Costa Magica to Carnival Fleet

[brilliantseas]

On 1/27/2022 at 10:03 PM, jsglow said:

They HAVE been quiet, haven't they? The thought that she picks up the European itineraries isn't a bad one.  She can't serve in Tampa or Baltimore as she's too tall I believe.  So leaving Pride and Legend where they are, or (maybe flip flopping them). Carnival will want to showcase her in the same way they 'hyped' Radiance.  I wonder if they are waiting on how the Sunshining schedule might fit before making any commitments.

 

That actually sounds like a great way to launch the ship, although I imagine there might be some uproar from those who booked the Pride. In normal times, I could see them adding a second ship to the European summer season, but demand seems weak as Americans are still somewhat hesitant to travel abroad and the European brands are already dealing with weak domestic demand. 

 

New York is one option. Sending Magica to Port Canaveral to take over for Elation and homeporting Elation as a third ship in Tampa is another. Tampa seems to demand a premium over the other Florida ports for similar itineraries if they have additional space available at the piers on desirable sailing days? 

[Aplmac]

On 1/28/2022 at 1:46 AM, vwrestler171 said:

 Part of me wonders if it will go back to San Juan

and restart the (Southern Caribbean) cruises from there.  

 

From your mouth to God's ear!!

Folks in Barbados on chomping on the bit...

 

They gotta change that bolt-upright yellow funnel though..

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

21 hours ago, tidecat said:

The conservative position would be to send Costa Magica to Port Canaveral, Elation to Mobile, and sell Sensation or Ecstasy (with Sensation to Jax if Ecstasy is sold).

 

Carnival Spirit and Carnival Splendor are also still idle.

Not sure if any cruise line would be interested in buying ships in a pandemic. Carnival Sensation was on the market for years and never sold. What's left of the Fantasy class now being, Paradise, Elation, Sensation, Ecstasy 

[tidecat]

3 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

Not sure if any cruise line would be interested in buying ships in a pandemic. Carnival Sensation was on the market for years and never sold. What's left of the Fantasy class now being, Paradise, Elation, Sensation, Ecstasy 

I was thinking that one of Sensation/Ecstasy - which will be due for drydock by 2023 anyway - would be sold to a recycler at a minimum. If another operator steps in, even better. The reality is that the ships are older, and still have a relatively low number of balconies.

[vwrestler171]

On 1/28/2022 at 7:43 AM, BlerkOne said:

Celebration was a present to Carnival - who gave Viva to NCL?

I thought Jubilee was the present to Carnival, not Celebration?

[tidecat]

2 hours ago, vwrestler171 said:

I thought Jubilee was the present to Carnival, not Celebration?

Yes, Jubilee was originally supposed to be a sister ship to AIDAnova and AIDAcosma.

[xDisconnections]

On 1/28/2022 at 2:50 AM, SNJCruisers said:

For those that like to cruise on old rust buckets, yes there will be that niche for Carnival to fill with the regurgitated Costa Magica at cut rate prices. 

 

That ship will be a pass for me.

[Guest BasicSailor]

3 hours ago, tidecat said:

I was thinking that one of Sensation/Ecstasy - which will be due for drydock by 2023 anyway - would be sold to a recycler at a minimum. If another operator steps in, even better. The reality is that the ships are older, and still have a relatively low number of balconies.

Agree, it's along my thinking as well. 

[Earthworm Jim]

On 1/28/2022 at 2:03 AM, BasicSailor said:

I still think it's the wrong time to be adding ships to the fleet, but we will see.

 

How is Carnival  Corporation switching a ship from one of their brands to another adding a ship to their fleet? They are just doing an internal shift of their assets to where they think they can be used most efficiently.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Earthworm Jim

[Guest BasicSailor]

13 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

13 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

How is Carnival  Corporation switching a ship from one of their brands to another adding a ship to their fleet? They are just doing an internal shift of their assets to where they think they can be used most efficiently.

Yep, that's all their doing. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by BasicSailor

[CeleBrat]

We have sailed several Costa ships, and so I can attest that several of the Costa ships have the exact same layout (floor plan?) as some of the Carnival ships.  Down to the placement of the lounges, and strange under-the-theater forward walkways, and atriums.

Edited January 30, 2022 by CeleBrat

[Guest BasicSailor]

8 minutes ago, CeleBrat said:

We have sailed several Costa ships, and so I can attest that several of the Costa ships have the exact same layout (floor plan?) as some of the Carnival ships.  Down to the placement of the lounges, and strange under-the-theater forward walkways, and atriums.

Curious as to what you think may be the difference in the ships other than layout, clientele?

The way Costa operates their cruises?

