How long does Carnival keep ships in service

[mac4cruise]

How long does Carnival keeps ships in service before selling them off and with the new Freedom due out next spring is this the largest the fleet has ever been.:confused:

[DqALEX]

Yep this is the largest carnival fleet has every been. Soon I think we will start to see some of the carnival ships go. How many can you have doing the same ports? No one knows what ships will go, but I think it will be the Destiny.

[salty dingo]

Keep in mind that, while the big ships have a lot to offer, they cannot go many places a small ship can go.

 

Think of the difference between a Learjet and a 747... the Lear can go to a whole lot more places because there are only so many airports that can handle the big ship.

 

So if you are looking for a floating palace, and the selection of ports is secondary, big ships rule. But for some different, more exotic ports, the smaller ships can get you there.

[Traveler353]

How long does Carnival keeps ships in service before selling them off and with the new Freedom due out next spring is this the largest the fleet has ever been.:confused:

 

In answer to your first question, the "Holiday" has been around since the early 80's. She is oldest serving cruiseship sailing out of a US port, I believe.

[Cruzman]

There is no hard and fast rule about this, but I expect that as long as a ship remains profitable, Carnival will keep it. If management believes that it would be more profitable to sell/transfer a ship to another brand, and reinvest in a newer vessel, I suspect that they will do so.

[salty dingo]

I am sure there is some point where the maintenance costs of an older ship outweigh the benefits of keeping it.

 

I was watching the saga of the NCL Norway - definitely a big ship, but an old one. She sits rotting now on the beach in Alang because neither NCL nor any other company in the world thought it was economical to do anything else but scrap her. Sad, but true.

[BrendaB1]

In answer to your first question, the "Holiday" has been around since the early 80's. She is oldest serving cruiseship sailing out of a US port, I believe.

 

Celebration is also still around and the same class of ship.

[Fun~N~Sun]

What does Carnival do with ships once they retire them?

[DqALEX]

What does Carnival do with ships once they retire them?

They move them to another line that they own, or sell them. They moved the Carnival Tropicale to Costa line.

[Cruzman]

The last ship to be "retired" was the Jubilee. She was refurbished and transferred to Carnival Corp's P&O brand; renamed the Pacific Sun and is sailing in the Australia/South Pacific area I believe.

[zaandam_2]

i'd like to see carnival do more exoctic itineraries with some of the smaller ships. there's only so much demand for the carribean. sure its nice and all, but i've been there several times.

[DqALEX]

i'd like to see carnival do more exoctic itineraries with some of the smaller ships. there's only so much demand for the carribean. sure its nice and all, but i've been there several times.

I agree. More ports would be great. Just think Cuba one day