Costa Magica to Carnival Fleet

[CarnivalShips480]

14 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

What does that tell us?

Nothing really. Just a new place to hang out for Magica

[KmomChicago]

With some of the issues and changing dry dock schedules I wonder if they may go ahead and step up this transition now after all.

[CarnivalShips480]

What does everyone want the name to be?

 

I like Carnival Brilliance

[toad455]

Carnival Sunset

 

Makes me wonder when they'll actually announce the name and when it'll actually join the fleet.

[Pellaz]

On 6/7/2022 at 11:53 AM, toad455 said:

Carnival Sunset

 

Ehh.  "Sunset" implies the ending of a good thing, to me.  They may well use that name anyway, but it would always get a mental asterisk in my mind ("no, not REALLY the end!") when I heard it.  

[mz-s]

I think it'll be the Carnival Magica so they don't have to change out all the interior signage and the Captain can just scribble over "Costa" on his business cards.

[toad455]

Would they really have the Carnival Magic and Carnival Magica? Might confuse people.

[CarnivalShips480]

15 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

Ehh.  "Sunset" implies the ending of a good thing, to me.  They may well use that name anyway, but it would always get a mental asterisk in my mind ("no, not REALLY the end!") when I heard it.  

 

39 minutes ago, toad455 said:

Would they really have the Carnival Magic and Carnival Magica? Might confuse people.

Agree with both of you.

 

What does everyone think of this name: Carnival Sky

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, toad455 said:

Would they really have the Carnival Magic and Carnival Magica? Might confuse people.

 

I was being facetious considering how little Carnival has done to their ships since COVID (outside of the Radiance). I sort of expected Shaq's Big Chicken to expand to other ships outside of Radiance and Mardi Gras since so many of Carnival's ships have been drydocked over the past year or so. But they've done very little to them aside from the new hull paint.

[tidecat]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

 

I was being facetious considering how little Carnival has done to their ships since COVID (outside of the Radiance). I sort of expected Shaq's Big Chicken to expand to other ships outside of Radiance and Mardi Gras since so many of Carnival's ships have been drydocked over the past year or so. But they've done very little to them aside from the new hull paint.

The newer ships need something more distinctive. Of course, with the exception of the newbuilds, Shaq's Big Chicken is replacing existing venues, not an actual addition. Now that Mardi Gras and Radiance are actually sailing, and there is actual customer feedback, this might encourage Carnival to retrofit other ships with it. The fact it produces no revenue per se also probably has hampered its expansion.

 

It would be curious to see if Carnival puts Big Chicken on any ship meant for Australian service, which may or may not include Costa Magica. I personally think the Vista class would likely be next, but it would probably require other changes including moving the pizzeria or Seafood Shack. I could even see the sports bar getting canned as a separate venue to accommodate that, as the TVs could be moved into Guy's Pig & Anchor and/or Ocean Plaza, which happens to have a bar of its own.

[Guest BasicSailor]

2 hours ago, tidecat said:

The newer ships need something more distinctive. Of course, with the exception of the newbuilds, Shaq's Big Chicken is replacing existing venues, not an actual addition. Now that Mardi Gras and Radiance are actually sailing, and there is actual customer feedback, this might encourage Carnival to retrofit other ships with it. The fact it produces no revenue per se also probably has hampered its expansion.

 

It would be curious to see if Carnival puts Big Chicken on any ship meant for Australian service, which may or may not include Costa Magica. I personally think the Vista class would likely be next, but it would probably require other changes including moving the pizzeria or Seafood Shack. I could even see the sports bar getting canned as a separate venue to accommodate that, as the TVs could be moved into Guy's Pig & Anchor and/or Ocean Plaza, which happens to have a bar of its own.

 It's certainly easy for me to see the logic in that. Carnival will want to keep the better attractions on their larger ships as well as their food options. I have to admit Celebration looks to be an awesome ship when completed. I do feel the smaller ships (What's left of them) even their older ships will be disassembled to make room for the newer, better ships. But still, I'm not a fan of these big builds with more people. If anything, this covid virus has taught us all a lesson one way or the other.

