Carnival Accepts Delivery of Horizon

Posted on 3 April, 2018 by Spacejunkie2

Rendering of Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Horizon — PHOTO: Rendering of Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Horizon. (photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line)

Carnival Cruise Line’s new flagship, Carnival Horizon, was presented today at the Fincantieri’s shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. Carnival Corporation Chairman Micky Arison, as well as Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy, attended the ceremony.

A sister ship to the Carnival Vista, the 3,954-passenger Carnival Horizon features an IMAX Theatre, craft brewery and smokehouse, teppanyaki restaurant, ropes course and Dr. Seuss-themed water park.

And that’s not to mention the Havana staterooms and suites, which include exclusive daytime access to a Cuban-themed bar and pool.

Grammy award-winner and actress Queen Latifah will christen the ship in New York City on May 23. Thereafter, Carnival Horizon will operate Mediterranean sailings out of Barcelona. She’ll move to New York for a series of Bermuda and Caribbean cruises before beginning six-night Caribbean sailings from Miami in the fall.

Another Vista-class vessel, Carnival Panorama, debuts in 2019. She’ll operate year-round from Southern California.

Carnival Horizon Presented by Fincantieri

Posted on 31 March, 2018 by Spacejunkie2

The Carnival Horizon was presented today at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Monfalcone to its ship owner, according to a press release.

The ceremony was attended, among others, for the shipowner, by Micky Arison, Chairman of Carnival Corporation, and Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line, while Fincantieri was represented by Giampiero Massolo, Chairman and Giuseppe Bono, CEO.

The Carnival Horizon was built at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Marghera and is a sister ship to the Carnival Vista. The ship is 133,500 tons and 323 meters long.

Fincantieri has built 81 cruise ships since 1990, 64 of which were for Carnival’s different brands.

Teen gets Carnival cruise in a swap for a Snapchat handle

Posted on 31 March, 2018 by Spacejunkie2

Knowing that Darian Lipscomb likes to cruise, Carnival dangled the possibility of a sailing on the new Carnival Horizon in exchange for the Snapchat rights to @CarnivalCruise.Who owns the Snapchat handle @CarnivalCruise?

It wasn’t Carnival Cruise Line.

Instead, it was a teen in Prospect, Va., who had been on four cruises and named his Snapchat after his favourite brand in 2012 when he was 9 years old.

Needless to say, the social media handle @CarnivalCruise was of some value to Miami-based Carnival. But what would entice Darian Lipscomb, now 16, to part with the name?

Carnival put on a full-court press, using its latest promotional tool, chief fun officer Shaquille O’Neal, on billboards and a mobile advertising truck, which it dispatched to Prospect.

“Hey Prospect, Does Anyone Know Darian?” said the mobile ads, listing Shaq’s own social media handle as the place to respond.

Knowing that Darian likes to cruise, Carnival dangled the possibility of a sailing on the new Carnival Horizon in exchange for the Snapchat rights to @CarnivalCruise.

The day after the billboards hit the street, Carnival surprised Lipscomb in person at his home, to officially extend the invitation for him and his family to sail aboard the Carnival Horizon.

It worked.

Carnival has the @CarnivalCruise handle in time to use it to promote the Horizon’s debut next month in the Mediterranean.

And Lipscomb will depart for Barcelona on March 31 for his first cruise in Europe. Carnival plans to make him the first passenger to board the cruise and promises surprises for the Lipscomb family throughout the voyage.