Carnival Cruise Line has opened reservations for the inaugural season of Carnival Firenze. It will begin sailing year-round from Long Beach, CA starting in May 2024 through April 2025. Sailings are now open for sale on Carnival.com. Named after the iconic city of Florence, Carnival Firenze is designed to evoke the same Italian charm. "This stunning ship will serve as a great new cruise vacation option from Long Beach,” said CCL President Christine Duffy. It offers a range of sailings to Baja Mexico and the Mexican Riviera. There are 15 different itinerary options of three to seven-day cruises. Sailings now open for sale from Long Beach include the 5-day Mexican Riviera inaugural cruise departing May 2, 2024 and the 7-day Mexican Riviera Cruise. The latter calls at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Carnival Firenze is the second ship to showcase all-new Carnival Fun Italian Style experiences, after Carnival Venezia. Carnival Fun Italian Style incorporates Carnival's signature amenities plus new Italian-themed concepts and venues..

Transitioning from sister line Costa, Carnival Venezia has officially joined the Carnival Cruise Line fleet The handover took place in Cadiz, Spain. Carnival Venezia departs on a 15-day transatlantic voyage sailing from Barcelona on May 29, 2023. The ship will then begin year-round cruising from Manhattan Cruise Terminal on June 15. "We are so pleased to welcome Carnival Venezia to the fleet, which following a dry dock, will debut as our first 'Fun Italian Style' ship," said President Christine Duffy. Carnival Venezia offers 10 different cruise durations to 25 ports in 14 countries. Built in 2019, it accommodates up to 5,145 guests. The ship's atrium is modeled after Venice's Piazza San Marco. The Lido deck is inspired by the Italian Riviera with a retractable roof. The ship will introduce new Italian cuisine offerings to the Carnival fleet. It includes La Strada Grill for classic Italian street food, and Mexitalian fusion restaurant Tomodoro. Carnival Venezia will also feature new Italian-inspired entertainment spaces, such as the Gondola Lounge.

Carnival Cruise Line is expanding Galveston cruises. It is placing a fourth ship, Carnival Miracle at the port offering longer sailings beginning in the fall of 2024. These departures are now open for sale. "We are giving our guests new choices, especially those who want to experience a wider variety of ports," said Christine Duffy, Carnival Cruise Line president. Carnival Miracle will reposition from San Francisco to Galveston on October 1, 2024. It will operate a Carnival Journeys voyage to Cabo San Lucas, Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Cartagena, Colombia; and a Panama Canal transit. Once in Galveston, Carnival Miracle will offer 19 cruises. These include a 12-day Southern Caribbean sailing to Grand Cayman; Aruba; Bonaire; and Curacao. The 2,200-guest Carnival Miracle recently completed a dry dock receiving a new red, white and blue hull livery. Carnival Miracle joins Carnival Breeze, which offers four- and five-day Galveston cruises; Carnival Dream and the new Excel-Class Carnival Jubilee.

Carnival Cruise Line is expanding its seasonal European cruises schedule for 2024. It opened reservations for a series of 17 cruises aboard Carnival Legend. They begin with a 12-day transatlantic cruise from Baltimore on April 15, 2024. It includes visits to Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal; Malaga and Valencia, Spain. From Europe, the ship will operate from three homeports: Barcelona, Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; and Dover . "This extensive series for 2024 offers an excellent variety of itinerary lengths and options to experience Europe the best way possible," said President Christine Duffy. It includes an eight-day Mediterranean sailing from Barcelona which visits Malta; multiple Italy stops and Toulon. There is also a nine-day British Isles sailing departing Dover visiting Holyhead, Greenock Belfast, Liverpool, Dublin and Cork. Carnival Legend will sail in Europe throughout the summer until late October. It then crosses the Atlantic to The Bahamas before arriving at new homeport Tampa.

