A cruise ship will undergo a renovation and switch cruise lines and enter service with Carnival Cruise Line later this year.
Costa Luminoso will be renamed to Carnival Luminoso after a remodel and begin offering Carnival cruises in Australia before heading to Alaska. The cruise ship is a sister ship to the popular Carnival Spirit class.
Due to this announcement, the previous plan to move Costa Magica over to Carnival Cruise Line has been canceled and the ship will now remain with Costa.
Given the short timeline to get Carnival Luminosa ready for service, the cruise ship will go through some modest updates to change over from Costa Cruises to Carnival Cruise Line over the next few months ahead of the November service start-up. The ship will not initially have all of the Funship 2.0 branded spaces that are seen across the Carnival fleet.
The entire vessel will be staffed by the Carnival Cruise Line crew, renowned for their outstanding hospitality and fun. Cruises out of Brisbane will be announced shortly, and Carnival will sail a variety of itineraries that will initially include visits to Australian favorites such as the Great Barrier Reef and Airlie Beach, and, as destinations open over time, ports of call such as Noumea and Lifou Isle in New Caledonia, Port Vila and Mystery Island in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
“With our full fleet back to guest operations and the pent-up demand for Carnival we are seeing every week aboard our ships, the chance to expand with Luminosa and then the arrival of Carnival Celebration in November provides our guests with more choices and new ways to enjoy a Carnival vacation,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “Our Spirit class ships are very popular with our guests and Luminosa will be a great addition given the large number of balcony cabins which make her an ideal ship for this deployment. And equally important, this will allow Carnival to finally start our highly anticipated itineraries from Brisbane, so we’ll have two ships operating in Australia for the high season Down Under.”
In addition to Carnival Luminosa out of Brisbane, Carnival Splendor will arrive in Sydney to resume sailing year-round on October 2, 2022. With the arrival of Carnival Celebration this November, Carnival’s fleet will number 24 ships, and its lower berth capacity will be seven percent higher than at the end of November 2019.
Related to this announcement, the cruise programs for Costa Luminosa from September forward will be cancelled and Costa Cruises will be informing guests with a specific re-protection plan.
Costa Magica will continue to be a part of the Costa Cruises fleet and its cruise programs will be announced shortly.
Costa Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line are sister cruise lines owned and operated by Carnival Corporation.
