Carnival Offers Update on Fleet, Itinerary Changes 

In a press release this morning, Carnival Cruise Line released news about their fleet and itinerary changes, plans for an upcoming ship and a homeport shake up for Carnival Sunrise and Carnival Sensation. 

News that Carnival was selling ships dominated headlines for the past couple of weeks with internet sleuths and cruise enthusiasts figuring out which ones would be sold long before the press release this morning. 

From Carnival’s Press Release: 

As part of Carnival Corporation’s recent announcement to reduce its overall capacity and focus on ships with upgraded features, Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration have been sold. Carnival Fascination and Carnival Imagination will move to a long term lay-up status, with no specific timeline identified for a return to operation.

Several of Carnival’s sister cruise lines also sold ships recently, including Holland America Line and P&O Cruises. 

Sister Ship to Mardi Gras Coming in 2022

Carnival’s highly anticipated new ship Mardi Gras was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but her yet-to-be-named sister ship remains on track for delivery by 2022. The second Excel-class ship is currently in production at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland and its delivery will coincide with Carnival Cruise Line’s 50th birthday celebrations.

The ship will sail out of PortMiami as previously announced. Carnival said it will open the ship for sale this fall and guests can register to be among the first to know about the ship’s itineraries and special open for sale promotions. 

Carnival CEO Christine Duffy

“We have used this pause in operations to think carefully about our fleet and to build a plan that gives our guests new choices and upgrades to current ship offerings,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “We have a great variety of ships across the Carnival Cruise Line fleet and we are thrilled to have been able to confirm a delivery date ahead of what we had anticipated for our second Excel ship, which is exciting news for guests interested in sailing from PortMiami on the sister ship to Mardi Gras!  At the same time, we will continue to invest in the four remaining Fantasy class ships that we are keeping in the fleet.  We have many guests who prefer our Fantasy class ships which work so well for shorter itineraries from smaller ports that cannot accommodate our larger ships.  With a fleet that gives guests lots of choices in ships, homeports, destinations and features including a multitude of dining, entertainment and accommodation choices, we are very excited about the future for Carnival Cruise Line.”

Carnival Ships with New Homeports

Carnival Sunrise will move from Port Everglades to PortMiami and assume the itineraries previously operated by Carnival Sensation, providing a larger, upgraded ship for short itineraries with the many new features installed during Carnival Sunrise‘s $200 million refit completed in 2019. Guests booked on the Sunrise 4- and 5-day itineraries from Port Everglades will be automatically moved to sailings from PortMiami.

Carnival Sensation will move from Miami to Mobile and take up itineraries previously assigned to Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Fascination, with guests on those two ships being re-accommodated on Carnival Sensation.

Carnival Radiance will now move directly from Europe after its $200 million transformation and homeport in Long Beach in April of 2021, where it will assume the short Baja Mexico itineraries previously served by Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration. Guests booked on Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration after April 22, 2021 will be re-accommodated on Carnival Radiance.

Are you booked on any of the ships mentioned above? Let us know in the comments below!