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Diamond Princess Returns for 36 Departures to Scenic Island Country, Plus Royal Princess Debuts on a New Japan & Northern Pacific Crossing

  The lure of Japan is calling with its ancient temples, cherry blossoms, modern cityscapes and vibrant cuisine with the newly released 2024 Japan cruise season on sale now from Princess Cruises. New for 2024, Royal Princess makes her Japan debut and marks the first Royal-Class ship to sail in the region. The series of cruises offers many opportunities to view the magnificent spring flowers, as well as four breathtaking summer festivals.   Royal Princess sails a new Japan & North Pacific Crossing, calling to the northern Tohoku and Hokkaido regions during the magnificent cherry blossom season with the option to combine with the cruise line's popular Voyage of the Glaciers cruise to witness the majestic glaciers of Alaska. Guests can opt to disembark in Anchorage (Whittier) for a 15-day voyage or continue to Vancouver, B.C. for a 22-day cruise. The cruise departs Tokyo (Yokohama) on April 27, 2024.   "Japan has been a popular homeport and destination experience for Princess guests for many years and we're thrilled to offer such a culturally-rich season of cruises in this region for the 2024 season," said John Padgett, Princess Cruises president.   Japan-built Diamond Princess returns to Japan for a March through August 2024 season, sailing roundtrip from Tokyo (Yokohama), calling to 35 destinations in three countries on 31 unique itineraries and 36 departures, ranging from seven to 23 days.   Diamond Princess kicks off the season with a series of four 10-day Spring Flowers voyages, calling at all four of Japan's main islands and following the predicted blooming season as it moves from south to north.   The Japan festival season reaches its peak in the summer months, and in 2024 Diamond Princess offers guests the opportunity to experience the following festivals with late-night stays in each port:  

• Aomori Nebuta Festival (Aug 2 and Aug 7) which features Nebuta float figures accompanied by traditional music, many vibrant dancers and audience participation, all within easy walking distance from the port.
• Kochi Yosakoi Dance Festival (Aug 12), one of Japan's 10 largest festivals, featuring teams of dancers with colorful costumes and unique performances.
• Tokushima Awa Odori Dance Festival (Aug 13), one of the most famous summer dance festivals that dates back to the 1500s and features dancers performing throughout the city well into the night highlighted by the famous "Fool's Dance."
• Kumano Fireworks Festival (Aug 17), a display of over 10,000 fireworks visible from the decks of Diamond Princess.

  Additionally, Diamond Princess will sail on nine-day Southern Islands voyages that call to two Okinawan ports and two Taiwan ports; nine-day and 10-day Sea of Japan voyages that will feature ports along the historic Kitamaebune trading route; 10-day Hokkaido voyages that will visit Otaru (for Sapporo), Hakodate and Kushiro; and the popular 10-day Japan Explorer voyages that will call to some of the country's most iconic destinations like Shimizu (for Mt. Fuji), Osaka or Kobe (for Kyoto), Hiroshima, and more.   The 2024 Japan program also features access to nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Mount Fuji (from Shimizu), Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (from Kobe or Osaka), Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area (from Kobe or Osaka), Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama (from Kanazawa or Toyama), the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, and the newly inscribed Iriomote Island (from Ishigaki) and Jomon Prehistoric Sites (from Aomori or Hakodate).   Guests only unpack once to enjoy and explore all the sights ashore, while onboard Princess delivers the ultimate in effortless, personalized cruising featuring world-class dining, award-winning entertainment, casinos, pools, fitness centers and spas, all elevated by exclusive Princess MedallionClass service.   Additional information about the 2024 Japan season is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-PRINCESS (1-800-774-6237) or by visiting the company's website at www.princess.com.

Carnival Cruise Line is launching a new booking contest for Wave season. Running through March 31, the Rock the Wave contest gives travel advisors the opportunity to earn prizes. It includes gift cards, bonus Loyalty Rocks! Points, merchandise, and a grand prize of a cruise on Carnival Jubilee. Adolfo Perez, SVP of global sales and trade marketing said,. "This unique booking contest is designed to show our admiration for travel advisors’ hard work. Travel advisors can start claiming their bonus points by opting into the program on GoCCL.com. They continue to earn regular Loyalty Rewards 'base' points for each booking.

Carnival Cruise Line opened reservations for two all-new Asia cruises for 2024. They will mark the first-ever port visits for Carnival between Long Beach and Tokyo and Sydney and Singapore. Bookings are now available for 2024 departures on four new Carnival Journeys on Carnival Panorama and Carnival Splendor. "Offering guests new destinations builds on our portfolio of Carnival Journeys sailings," said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. The four new itineraries include: Carnival Panorama 18-day Transpacific Carnival Journeys from Long Beach to Tokyo (Yokohama) on Aug. 22, 2024. It calls at Ketchikan; Sitka,; Icy Strait Point, Kushiroand Aomori, Japan 25-day Transpacific Carnival Journeys sailing from Singapore to Long Beach departing on Oct. 12, 2024 – Ho Chi Minh, Kota Kinabalu, Manila, Guam; Honolulu, Maui. Carnival Splendor 15-day Carnival Journeys sailing from Sydney to Singapore departing on July 21, 2024 – Brisbane, Airlie Beach, Cairns, Lombok, Bali. 16-day Carnival Journeys sailing from Singapore to Sydney departing on Aug. 24, 2024 – Jakarta, Bali, Lombok, Darwin, Airlie Beach, Moreton Island, Australia.   Carnival Panorama will be the first Carnival ship to visit Manila and Carnival Splendor will mark the first visit to Jakarta.

