship’s inaugural stop and the official beginning of the peak cruise season at the Canarian port.
To commemorate the occasion, a ceremony was held onboard, including the traditional plaque exchange. Luz Marina Espiau Moreno, board member of MedCruise and commercial and business development director at the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, presented the plaque to the ship’s captain.
As the season’s first ceremony at the Ports of Tenerife, the event symbolized the formal launch of the region’s busy cruise period.
One of the largest ships in Carnival’s fleet, the Mardi Gras is currently sailing a transatlantic voyage to Barcelona after spending its first four years exclusively in the Caribbean. Built in 2021, the 5,200-passenger vessel will undergo drydock later this month before returning to North America.
The ship is scheduled to call at Tenerife again in late October during a 14-night transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to Port Canaveral.
The Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife emphasized that the inaugural call further strengthens its role as a “strategic hub in the mid-Atlantic.”
