End of Fantasy Class

[Pyxie]

This may have been discussed already, and I know it will be nothing but speculation, but what is your guess as to when the last Fantasy class ships will be officially retired? Right now, Elation is the only ship in Jacksonville, but that doesn't necessarily stop anything because Ecstasy was the only ship in Mobile. They'll now be without a ship for a year.

 

Partially curious because Elation was my first ship and whenever they do announce her retirement, I'd like to send her off on her last sailing (as bittersweet as that may be). 

 

Also, of the remaining ships, which do you think will go first?

[crazycatlady82]

I've been wondering this too! Not sure what updates the Elation has had, but the Paradise had what appeared to be very few updates. Not even a Steakhouse!

 

[talkorpi]

IIRC, both ships recently had pretty extensive refurbishments.  Completely overhauled the MDR, updated cabins with new carpet and fixtures, and added an entire extra deck up top.  I feel like these still have a good few years left in them doing short runs in the Caribbean.  Doubtful if we will see them for 10 more years however.

[dolphinsfan246]

If I had to venture a total guess , I’d say they go out sometime in 2026-2028. Also let us not forget that the oldest ship in the fleet is now the Carnival Sunshine (1996) . So I’m more interested to see how much longer she lasts even though she had a major refurb in 2013, but old engines are still old engines, which was the sole reason Ecstasy was retired without being able to find a buyer. 

[Indytraveler83]

Our of pure speculation, I'd suggest Carnival will look to retire remaining ships at 30 years old or so, which would give the Elation another 6 years or so.

 

It'll be curious to see as another person mentioned as to whether the Sunshine or the Elation is the next to go. 

[Guest BasicSailor]

I wonder if John H, is next to go 🤓

[thecruiserofships]

I think the Carnival Elation and Carnival Paradise will be around until 2026 or later. Right now the Carnival Elation has a dry-dock scheduled in early 2023 and the Carnival Paradise in the later part of 2023. This should buy each ship another 2-3 years unless Carnival's plans change (which could happen). The Carnival Sunshine went to dry-dock in 2021 and currently does not have a future dry-dock publicly announced yet. 

Dry-Dock Schedule: http://www.embarkandaway.com/carnival-drydock-schedule.html 

[bguppies]

4 hours ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

If I had to venture a total guess , I’d say they go out sometime in 2026-2028. Also let us not forget that the oldest ship in the fleet is now the Carnival Sunshine (1996) . So I’m more interested to see how much longer she lasts even though she had a major refurb in 2013, but old engines are still old engines, which was the sole reason Ecstasy was retired without being able to find a buyer. 

Haven't been on a Fantasy class ship in awhile, but being on the Sunshine a few weeks ago, I'd say Carnival shouldn't put any more money into refurbs on her.

She is in pretty bad shape.

A lot of rusty spots and rusty loose doorhandles, etc. Holes in the balcony floor, etc.

 

I'm curious to see how the Pride is in a few weeks.

[dolphinsfan246]

14 hours ago, bguppies said:

Haven't been on a Fantasy class ship in awhile, but being on the Sunshine a few weeks ago, I'd say Carnival shouldn't put any more money into refurbs on her.

She is in pretty bad shape.

A lot of rusty spots and rusty loose doorhandles, etc. Holes in the balcony floor, etc.

 

I'm curious to see how the Pride is in a few weeks.

I’ve read multiple posts on here that the Pride is in the same condition as you just mentioned on Sunshine. Those years off from Covid really put them behind on basic maintenance. And I still feel like each ship is still very under staffed. Sad , I wonder if we will ever get back to way it was before.