Carnival unveils names for upcoming ships

Tuesday, 07 Apr, 2025 0

Carnival Cruise Line has outlined ambitious strategic plans for the next five years.

The line’s President Christine Duffy provided details on new ships, deployment, fleet enhancements and exclusive destinations at a media briefing at PortMiami.

Carnival Cruise Line unveiled plans for its next new ship, Carnival Festivale, which will feature a new outdoor zone on the top three decks, named Sunsation Point.

“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,” said Duffy.

“Having just integrated two ships into the Carnival fleet in Australia, we now stand at 29 ships, the largest in our history.”

Duffy revealed that the fourth ship in Carnival’s Excel class will be named Carnival Festivale,.

Debuting in spring 2027, Carnival Festivale will sail from Port Canaveral, Florida.

Reservation and itinerary details will be released this summer.

Carnival Festivale will debut three brand new zones; two of which on Decks 6, 7, and 8 will celebrate music with new themed venues and experiences.

One zone is inspired by the process of creating music, while the other zone on deck 8 symbolizes the vibe of outdoor music performances.

For families, Carnival Festivale will feature 1,000 interconnecting rooms, nearly 70% more than on the first three Excel ships.

The expansion of the interconnecting rooms is in lieu of the Family Harbor staterooms on the existing Excel ships.

Carnival Festivale will also introduce a dedicated space for Carnival’s Turtles program which is for children six months to two years, and more experiences for them on the open decks.

Overall spaces for Carnival’s youth programs will also be enhanced.

On Deck 18, a main feature of Sunsation Point is Carnival Waterworks Ultra, a family friendly water park at sea.

This new area will replace BOLT, the Ultimate Seacoaster that is the top deck feature on the existing Excel ships.

The water park will feature six slides, four of which are new to Carnival, including two family raft slides.

It includes splash pads and dedicated baby splash areas.

There will also be a sports court, ropes course and jogging track along with a new miniature golf course, outdoor games and themed arcade spaces.

In the evening, Sunsation will host special evening events that have extended water park hours, in addition to a DJ and other activities.

This is a first for Carnival to open Waterworks at night.

Duffy also revealed that the name of the line’s fifth Excel class ship will be Carnival Tropicale, also one of the original names of early Carnival ships.

The homeport and open for sale date will be unveiled well ahead of the scheduled delivery of the ship in spring 2028.

Many of the new features on Carnival Festivale will also be included on Carnival Tropicale, as well as some new concepts and theming.

Additionally, Carnival has three mega ships which will be delivered in 2029, 2031 and 2033 set to boast over 3,000 guest staterooms, able to accommodate nearly 8,000 guests.

Learn more about : Carnival Cruise Line ( N. America ) Carnival Cruise Line ( Asia Pecific ) Carnival Cruise Line ( United Kingdom )

TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.