Make that 5 new ships for Carnival Cruise Line in simply 18 months.
The world’s second-biggest cruise model on Thursday welcomed the primary cruisers aboard but another new vessel, the 4,126-passenger Carnival Firenze, in Long Beach, California.
The 135,156-ton ship is debuting simply 4 months after Carnival unveiled the even greater 5,374-passenger Carnival Jubilee and 11 months after the road started working the 4,090-passenger Carnival Venezia.
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The latter two ships function out of Galveston, Texas, and New York City, respectively. Carnival Venezia additionally spends half of the 12 months crusing out of Port Canaveral, Florida.
Over the previous 18 months, Carnival has additionally added the Miami-based, 5,374-passenger Carnival Celebration and the Australia-based, 2,260-passenger Carnival Luminosa. Carnival Luminosa additionally spends half of the 12 months crusing out of Seattle.
The addition of the 5 ships to the Carnival fleet over such a short while span marks one of the quickest expansions of any cruise model within the historical past of cruising.
With the addition of the 5 ships, Carnival now has a report 27 vessels in its fleet.
A new ship with an asterisk
Scheduled to sail year-round out of Long Beach, California, Carnival Firenze is a new ship for Carnival, however it’s new with an asterisk. The 15-deck-high vessel has sailed earlier than for another cruise line, Italy-based Costa Cruises.
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Originally referred to as Costa Firenze, the vessel sailed its maiden voyage for Costa, a sister model to Carnival, in July 2021, making it practically three years previous.
Carnival Firenze is only one of a number of Costa vessels that Carnival Corporation, the dad or mum firm of Costa and Carnival, has transferred from Costa to Carnival within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic and its aftermath damage the Costa model rather more than the Carnival model. This was partially as a result of the Costa model had massive operations in China, the place cruising shut down through the pandemic for a lot longer than it did in North America.
Carnival operates most of its ships out of U.S. ports and attracts rather a lot of the purchasers for these ships from the states close to these ports — a section of close-to-home cruising that has been booming since cruising resumed in 2021.
The end result has been a stronger demand for Carnival ships than Costa ships.
Carnival Firenze’s first crusing for Carnival, beginning Thursday, shall be a seven-night voyage to the Mexican Riviera that features stops at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.
Carnival cruising with an Italian twist
Like Carnival Venezia, which is also a former Costa ship, Carnival Firenze is one thing of an outlier within the Carnival fleet because the vessel retains a lot of its Italian theming from when it sailed for Costa.
The ship additionally nonetheless has its unique, distinctive gold-and-blue funnel that may be a trademark of Costa’s vessels.
That mentioned, Carnival Firenze will not be devoid of Carnival’s signature shipboard venues. In current months, the ship has undergone a major overhaul in a dry dock in Spain that included the re-theming of many inside eateries and bars, in addition to top-deck points of interest to make them extra constant with the Carnival model.
For occasion, the ship can have a Carnival Waterworks water play space and a Steakhouse — a signature Carnival venue.
Related: The 8 lessons of Carnival Cruise Line ships, defined
Other venues now on the ship that shall be acquainted to Carnival followers embody a Guy Fieri-inspired Guy’s Burger Joint, a Bonsai Sushi eatery, a Chef’s Table, Lido Marketplace, Seafood Shack, a Pizzeria del Capitano pizza outlet and a Heroes Tribute Bar.
The ship additionally can have a new crew made up of Carnival staffers.
In quick, Carnival Firenze will mix parts of each Costa and Carnival ships.
Carnival initially deliberate to name the ship a “Costa by Carnival” product to distinguish it from the remaining of the Carnival fleet, however it will definitely switched to advertising and marketing Carnival Firenze as a vessel that provides “Carnival Fun Italian Style.”
Carnival Firenze, notably, was initially purpose-built to sail out of China with Chinese vacationers however with Italian theming that performed up Costa’s Italian roots. Its theming is particularly tied to Florence, Italy — Firenze is what Italians name Florence.
The Carnival and Costa manufacturers have lengthy had similarities that make a switch of ships between the 2 traces much less advanced than one would possibly assume. Ships for each Costa and Carnival typically are constructed on the identical platforms — that’s, they share the identical fundamental structural design and tough inside areas. In such circumstances, the principle distinction between the ships of the 2 manufacturers is the theming of particular areas.
As of this week, fares for Carnival Firenze sailings begin at $214 per particular person, not together with taxes and costs, for a four-night crusing from Long Beach to Mexico.
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