Carnival Cruises Moves Forward with New Ships

Carnival is building up forward momentum despite the industry’s uncertain state. They have multiple new ships on the horizon. They currently have a fleet of 23 ships across eight classes, with the Carnival Mardi Gras being their largest by far. Let’s take a look at the new ships that are set to debut in the next few years.

Unnamed Fortuna class ship

The new ship that is prepared to sail the soonest is an unnamed ship that will belong to a class of its own, the Fortuna class. Carnival is expecting that the ship will sail for them sometime in summer of 2022. Before it can do that, though, it will need to undergo some serious changes. This actually isn’t a newbuild ship; instead, it’s the ship formerly known as Costa Magica. That means that Carnival will need to convert it to match with their fleet. As it was built in 2004, we can also expect some upgrades. The vessel is 102,874 tons, making it in the lower half of the brand’s fleet in terms of size. As it stands currently, we can expect a capacity of about 2700 guests.

Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee

Shortly after Carnival introduces the reformed Costa Magica to the world, they will be sailing with two new ships: Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee. Both are being built currently, but Celebration is nearing completion. It is expected to sail in fall of 2022. Jubilee will finish after Celebration and will sail beginning some time in 2023. As their names suggest, they will both be sister ships to Carnival’s flagship vessel, Mardi Gras. Interestingly, though, both are planned to be slightly larger than Mardi Gras. Celebration checks in at 183,900 tons while Jubilee will be a bit less at 182,800 tons. We don’t know too much about them yet, but we do know that Celebration will sail from Miami, Florida while Jubilee will sail from Galveston, Texas.

Back in business

These new ships will breathe some life into Carnival. The cruise line, like many others, is currently taking a phased approach back into sailing. It seems they are optimistic about the future, though, and they are slowly getting more and more of their fleet out onto the water. Carnival Pride sailed from Tampa, Florida on November 14th, marking their return to the port.

All signs point towards Carnival successfully implementing these new ships and reinvigorating their brand after some shaky times during the pandemic. We’re looking forward to it!