[maryann2]

2 hours ago, CeleBrat said:

We have sailed several Costa ships, and so I can attest that several of the Costa ships have the exact same layout (floor plan?) as some of the Carnival ships.  Down to the placement of the lounges, and strange under-the-theater forward walkways, and atriums.

I have sailed on several Costa ships too and agree they have the same layouts. Even have the same furniture.

[maryann2]

2 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

Curious as to what you think may be the difference in the ships other than layout, clientele?

The way Costa operates their cruises?

Really great itineraries. One of my cruises left from Mauritius then Seychelles ,Oman, Suez canal,  Aqaba Jordan for Petra, Eilat Israel, Crete etc ending in Rome.

My last cruise with them pre-covid in 2019 was from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sri Lanka, India ,Oman Suez Canal etc again.

Not the usual Carnival Caribbean.

Also I travel solo and Costa has really good solo prices.

[xDisconnections]

3 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

Curious as to what you think may be the difference in the ships other than layout, clientele?

The way Costa operates their cruises?

Decor, brand standards and guest experience.

Edited January 30, 2022 by xDisconnections

[Guest BasicSailor]

2 minutes ago, ChC said:

 

Some ships makes you feel like in a Carnival ship. As some are the same class of Carnival ships. Even the cabin layout, the sofa material used in the cabin are the same of Carnival.

 

The noticeable difference is the lower quality of live music. On one of the around the world cruise (Costa Diamema I think) I took with Costa, they seriously lack of onboard live music option. One of the ship's senior officer's wife and another member of the family (another family I believe) took the liberty to perform live classic music as the evening entertainment. I hate to say the quality is seriously lacking, amateurish, worse than a county music instructor's recital. Even for me this lacking of music ears person, I can tell some of the notes were seriously wrong. Yet some of the Italian and Spanish passengers seems to enjoy it. Why not? But I don't think it is right for a cruise ship company.

 

The second noticeable difference is food and beverage option. For one thing the portion is smaller. The meat served is not very good. For instance, the steak is at best described as ramp steak pretend to be Ribeye. Very thin slice as well. The veal was not satisfactory neither. Lots of cheese, tomato and cream sourced dish in my memory. The food was OK but you are constantly remind yourself that it is not the quality you had on a US or British line. For the price I paid, I wont complain. But people needs to be aware.

 

The third is staff. Staff member are very happy to speak English with you. Some of the cruises most passengers are non-English speaking Europeans. Pilipino crew members will make you feeling really welcomed as they finally can speak to someone with better English language skills. Please don't take it the wrong way. Many crew members are bi-lingual or even more lingual than I would ever be. But after a while they can really talk to someone without being worried of speaking the wrong things. That makes their day. You don't get the enthusiasm you see on a Carnival cruise. But friends can be made and some unusual crew talk/gossip/complaints can be heard.

 

Cliental, depends on cruise type. In the longer (9 days plus) or exotic itineraries, you get a lot of retired professional people from Italy, Spain and France. That is followed by Germany and Portuguese. Lots of British on some itineraries as well. But generally smaller group. In the Mediterranean short hop public bus style cruise (with multiple embarkation points), you get to see a lot of 35-50 first timer southern European cruisers and family cruisers. They are generally not into much drinking like US or British cruisers. Lots of people in the bars and lounges occasionally but all very moderate. I have to say people are friendly but to a point. They tend to stay within their comfort zone.

Now that's very informative. Thank You.

[CeleBrat]

On 1/30/2022 at 12:18 PM, BasicSailor said:

Curious as to what you think may be the difference in the ships other than layout, clientele?

The way Costa operates their cruises?

In addition to what the other posters shared, I was say that Costa feels VERY European.  There is a pasta as a starter with every dinner.  The entertainment is not "main show" style.  Rather, it will be a Cirque type show focusing on juggling and balancing. 

[Cruisertoday]

I think that the Magica could possibly sail out of Australia under Carnival once cruising finally resumes from the country as the Spirit has been redeployed to JAX. 

[ch09]

3 hours ago, Cruisertoday said:

I think that the Magica could possibly sail out of Australia under Carnival once cruising finally resumes from the country as the Spirit has been redeployed to JAX. 

The Magica also has the tender boats that most Carnival ships besides the Spirit class and Splendor has due to it being originally ordered for Costa. This alone would make her a good candidate for Australia as the Magica is just sitting off the coast of Italy, so it can be done when Australia gives the go ahead.

[CruiseAdict218]

I'm excited for the ship, hoping it comes to NY either seasonally or year-round. Either way I think the ship will look great, despite any age reservations.

