cjknox

Interesting topic. 

From a pure hardware standpoint Carnival made the mistake of taking a conservative route by building Destiny class variants from 2002-2019 (Conquest, Splendor, Dream, Vista classes). That's nearly 20 years of essentially the same design. Mardi Gras was really the first groundbreaking Carnival design since Destiny or Spirit. If Mardi Gras came out in 2009 instead of Dream, Carnival would be in a more competitive position.

Other competitors like Royal were consistently pushing the envelope with each new class (Freedom, Oasis, Quantum) giving them a more unique (competitive) fleet mix.

Carnival will likely do a combination of three things in response:

1) Further refurbishments for vessels they plan to keep for >5 years.

2) Bring newer hardware from other lines (Costa, Aida).

3) Competitive newbuilds.

Josh Weinstein is the CEO of Carnival Corporation (Christine Duffy's boss). I'm assuming that he's referring to a price increase across the board. In other words, price increases will be across all brands.

On 12/31/2020 at 10:08 AM, ninjacat123 said:

Just curious, I went to Carnival's site to look up MG sailings, did a search by ship name and noticed all of Carnival's ships are titled "Carnival Legend" or "Carnival Conquest" for example but Mardi Gras is without the Carnival title.  Anyone know why?  TIA!

The original Mardi Gras never had the Carnival prefix. The original Carnival Celebration had it added later on. Since these are second generation vessels they'll reflect the names of the original ones.

(Mods don't panic at the title 🤣)

One of my favorite aspects of cruising is hearing the ships blast their horns; especially at each other.

Since we're all stuck at home, this is the next best thing (loud audio warning):

23 hours ago, Tapi said:

With Carnival Fascination headed to the scrapyard, and Royal Caribbean sending Freedom of the Seas to Bayonne seasonally, it seemed like San Juan was destined to have zero ships during  the 2021 summer season and would become a seasonal market. 
 

It’s now reported that Royal has reversed course and will now reposition Vision of the Seas (originally scheduled to sail in Europe) to San Juan, returning years round service to San Juan. Until the other cruise lines return in the fall, Royal Caribbean will now be the only cruise lines sailing from San Juan, owning the market 100% during that time.
 

So it seems like Royal Caribbean is taking full advantage of Carnival’s decision to scrap the Fascination and leave San Juan vacant. I know that a lot of people will be glad to have a summer option to sail the Southern Caribbean again. 
 

Thoughts?  

Not surprising at all Tapio.

Clearly with a smaller fleet Carnival is focusing on more robust routes. The shift from Royal makes sense if they can increase demand with CCL competition gone.

Festivale or Tropicale

Carnivale will be skipped because it will be known as the "Carnival Carnivale" and that would be very confusing.

On 7/24/2020 at 4:31 AM, ch09 said:

The Fantasy was built in Helsinki, so this is the first time that the Fantasy has been in the Mediterranean Sea.

Very good observation! The entire Fantasy class was built extremely well and Fantasy itself could've lasted for another 20 - 40 years. Speaking of Helsinki, here are some old construction photos from way back when:

40 minutes ago, quattrohead said:

It will be scrapped, no doubt.

I had this thought earlier today.

Even though the Victory is still relatively new, it's already been gutted and the tens of millions needed to get it into service condition can't be justified at the moment. Makes financial sense to do it.

8 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Good point on the Sunrise, and welcome baccck, have not seen you posting here in a LONG time.

Thanks Jimbo, I usually lurk; always enjoy your posts BTW.

What an entertaining thread.

Taking a step back for a moment, I've never seen Carnival ships as rusty as they've been recently which indicates to me that there is an underlying issue. However, unlike some I do not believe it's due to poor maintenance.

For example, the "new" Carnival Sunrise which just left dry dock less than 1 year ago already has extensive rust, specifically concentrated along the waterline and lower hull sections. Even a few months after in mid-2019 I noticed she had several rust spots.

Several Carnival ships exhibit this exact rust pattern (including smaller spots on balconies) which is also suspect. Even the hulls seem to be "yellowing" where there are not clear indications of rust, further indicating a paint coating corruption issue.

Paint vendors often tout "new formulas", which can be easily created; it seems Carnival tried one and it's causing this. 

Unfortunately, as others have correctly stated, due to regulations and the multi-step removal process rectifying this is not simple which is only compounding the issue. 

All I have to do is go out my front door, walk a couple of blocks and I'm there! 

Shortest commute to a Carnival cruise ever.

Asking "for a friend"

When you cruise, do you feel a sense of pride when:

1. Your ship is the largest in port
2. Your ship has the most top deck amenities (waterslides, gokarts, etc)

If so, why? If not, why?

Stayed in the GS last August when the Horizon was sailing out of NYC.

As for number of outlets, I don't recall the exact number but there were outlets/usb ports by the desk, outlets in the changing room, by the bed and couch, and bathrooms. In all, there were around 10 outlets and 2 usb ports IIRC.

Oh wow, just propulsion or are hotel functions and hvac down too?

Let's not have a Triumph 2.0.....

Fantasy class, I like the "classic" feel they have. 

Hi Smokey,

Yes cabin pictures are sparse so far but here is a link with some you may be looking at.

https://www.cruisemapper.com/cabins/Iona-1858

On 3/4/2019 at 12:08 PM, Saint Greg said:

 

Found it

 

Yep you're correct, it's been a while since I've seen the movie haha.

Just kidding, the Carnival Triumph was in "Gone in 60 Seconds" during the final chase scene in NYC. 

The Carnival Festivale in the hit tv series "The Love Boat"

8 hours ago, xDisconnections said:

.......I have a Carnival cruise booked for November......

Hell has frozen over and pigs have flown!

I can't believe what I'm reading.

Here are some other renderings:

I would've really liked to see what Joe Farcus would've done with this ship. But it looks great regardless.

On 12/24/2018 at 7:40 PM, Tapi said:

I love trying new ships. But in my humble opinion, newest doesn’t always translate into the best option. 

Neither does bigger mean better Tapui

2 hours ago, Moviela said:

 

Only the ones that should not!

Funny how life works huh? 😁

14 minutes ago, xDisconnections said:

Cameron, I would have taken you as a passenger who would want a floating amusement park on Carnival. Guess not.

Takes one to know one Dave.

3 hours ago, eroller said:

Well now we have the first floating roller coaster on MARDI GRAS.  I’ve read many comments from Carnival diehards over the years about how they refuse to sail Royal Caribbean because it’s a “floating amusement park”.  Well a roller coaster is about as floating amusement park as you get.  Will they put their noses up at this or decide it’s somehow different because it’s Carnival?   

There are 24 other ships in the fleet. I think those of us who don't like this trend will be just fine Ernie. 😉

Personally, these things don't stop me from sailing the mega ships; but I could see how others would avoid them. Good news there are hundreds of other cruise ships out there without roller coasters or ziplines and flowriders.

In addition, I don't think many have said they would "never cruise Royal Caribbean" because of these things, just specifically the Oasis class, which again is understandable.