Carnival Cruise Line’s next new cruise ship, Carnival Celebration, reached a construction milestone this week when the vessel touched water for the first time.
Carnival Celebration was floated out at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland earlier today. The cruise ship will now move to the next stage of construction and is scheduled to debut later this year in Miami.
“This is the exciting part, after the float out, that’s when everything that everyone will love about the ship goes from blueprint to reality,” said Ben Clement, senior vice president of New Builds, Refurbishment and Product Innovation for Carnival Cruise Line, who was in Finland to oversee the milestone. “When there’s a new ship coming, it’s always tough to pick your favorite part, but Carnival Celebration is going to make that choice tougher than ever when she makes her way to Miami.”
“We are very proud to build this beautiful ship for Carnival Cruise Line,” said Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku. “By the end of the summer, Carnival Celebration will be ready for her sea trial and then for delivery later in the autumn.”
Carnival Celebration is the cruise line’s second Excel class ship and will have many of the same features as Mardi Gras including BOLT the roller coaster. Now that the ship has been floated out, interior work can be completed on the vessel.
Carnival Celebration is scheduled to debut this fall and will sail a transatlantic voyage from Southampton to her PortMiami homeport in November.
Carnival Cruise Line’s newly transformed Terminal F will welcome the new ship. Not long after, the Carnival terminal will also usher in a new era of port infrastructure as one of the first at PortMiami equipped to provide shore power to ships by fall 2023.
Carnival Celebration’s first sailing from Miami to the Caribbean will take place November 21, 2022. Her arrival will mark the culmination of the year-long celebration of Carnival Cruise Line’s 50th birthday. Her name is a nod to one of Carnival’s classic cruise ships, MS Celebration, but in every sense, Carnival Celebration is designed to lead the way to the future of cruising.