[mz-s]

13 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

 It's certainly easy for me to see the logic in that. Carnival will want to keep the better attractions on their larger ships as well as their food options. I have to admit Celebration looks to be an awesome ship when completed. I do feel the smaller ships (What's left of them) even their older ships will be disassembled to make room for the newer, better ships. But still, I'm not a fan of these big builds with more people. If anything, this covid virus has taught us all a lesson one way or the other.

 

As long as public space scales with guest counts it's fine. It just gives you more options to choose from I think. Like Mardi Gras, many people leave that ship after a week cruise saying they weren't able to do everything they wanted to do. A stark contrast to say Fantasy class where everything you could do on the ship was on basically two decks - Promenade and Lido.

[CarnivalShips480]

Check this out from Cruise Weekly:

 

"Carnival to add second ship this year Carnival Cruise Line is making plans to deploy a second ship
in the Australian market over the upcoming 2022/23 summer season, with the additional vessel
expected to operate out of the new Brisbane International Cruise Terminal.
The move was confirmed by President & Chief Executive Officer Christine Duffy (pictured),
who told Cruise Weekly she was excited about the Australian cruise restart and will be heading
to Sydney for the already announced inaugural postpandemic Carnival Splendor departure on 02 Oct this year.
Duffy wasn’t able to confirm exact details of the second ship, but the Carnival fleet is already
in the process of being expanded with the addition of the Costa Magica, which was transferred
to Carnival about a month ago and is undergoing a brand transformation and refit.
The new departures are not bookable yet, but Duffy hinted strongly the deployment would
happen “before the end of the year”.
Australia continues to be a strong focus for the cruise line, despite it being forced to
temporarily redeploy Carnival Splendor to Alaska due to the extended cruise ban imposed by
the Australian Government (CW 07 Feb)."

 

[end]

 

Costa Magica is a Carnival ship

Edited June 11, 2022 by CarnivalShips480

[tidecat]

Costa Magica briefly went into drydock in France, but came out less than two weeks later with no evidence of any changes being made. 

 

That was also before the Freedom incident and loss of Charleston as a homeport effective 2024. Staffing issues are being exacerbated due to delays in visa processing. Magica may remain out of service until 2023. I also would not be surprised if she gets renamed Carnival Sunshine, finishes out the contract in Charleston before heading to Brisbane, and the current one is off to Aliaga.

[toad455]

3 minutes ago, tidecat said:

Costa Magica briefly went into drydock in France, but came out less than two weeks later with no evidence of any changes being made. 

 

That was also before the Freedom incident and loss of Charleston as a homeport effective 2024. Staffing issues are being exacerbated due to delays in visa processing. Magica may remain out of service until 2023. I also would not be surprised if she gets renamed Carnival Sunshine, finishes out the contract in Charleston before heading to Brisbane, and the current one is off to Aliaga.

 

The old Destiny is renamed the Sunshine. Considering the $$$ Carnival spent to Sunshine the ship, I doubt it goes to the scrap yard anytime soon.

[tidecat]

14 minutes ago, toad455 said:

 

The old Destiny is renamed the Sunshine. Considering the $$$ Carnival spent to Sunshine the ship, I doubt it goes to the scrap yard anytime soon.

That was in 2013. It's possible Carnival may be carrying some of that cost on the books, but I would think that would be fully depreciated as of 2023, if not sooner. She also would be due for drydock in late 2024, so it may not be worth spending a few million dollars to avoid writing off the remaining book value (remember the cash for those costs was spent in 2013).  

 

Now if Sunshine is still sailing profitably, then she needs to be sent to drydock in 2024 and move to a new homeport. If Jacksonville can support a second ship, or if Norfolk can support one year-round, there may be an opportunity there (although Jacksonville's second ship would have to be Spirit class, which will require lots of ship dancing)

[Jamman54]

My first thought is that they will name this refurb the Carnival Brilliance, but do they really want to mirror another name of a Royal Caribbean ship?  I say they should pay homage to the first "Super Liner", the Holiday! 

