TAMPA — Carnival Cruise Line is dry-docking its Paradise ship in February on the heels of today's introduction of a larger ship — the 2,124-passenger Carnival Miracle — to serve the Tampa market.

"We are excited about putting more capacity in Tampa," Christine Duffy, president of the Miami-based cruise line, said Friday.

While in dry-dock, the 2,052-passenger Carnival Paradise will be upgraded to include more balconies, redone cabins and additional attractions. It has been operating out of Tampa Bay since 2011.

In the mean time, the Carnival Miracle will conduct seven-day and 14-day cruises year-round to the Panama Canal, western Caribbean and southern Caribbean. It will be the second Carnival cruise ship to call Tampa its home base.

Carnival Miracle, which previously embarked from Long Beach, Calif., moved to Tampa following the addition of a larger ship in Long Beach. Carnival sees Tampa Bay as a place their guests would want to spend extra time before and after a cruise.

"We've been really pleased to see all of the development in the Tampa (and) St. Petersburg area," Duffy said.

Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo.