A giant inflatable Thanksgiving Day turkey is perched on the Sports Deck of Carnival Cruise Lines’ new Carnival Breeze after it was inflated following the ship’s arrival in Miami Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012. (Andy Newman/Carnival Cruise Lines/HO)
Holidays Section
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Carnival Cruise Lines largest ship ever homeported in South Florida arrived at Port Miami Wednesday with an extra large guest on board.
A giant, inflatable 50-foot turkey was on the ship’s Sports Deck. The huge 1,250 pound fowl, sporting a straw beach hat and colorful Hawaiian shirt, gazes from atop the ship toward nearby McArthur Causeway and will be lighted throughout Wednesday night.
The giant turkey isn’t all that comes with the brand new ship.
To celebrate Carnival Breeze’s Miami arrival, the cruise line is making a charitable donation to Feeding South Florida that will serve 137,500 meals for adults and children in need. Feeding South Florida is the largest food bank in the state and in 2011, distributed more than 30 million pounds of food within Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
Carnival Breeze arrived in Miami after a 15-day trans-Atlantic crossing from Europe for its first call at a U.S. port. Following a two-day introductory cruise that departs Thanksgiving Day, the ship will launch scheduled year-round six- and eight-day Caribbean cruises from Miami Saturday, Nov. 24.
The ship holds 3,690-passengers and brings on-board innovations including a variety of new dining, bar and entertainment options that are part of the company’s groundbreaking $500 million fleet wide Fun Ship 2.0 product-enhancement program.