[SRQbeachgirl]

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

My first thought is that they will name this refurb the Carnival Brilliance, but do they really want to mirror another name of a Royal Caribbean ship?  I say they should pay homage to the first "Super Liner", the Holiday! 

 

Our very first cruise was on the Holiday so I love that idea!

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, toad455 said:

 

The old Destiny is renamed the Sunshine. Considering the $$$ Carnival spent to Sunshine the ship, I doubt it goes to the scrap yard anytime soon.

 

The Sunshine renovation was nearly 10 years ago and Carnival really hasn't touched the ship since aside from the required drydocks. The sports bar has had busted TVs in it for years now, for example.

[KmomChicago]

4 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

As long as public space scales with guest counts it's fine. It just gives you more options to choose from I think. Like Mardi Gras, many people leave that ship after a week cruise saying they weren't able to do everything they wanted to do. A stark contrast to say Fantasy class where everything you could do on the ship was on basically two decks - Promenade and Lido.

 

I agree; overall we are Carnival people and Mardi Gras was easily the best ship for us. The only other ship we ever liked more was RCI's Oasis of the Seas. There are, so far, no downsides for us to the larger ships with more activities and options.

[CarnivalShips480]

3 hours ago, tidecat said:

Costa Magica briefly went into drydock in France, but came out less than two weeks later with no evidence of any changes being made. 

 

That was also before the Freedom incident and loss of Charleston as a homeport effective 2024. Staffing issues are being exacerbated due to delays in visa processing. Magica may remain out of service until 2023. I also would not be surprised if she gets renamed Carnival Sunshine, finishes out the contract in Charleston before heading to Brisbane, and the current one is off to Aliaga.

I don't mean it was transformed to a Carnival ship, but Carnival considers Magica as being in its fleet. This is also shown in the annual report.

 

I don't think Sunshine will be scrapped. I went on it and it was spectacular!

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

I don't mean it was transformed to a Carnival ship, but Carnival considers Magica as being in its fleet. This is also shown in the annual report.

 

I don't think Sunshine will be scrapped. I went on it and it was spectacular!

 

I don't think Sunshine will be scrapped any time soon - but I do think she'll be next on the chopping block.

[Itried4498]

As I’ve written before, Carnival is paying $2B in additional annual interest expense, and has its hands full in securing financing for its ships currently being constructed, as well as principal on much of the debt it took on during the pandemic.

 

It’ll be awhile before Carnival is able to renew its fleet, and I’ll bet that transformations in the near future will be minimal (for example, the Costa Magica will probably receive Carnival branding throughout the ship, but will still largely look like the Costa Magica).  
 

If people want experiences, the Mardi Gras and Celebration are available.  If they’re looking for a nice cruise on a leisurely weekend, the Spirit, Sunshine, Paradise, etc. will do just fine.  While the experiences are nice to have, for many, they’re not “must haves.”

[vwrestler171]

On 6/10/2022 at 12:26 AM, Pellaz said:

 

Ehh.  "Sunset" implies the ending of a good thing, to me.  They may well use that name anyway, but it would always get a mental asterisk in my mind ("no, not REALLY the end!") when I heard it.  

 

Could be the end of "Sunshining" ships.

 

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

I don't think Sunshine will be scrapped any time soon - but I do think she'll be next on the chopping block.

 

I think they will get rid of the rest of the Fantasy class ships before Sunshine.  They pretty much redid everything during the transformation, so the only thing that wasn't redone was the hull.

[mz-s]

Just now, vwrestler171 said:

 

Could be the end of "Sunshining" ships.

 

 

I think they will get rid of the rest of the Fantasy class ships before Sunshine.  They pretty much redid everything during the transformation, so the only thing that wasn't redone was the hull.

 

The Fantasy class ships that remain (at least after October when Ecstasy leaves the fleet) are actually younger than Sunshine. The renovation didn't reset her age, she's still nearing 30 years old. I don't think any of these ships will be sailing for Carnival in 10 years, but all I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised to see Sunshine be the first to go.