CruiseAdict218

3 hours ago, jsglow said:

One of the things that's a little challenging about this is that Carnival is likely to operate ONLY Venezia from NYC.  A second ship is truly unrealistic given their historic track record up there struggling to fill a Spirit Class vessel.  So with that being the case and with the company's desire to have a differentiated product in the Costa by Carnival branding, I wonder if an eventual 'dancing of the ships' is in order.  Perhaps Venezia eventually swaps out with Horizon in MIA.  That way NYC gets 12 month service from a classic Carnival ship and MIA gets a differentiated product offering.  Long Beach doesn't have the same issus with Firenza as that port will surely have multiple Carnival vessels.  My sincere hope is that Firenza does the same kind of multiple interesting itineraries down the Mexican Riviera, Hawaii and Pacific coasts that they are planning out of NYC. 

With longer winter cruises then your generic 8 day to The Bahamas, should hopefully help with that. But Venezia competes with Meraviglia which is also doing year round service in the area for the first time, and MSC has barely been in the area so that will be interesting to see how it plays out. 

Hopefully they don't swap out with Horizon, Florida gets most of the new and unique ships with few exceptions as it is.

Will Long Beach be able to fill Panorama, Miracle, Radiance and now Firenze? 

15 minutes ago, sgttami said:

Nice to see a different ship in NYC and it's one of my favorite ports to leave from.

 

Just wish any ship sailed from NYC in winter.  Miss those days!

Carnival Venezia will be doing year-round service so it will be sailing from NY during winter 2023-2024. Has some nice longer 8-12 day itineraries to the Eastern and Southern Caribbean and not just the generic boring 8-Day to Bahamas. 

1 minute ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

They are probably still deciding if they want to put Guys Burgers near the pool and more. Luminosa they just didn't have time, but with Venezia they have 6 months.

 

I'll have to look at Costa Venezia deck plans to see what's there now

Most of the "fun to be revealed" slots seems to be eateries, most of the usual Carnival ones have slots, they must be putting in new ones specific for Venezia, or just change the wording, like I would hope they keep the gelato. However, I don't think it is getting Guy's Burger's, rather something different. I also don't see Carnival Deli either unless that will be within the Lido Marketplace later on.

3 minutes ago, phoneman69 said:

Reviewing the ships deck plans and photos there are no visible  water slide. Can you tell me where you can see them ?

Ship has the kids clubs, waterslides, rope course, etc.

28 minutes ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

I found a website that has weekly scrap reports and says when each ship is sold for scrap. Turns out Sensation was sold on February 15, 2022 and Ecstasy was sold on February 17, 2022

 

All this time I thought that Ecstasy had a chance to be sold to another cruise line.......

The class was for sale years before COVID, no one wanted them; they also required expensive maintenance upgrades. At least there's two left for now...

I've been cruising for about 13 years now, started young with Carnival, then moved to Princess for a few years before coming back to Carnival just prior to Covid. Post restart, been on 4 Carnival cruises from Sept 2021, to just this past July and in between those sailed on my first Royal Caribbean cruise. Being honest, sailing on Horizon at reduced capacity really was a spoil because you could really enjoy the ship, and it was much better than the first time around when ships were at full capacity.  

But some of the recent sailings were great, and others just middle of the road (food was the most up and down, but staffing/service were excellent all around). I don't think too many of the cut backs really effected my opinion of Carnival, but I wouldn't mind paying a little extra if it would help. 

Royal Caribbean for the first time was also a lot of fun even with a complete port change (out of their control) did miss some of those Carnival touches. Staff were still excellent, ship had an interesting layout in some places too. I would also recommend MSC, the shoreside management isn't the best, but onboard service was the complete opposite. However this was just before everything came to a stop, but would sail on them again. 

Can't wait to see how Venezia plays out, with this "new" concept coming in a few months.

From John’s interview with Christine: Bookings open on November 14, and does include a T/A, Barcelona to NYC and is staying year round for the time being. 

3 hours ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

I think Sunshine will remain pretty long; it also wouldn't make sense to bring Magica/Fortuna that doesn't have all the refurbishments that Sunshine got in 2013.

 

By that I mean it wouldn't make sense for Magica/Fortuna to REPLACE Sunshine, Magica probably will switch to Carnival maybe with Serena

Down the road get the Sunrise/Radiance style upgrade (since those two are the same as Fortuna/Magica), not so much Sunshine. Guess we will see soon enough.

With NYC getting Venezia, Magic will have a longer season from Norfolk next (but nothing is confirmed, other than Bermudas schedule) which could replace Charleston down the road. 
 

As tidecat mentioned, Firenze will probably displace a ship, I would also expect Carnival to absorb a few more Costa ships. 
 

Hopefully if Carnival retires Elation/Paradise, they keep one around a bit longer and of course whatever happens to Sunshine but I think she’ll remain a bit longer or maybe get replaced by a younger sister from Costa. 

35 minutes ago, tidecat said:

Any chance Firenze comes over sooner now that Costa Fortuna will be without work after April 2023?

