Carnival Cruise Line held a press event today on Carnival Celebration in Miami where they announced the names of new cruise ships, future deployment plans, first details on a new class of ships, and the renaming of one of their ports in the Caribbean.
Here is a look at all of the announcements made today by Carnival Cruise Line. Note, we will be adding renderings of all the changes later this evening so stay tuned for that.
New Ship Names
Carnival announced the names of their 4th and 5th Excel class ships that will debut in 2027 and 2028. The ships will be named Carnival Festivale will Carnival Tropicale.
The cruise line also announced that even though they will be Excel class ships, they will not have BOLT, the world’s first cruise ship roller coaster, on the top deck.
Instead, Carnival is building a massive waterpark that will be the most “family friendly waterpark at sea”. It will also be open at night on several nights of the cruise with colorful lights. This area will be called Sunsation Point.
Carnival Festivale will homeport in Port Canaveral with the homeport of Carnival Tropicale being announced at a later time.
Carnival Festivale will have 1,000 connecting cabins, 70% more than the class has now.
Project Ace
Project Ace will be a new class of Carnival cruise ships that will be in the area of 230,000 gross tons each, the largest ever build by the cruise line. They will carry 8,000 guests with the first one debuting in 2029. Following ships will debut in 2031 and 2033.
Carnival Cruise Line said that they will have more details on this new class at a later date.
Mahogany Bay – Isla Tropicale Roatan
Mahogany Bay, Carnival’s private port in Roatan, will see several changes. A new pool will be built that has a swim up bar.
In addition to a Beach Club that will also be added, Carnival is changing the name of the port later this year to Isla Tropicale Roatan.
Carnival Paradise Collection
Carnival Paradise Collection will be four ports that Carnival is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into to make them the ultimate paradise.
The three ports that make up this collection are Relax Away, Half Moon Cay, Celebration Key, Princess Cays and Isla Tropicale Roatan.
Carnival also said that new experiences were coming soon to Amber Cove and Puerto Maya (Cozumel).
Deployment Changes
When Carnival Festivale debuts in 2027, the cruise line will take Mardi Gras and use the ship for short cruises. Mardi Gras will sail three- and four-night cruises to The Bahamas with a stop in Celebration Key. This will mark the first time that an Excel class ship has offered shorter sailings.
Carnival also announced that they will once again start sailing year-round from Mobile, Alabama as their fleet grows.
Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, gave the following statement about these new updates:
“Since our inception in 1972, we have defined and led the modern cruise industry and our plans for the next five years and beyond are no different. The excitement and energy continue at Carnival! Having just integrated two ships into the Carnival fleet in Australia, we now stand at 29 ships, the largest global fleet in our history.
“Looking ahead, we have the opening of Celebration Key this July, followed by our expansion at RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay in 2026; the delivery of our fourth and fifth Excel ships in 2027 and 2028; and then the introduction of three ships in our new platform, Project Ace, beginning in 2029, plus fleet enhancements and new investments at some of our existing destinations.
“We are poised to continue our leadership position as both America’s Cruise Line and the World’s Most Popular Cruise Line.”
