Cruise line will shortly announce more detailed itineraries and ship names

Carnival Cruise Line announced plans today (June 23) to grow its fleet by two additional ships by 2023.

The announcement comes as Carnival Cruise makes plans for the delivery of an Excel-class ship that had previously been assigned to sister line, AIDA Cruises, that will arrive in late 2023, as well as taking ownership of Costa Magica from another of its European sister lines.

The Costa Magica has gone through a dry dock, renaming and Carnival-branded conversion and is to join the fleet by mid-2022. These two ships are in addition to the new capacity growth represented by Mardi Gras, which is Carnival’s first Excel-class, liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ship.

The Mardi Gras starts sailing from Port Canaveral on July 31 and her sister ship, Carnival Celebration, will be delivered and sail from Miami starting in late 2022, as part of Carnival’s 50^th birthday festivities.

Boosting Carnival Cruise fleet

The addition of these four ships will bring the Carnival fleet to 27 by year-end 2023, and these ships bring many new amenities and features for guests, as well as environmental benefits and enhancements as Carnival continues to exceed and expand targets for emissions efficiencies.

“We are excited about these additions to our fleet which reflect the strong position that Carnival has established in the US, the pent-up demand we continue to see for cruise vacations, and the overall plans by Carnival Corporation to optimize capacity and growth in key markets,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. 

She noted that, “while our immediate focus is on our restart of guest operations this summer, this is another cause for excitement at Carnival, and we will be announcing more detailed plans about homeports, itineraries and ship names very soon”.