Category: Cruise News

Carnival’s 2nd Excel Class Ship Confirmed for Nov 2022

Chris Cardona
Carnival Mardi Gras Itineraries Staterooms Bookings

Along with today’s news of fleet reductions, Carnival Cruise Line also confirmed that an additional Excel-class, LNG-powered ship will be arriving in November 2022. The yet unnamed, second Excel-class ship has been confirmed from the Meyer Turku shipyard. The sister ship to Mardi Gras will showcase many of her features, including BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, and sail out of PortMiami as previously announced. Carnival had also previously announced plans for a newly upgraded terminal at PortMiami that will accommodate the second Excel-class vessel. Carnival said it will…

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Carnival Sells Two Ships and Two Enter Long Term Layup

Chris Cardona

Carnival Cruise Line made it official today that two of their ships Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration have been sold. Additionally, Carnival Fascination and Carnival Imagination will move to a long term lay-up status, with no specific timeline identified for a return to operation. These moves are part of Carnival Corporation’s recent announcement to reduce its overall capacity and focus on ships with upgraded features. All four of these Fantasy Class ships are some of the oldest in the Carnival fleet with Fantasy originally arriving in 1990, Fascination in 1994,…

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Carnival’s Mardi Gras Construction Update (July 2020)

Chris Cardona
Carnival's Mardi Gras

Carnvial Cruise Line’s most anticipated and largest cruise ship ever, Mardi Gras has been progressing at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland.   Carnival recently had to cancel a number of sailings due to delays at the shipyard, but have set a new debut for February 2021. Workers have installed nearly 800 feet of suspended track for BOLT, the first rollercoaster at sea, that will encircle upper decks and offer guests an exhilarating ride with dips and drops with breathtaking ocean views 187 feet above the water line. All…

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Carnival Cancels Sailings for Mardi Gras & Other Ships

Chris Cardona

One of the most anticipated cruise ships coming in 2020, Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras, has now been officially delayed until 2021. The largest ship ever for the cruise line at 183,000 tons, Mardi Gras was originally scheduled to debut in August 2020, but due to delays at the ship yard, the first sailing was pushed back until November 14th. Itineraries out of Port Canaveral for departures from Nov. 14, 2020 to Jan. 30, 2021 have been cancelled, with the first departure now planned for February 6, 2021. Unfortunately, Carnvial…

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Royal Caribbean Officially Postpones Several Dry Docks

Chris Cardona

There has been much speculation recently about the status of major dry docks involving cruise ships from Royal Caribbean. Many were scheduled to commence right as the cruise industry paused all operations. Today, Royal Caribbean sent out an official notice to travel partners and media that Amplifications for four of their ships are postponed indefinitely. Due to the impact of COVID-19 and given the closure of shipyards along with the disruption to the supply chain, Royal Caribbean® would like to make you aware of some updates regarding Allure of the Seas®, Explorer…

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