Certainly possible, Costa Magica is also without work and with reports of Costa leaving Asia, Costa Serena doesn't have work either. 

10 minutes ago, shof515 said:

 

The Magic is in Port Canaveral until the middle of may. In the middle of may to the middle of June, the Magic does cruises from Norfolk. After a month of Norfolk cruises she heads to New York for the summer then returns to Norfolk at the end of September

 

all of the news articles i can find about the Venezia says the ship will beginning sailing out of NYC sometime in the spring most likely in April/May

 

It seem logical for the Magic to remain in Norfolk for the summer and do not return back to NYC

 

 

i think having 2 ships out of NYC can work well but they needs to be better itinerary sailing out of here instead of the same itinerary they do every year. Have one ship do the traditional itinerary and another ship with more unique itineraries. The two that come my mind is the Vista NY inaugural cruise that went to San Juan, St Thomas, Antigua and St Maarten and then a few years ago the Sunrise did this itinerary: San Juan, Tortola, St Thomas, St Maarten

 

They definitely need some better itineraries, especially come the winter time than those 8 Days to PC/Nassau and Freeport. Doesn’t help Bermuda is limited either. 
 

But I think she may come a little earlier, she exits Costa service on December 1, and then will head to dry dock sometime after, the other question will be do you think she comes over empty or will they sell a T/A? 

Well if Venezia starts to pop up in any Bahamas/Caribbean ports prior to the first Bermuda cruise, we’ll know if she replaces Magic. Magic could just do a small NYC season and head to Norfolk earlier. 
 

However, I do agree with the comments that the two should have been kept separate but I don’t think a Dream & Vista Class in NYC would do well either. 

Sailed on her in July, middle of the road ship for us, didn’t overly love it but didn’t overly hate it either. Other comments summed it up pretty good, new non-smoking casino. Food was so so. Family has another cruise booked for next year but we are all waiting patiently for the Venezia cruises to be released. 
 

However, Ryan Rose should be the cruise director again when the ship comes back to NY and he was fantastic, so you should enjoy him unless he was the one you found boring. 

Just now, kwokpot said:

Yet the livery name is COSTA VENEZIA, according to the rendering. 

Yep, last minute change, I think. 

5 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Bizarre

Someone pointed out to me, the rendering still shows the Costa name, so I’m guessing a last minute change or they are preparing to take on more Costa ships. 

So it seems the two Costa ships, will now be styled as Carnival Venezia and Carnival Firenze, both featuring the blue bow as well. However they will keep the yellow Costa funnel and will be year round.

1 hour ago, sealynx said:

Is Costa now the only line left with still ships on operational pause?

I believe Diamond Princess was delayed again and comes back this month or November and Pacific Adventure is the last ships to resume for P&O Aus I believe in the coming days. 
 

Costa is the only one with multiple ships. 

21 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I think Costa might only have one without restart plans and Carnival doesn't have sufficient crew for the Carnival ships currently sailing and Celebration starts cruising next month.

Well they just cancelled deployment for Fortuna so I’m curious what they’re plans are now, while I think crew is a big issue, seems there’s more to this as well.

Costa Fortuna has deployment cancelled from April 2023 to April 2024, which was due to take over for Costa Venezia in the Eastern Mediterranean. 
 

Wonder what the plan is now…
 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28528-costa-cancels-majority-of-fortuna-s-cruises-for-2023-and-2024.html

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Carnival Corp doesn't have as many. HAL and Princess, for example, both lost multiple ships.

While I doubt either of those brands will lose anymore ships for the time being, Carnival will probably pick up a few more Costa ships to get them back in service. 

Basically whatever Carnival doesn't offload in Miami, is the property of the scrapyard. They usually keep the bell and coin, not sure what else. 

18 hours ago, toad455 said:

I know it's leaving the fleet because it would be required to go into drydock, but I don't see the Spirit selling well out of Mobile. They really should have kept the Ecstasy and kept her in Mobile for a few more years.

Her mechanics are probably pretty worn out and would probably just be a waste to throw more money into it, 30 years old seems to be the stopping point. 
 

I don’t see why Spirit wouldn’t sell well, she only holds an extra 100 passengers give or take. 
 

3 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

I wonder why they didn't put the Elation in Mobile and Spirit in JAX. I guess they feel like the balconies will do better in Mobile.

Probably a test run, since Mobile moves to being a seasonal homeport for the time being. 

1 hour ago, RD64 said:

An interesting thought - now that you have put it out there - a Costa /Aida merger definitely would make sense.

1 hour ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

What I would like better is if Costa was dissolved into Carnival, all the ships are in the same classes as the Carnival ships so they would be similar and work well

Merger into AIDA really wouldn’t make sense, now a merger into Carnival, as they share the same classes between them would and it seems Carnival is laying out the ground work with Costa by Carnival; just create a super fleet.

Curious to know what will be auctioned off. 

17 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

I am curious now, what artifacts do you have from Fantasy? I would have loved to have had something - anything - from the Cat's Lounge.

I have Fantasy’s Guys Burger sign, one of the deck plans from deck 10 (lido) and Inspiration’s Serenity sign.