$2 Billion in Fleet Enhancements for Carnival

You know them by their slogan as the World’s Most Popular Cruise Line, but after a proposed $2 billion in fleet enhancements they’ll be known as one of the most contemporary cruise lines. Carnival Cruise Line announced that as part of their fleet enhancement, Carnival Victory will enter dry dock for a retrofitting and will emerge under the new name Carnival Radiance. Upgrades to the ship include WaterWorks aqua parks, specialty dining, entertainment, enhanced accommodations and more.

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Introducing Carnival Radiance

Carnival CEO Christine Duffy

Following a 38-day dry dock in Cadiz, Spain, Carnival Radiance will enter service in 2020.  Homeport and itinerary details for the new Carnival Radiance will be announced in mid-November.

When asked about the fleet renovations, Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy explained the goal of the ship enhancements.

“Our guests and travel agent partners can count on a high degree of consistency and quality vacation offerings across all our fleet and homeports regardless of what ship they’re sailing on” she said. “Ultimately, this effort is about driving demand by giving each and every guest a memorable vacation and offering a reason to come back to Carnival again and again.  And it’s clearly working based on extremely positive feedback from the more than five million guests we carry each year.”

No Slowing Down Carnival

Since the fleet enhancement program was launched, Carnival’s annual passenger count has grown from 4.1 million to 5.2 million guests; the number of children under 18 sailing annually has grown from 650,000 to 800,000; its employee base has grown from 34,000 to 40,000; its voyage operations have grown from 1,400 to 1,700 sailings per year; and its lower berth count has grown from 58,000 to 70,000.

As Carnival completes this phase of the capital investment and fleet expansion program, it is focusing more intensely on providing a better onboard technology experience for guests.

The Carnival HubApp is now available across all 26 ships in the fleet and running ahead of projections with regard to customer adoption.  

Since its introduction in January 2015, it has generated more than 4.5 million downloads from Apple’s App Store and Google Play, earning a 4.6+ rating.  Recent data shows that nearly two- thirds of all staterooms had at least one guest who downloaded the app, and more than half of all guests interacted with the HubApp at least once during the cruise.