[brilliantseas]

7 hours ago, Cruisertoday said:

I think that the Magica could possibly sail out of Australia under Carnival once cruising finally resumes from the country as the Spirit has been redeployed to JAX. 

 

Now that is an EXCELLENT idea! It does raise the question of what Carnival does with the displaced ship in the U.S. Having the Spirit or an extra Fantasy class ship available opens up more opportunities vs. basing a re-branded Magica on the east coast. 

• Third ship out of Tampa? 
  • Pier space in Tampa on the prime weekend days might pose a challenge. The 4 and 5 night sailings tend to sell at a premium to PC and Miami due to less competition.
• Second ship out of Baltimore?
  • Baltimore seems to produce very healthy revenue summer through Fall, but the port facility has limited parking. I'm not sure if they have the infrastructure to support a third ship, but a second ship based in Baltimore would allow them to offer Bahamas and Bermuda or Bahamas and New England sailings simultaneously. 
• New home port? 
  • New York is already getting Carnival Magic for the summer, with brief spring and fall seasons out of Norfolk. Do they extend the Norfolk season with Spirit, Sensation, or Ecstasy? Spirit might also be able to compete in the New York market. I don't see them sending a Fantasy class ship to New York, but Norfolk might work?
• Permanent Carnival Journeys Ship?
  • Carnival Spirit would make an excellent Journeys vessel to sail unique itineraries at premium rates from multiple U.S. ports on a year-round basis.
• Restart San Juan (2023 and beyond?)
  • San Juan was downgraded from Victory to Fascination prior to the pandemic, but I think Carnival still wants to have a presence in this market once Puerto Rico has removed travel restrictions and the overall worldwide cruise market recovers. I don't think Spirit or Sensation will land here, but it may see Elation in the fall of 2023, after Vista departs Galveston to join Mardi Gras and Liberty in Port Canaveral. 

I don't see them resuming Fort Lauderdale sailings or adding another ship to PC or Miami in the near future as yields seem to be challenged in the near term. The same could be said for Galveston and New Orleans. Mobile demand is restricted by the small airport and likely will never support more than a single ship. Jacksonville and Charleston have slightly more access, but likely still can't support a second ship, especially with JAX sharing a catchment area with Port Canaveral. West Coast performance appears to be dismal since the restart. Unless it is for Hawaii/Alaska sailings, I don't see Carnival adding capacity out of California anytime soon. 

[tidecat]

 

9 hours ago, Cruisertoday said:

I think that the Magica could possibly sail out of Australia under Carnival once cruising finally resumes from the country as the Spirit has been redeployed to JAX. 

It probably wouldn't cost much to add Australian power ports to crew and passengers cabins - especially if adding US ports were already in the works. Having a larger ship ready to go down under will probably also help with what is likely to be stupid levels of pent-up demand.

 

Carnival isn't restarting in Australia to at least June anyway, so it might make sense to push it back for the Magica drydock, and wait for spring (September) in the southern hemisphere.

 

It might also not hurt to make Magica as Alaska-ready as possible, as Miracle is compatible with the height-restricted ports on the East and Gulf Coasts. Miracle would also be more useful for kicking the tires in San Juan, Norfolk, and/or New York.

[shof515]

6 hours ago, brilliantseas said:

• New home port? 
  • New York is already getting Carnival Magic for the summer, with brief spring and fall seasons out of Norfolk. Do they extend the Norfolk season with Spirit, Sensation, or Ecstasy? Spirit might also be able to compete in the New York market. I don't see them sending a Fantasy class ship to New York, but Norfolk might work?

Back in 2020, the Carnival Legend another spirit class ship was suppose to sail out of New York. Then covid canceled all of those sailings. My first cruise was on the Miracle out of New York back in the day. i would love to go on another spirit class ship again

[toad455]

With the news if the Sensation not returning and the Ecstasy leaving in October, I wonder if the Magica could sail out of Jacksonville? Could a dry dock enabled Carnival to get the ship to fit to sail out of there?

[brilliantseas]

15 minutes ago, toad455 said:

With the news if the Sensation not returning and the Ecstasy leaving in October, I wonder if the Magica could sail out of Jacksonville? Could a dry dock enabled Carnival to get the ship to fit to sail out of there?

 

Since Magica needs a new funnel to fit the Carnival look, I suppose they could come up with a retractable system, similar to what the RCCL Oasis class has to fit under certain bridges. They don't want a permanent short stack as the primary purpose is to carry the gasses and ash up and away from the passenger decks. The whale tail shape makes this more difficult as the stacks are positioned horizontally rather than vertically in the whale tails. The question is, why would they spend the money and deal with the mechanical headaches of a retractable system when they already have the Spirit class ships that can fit under the bridges in JAX, TPA, and BWI?