Cruise giant Carnival Corporation  announced an agreement to deploy SpaceX Starlink Wi-Fi. Fleet roll out began in December 2022 with Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA Cruises ships. It plans to expand Starlink to cruise brands Princess, HAL, Seabourn, P&O Cruises, Costa and Cunard. "The added bandwidth will give the brands the flexibility to introduce new guest services and features," CEO Josh Weinstein said. Starlink joins a portfolio of communications, satellite and other tech providers supplying Carnival Corp's connectivity ecosystem. With nearly 100 ships, Carnival’s multi-provider connectivity is designed to route internet traffic across its fleet anywhere in the world.

New ship Carnival Jubilee has been delayed over supply chain issues. Carnival Cruise Line has been forced to cancel the first six cruises due to delays at the shipyard. It is the cruise line’s third Excel class ship. The shipis set to debut late next year. Jubilee’s launch is now pushed place to December 23, 2023. The ship will sail out of Galveston, Texas. Jubilee remains under construction at Meyer Werft in Germany. Carnival Jubilee was originally supposed to be delivered in October 2023. Booked guests and their travel advisors have been notified and offered alternatives. Cancelled cruises include the Southampton to Galveston transatlantic journey and five Caribbean sailings from Galveston. ‘We appreciate their understanding as we work to deliver another spectacular ship,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

All Carnival cruise brands have re-imposed mandatory mask-wearing on Australia cruses. The company said it is ‘out of an abundance of caution’ after a recent sailing led to hundreds of infections. There has been an uptick in community infections across New South Wales and Victoria. Cases in the states have than doubled in only two weeks “Mask wearing is being applied on board all Carnival Corporation brand ships operating in Australia as an additional safeguard,” Carnival Australia said. Masks were scrapped for passengers in February. Carnival requires masks to be worn in indoor public spaces, and when boarding and disembarking the ship Masks are also required for outdoors events when social distancing is difficult. "At a time when Australia is faced with a rapid rise of cases, it's critical everyone plays their part," Carnival Australia added.

Marking World Space Week, Carnival Cruise Line is partnering with Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to launch a children's space program inspired by NASA science. It will debut on Carnival Celebration this November. As part of Camp Ocean's science and discovery programming, the Space Cruisers curriculum supported by NASA is designed to be educational and fun and will enable children of all ages to explore the universe in hands-on learning experiences. Children will be able to complete ‘missions’ (activities) to earn a special, themed mission patch. The Space Cruisers programming includes: Optimal Orbit (ages 2-8) – learn about gravity and how planets, satellites and other objects move through space in a hands-on experience with a giant trampoline. Design Your Own Mission Patch (ages 6-11) – a long-standing tradition among astronauts to design a mission patch. Space Cruisers Rocket Workshop (ages 6-11) – following in the footsteps of NASA's engineers and build a paper rocket. Mars Base Connect (family-friendly) – exploring the steps it takes to build a Mars base. ASTRO! (family-friendly) – call out constellations as they're displayed on a unique star projector in a space-themed BINGO game with special giveaways. "Space Cruisers will truly take our offerings to the next level with the perfect balance of fun and education to give both our younger guests and their families something to be excited about," said Melissa Mahaffey, director of youth experience for Carnival Cruise Line. An area of Camp Ocean will feature an illuminated space wall that showcases the planets as well as a display of light-up constellations on the ceiling. The program debuts on Carnival Celebration when it sails on its inaugural voyage from Miami this November, and will then be rolled out to the Space Coast with Mardi Gras in Port Canaveral in time for the holiday season.

Carnival Cruise Line is lifting some pre-embarkation testing requirements. From August 4, it will waive pre-cruise testing for fully vaccinated guests for cruises no longer than five days. Pre-cruise testing remains for longer voyages and for all unvaccinated guests. Tests can be taken up to three days before departure. Carnival states ‘all adjustments are subject to any destinations on the itinerary.’ Royal Caribbean recently announced that it would no longer require testing for vaccinated guests on short cruises.