Following the launch of Carnival Luminosa earlier this year, the brand will add five more ships to its fleet over the next two years, the next being the delivery of two Excel-class vessels, Carnival Celebration to Miami and Carnival Jubilee to Texas.
As part of the expansion plan, Carnival will also introduce a new concept – “Carnival Fun Italian Style” – with two additional ships from sister brand Costa Cruises, starting with Carnival Venezia next spring, sailing year-round from New York, and Carnival Firenze in 2024 out of from Long Beach.
“Carnival Luminosa is a testament to our ongoing commitment to Australia, and the start of a period of growth unlike any other in Carnival’s 50-year history,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.
“Having a Brisbane-based ship has been a goal of ours for quite some time, so we are so happy that they are the first market globally to experience the big, bright, fun that this ship has to offer and so excited to give our guests more Carnival ships and itinerary options to sail over the next two years.”
Luminosa – which arrived at its homeport of Brisbane on Monday (31 October) – will sail on its first cruise on 6 November and operate 28 sailings through 13 April 2023, visiting 60 ports across Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
The sailings will support Carnival Australia’s anticipated $165 million contribution to the Queensland economy this year.
Carnival Cruise Line is adjusting itineraries of multiple Eastern Caribbean sailings onboard the Mardi Gras.
Affecting a total of 21 cruises with departure dates between December 2022 and April 2024, the change will see a call to San Juan, Puerto Rico, being replaced with a visit to Nassau, The Bahamas.
According to a statement sent to booked guests, the itinerary alteration is part of a “operations plan refining.”
Any pre-purchased Carnival shore excursions for San Juan will be automatically refunded to their original form of payment, the company said.
New shore tours for the visit to Nassau will be available online shortly, Carnival added.
After debuting in July 2021, the Mardi Gras continues to offer year-round departures from Port Canaveral.
Sailing from its Central Florida homeport every Saturday, the 5,200-guest vessel offers week-long departures to both the Western and Eastern Caribbean.
Visited destinations include Grand Turk, Amber Cove, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatán and more.
In 2023, the LNG-powered ship is also set to offer a one-time cruise to the Southern Caribbean. Sailing in August, the eight-night voyage features visits to Aruba and Bonaire, as well as to Grand Turk.
Along with the Mardi Gras, two additional Carnival ships sail from Port Canaveral on a year-round – the Carnival Freedom and the Carnival Liberty.
Offering three- to five-night cruises to the Bahamas and the Caribbean, the vessels will soon be joined by the Carnival Magic for the upcoming winter season.
Before repositioning to Norfolk in May, the Dream-Class cruise ship offers six- and eight-night cruises to the Eastern and Southern Caribbean.
Itineraries include visits to popular ports such as St. Maarten, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, La Romana, Aruba, Bonaire, Princess Cays, Half Moon Cay and others.
Similar itineraries will be offered by the larger Carnival Vista during the 2023-2024 winter cruise season.
Meyer Turku has always been at the forefront of new technologies, Tim Meyer, CEO, said to Cruise Industry News, noting that the yard built the first LNG-fueled passenger vessel, the Viking Grace and that its sister yard in Papenburg delivered the first LNG-fueled cruise ship.
“It is important to understand that every time we build a prototype, we set very ambitious targets for GHG emissions and fuel consumption so that the new ship becomes more efficient. That becomes part of our building contract with most customers and, of course, by reducing the fuel consumption, we also lower our customers’ operating costs.
“Over the years, we have been introducing new technologies in our newbuilds, such as, for example, podded propulsion; air lubrication to reduce the hull’s resistance in the water; advanced wastewater treatment, ballast water treatment, and more, which eventually have become building standards for the cruise industry.
“Now, we are focusing on HVAC, which is a large energy consumer,” Meyer continued. “It is not necessary to cool down all the public rooms all the time, when there are no people present, for example, or staterooms when people leave.
“There is also the ventilation and exhaust from the galleys that used to run around the clock. We are now optimizing this, so it is only running when there is cooking going on.”
In addition, Meyer Turku is looking to develop a carbon-neutral cruise ship concept by 2025, working with suppliers, universities and research organizations, as well as the state of Finland.
“This is a very important effort and will be key to our success going forward,” Meyer said. “On one hand you have the ship itself, on the other hand, you have the shipyard, and then we have our network and supply chain that can be optimized.
“A cruise ship is like a small city; you have everything from water production to wastewater treatment and so on. The goal is to have all these systems working together as efficiently as possible, and with AI (artificial intelligence) we will be able to do just that.
“Another pillar is our people, so we are also focused on creating new competencies within the yard, looking at how we are working and developing new ideas for methods and procedures.”
As a shipbuilder, Meyer said the company can literally build anything. However, the key is that it must make sense.
“When you have a ship such as the Viking Grace running between Stockholm and Turku, then it makes sense to operate on LNG, as long as you have a fixed route. But if you have a cruise ship sailing all over the world that may not work if LNG cannot be bunkered. So, you have to adapt the product.
“The big question is what fuels will be available and where they will be available,” Meyer continued.
“Another factor that plays in is the energy density of marine fuels. Diesel oil has the most energy per litre; methanol has only half as much, LNG a little less than methanol; liquefied ammonia, liquid organic hydrogen carriers and liquefied hydrogen even less.”
Thus, future fuels could impact the design and general arrangement of future ships, tank space and bunkering frequency.
“What do zero emissions mean,” Meyer asked rhetorically. “Does it mean no exhaust only or does it also mean no sound and no vibrations? What is important for us is to look at different aspects, not only the cruise ships themselves but also the supply chain. Germany, for example, is studying how to make steel production more sustainable. As a shipyard, we cannot do all of this but work as partners with our suppliers.
“We have to look at the whole picture, and if you compare to what people do on land, let’s say they drive their car, heat their homes, prepare food, go to the theatre and so forth. If you add all that up on a per capita basis, I think cruise ships will come out quite well.”
Contrary to land-based hotels and resorts, there is no waste of energy on a cruise ship, according to Meyer, who said that is a challenge the shipbuilder has been tackling for years and continues to look for new solutions.
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