“I can’t tell you how exciting this day has been, finally giving our UK travel partners the opportunity to see our new Excel-class ship,” said Carnival president Christine Duffy.
“Carnival Celebration is the ultimate 50th birthday gift and is a key part of a very unique and exciting period of growth for us.”
The celebration has since departed on a 14-day transatlantic sailing to Miami where the line will host its naming ceremony with godmother, US model and actress Cassidy Gifford.
Today, the second ship in Australia will be added as Carnival Luminosa begins guest operations in Brisbane, and next year, the third Excel-class ship Carnival Jubilee will debut from Galveston.
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.
Icon of the Seas will have Royal Caribbean International’s “biggest-ever focus” on families, as the line looks to increase its share of the new-to-cruise market.
Icon launches in January 2024, and across the 28 stateroom categories, more than 80% of rooms sleep more than two people. The ship will feature the new Surfside neighbourhood, which is dedicated to families with young children. This is a key target audience for the line, which already carries between 200 and 600 children under six years old on each cruise.
Speaking in Miami to unveil the design of the ship, the line’s president and chief executive Michael Bayley said: “On Icon our focus on family is probably the highest level it’s ever been. We’re going more and more towards delivering phenomenal vacations to families.”
Bayley said the new-to-cruise market was a “sweet spot” for Royal Caribbean, and that in 2019 the line carried more than one million people on their first cruise. He said offering short taster cruises is key, as clients then graduate to seven-night sailings.
From October 2023 Allure of the Seas will offer three- and four-day cruises from Port Canaveral. He added: “We think that once we get that message out to young families [about the facilities onboard], we’ll see a lot more new-to-cruise coming onboard Icon.”
Bayley said the brand’s family demographic is “vast from a marketing perspective”, adding: “Everyone is in a family, so we want to make sure that families have a fantastic vacation with Royal Caribbean. On Icon, whether you’re a grumpy old man or an innocent young kid, everyone can do their own thing and be super happy all day.”
The icon will offer the three-storey Ultimate Family Townhouse, which has access to the new family-focused Surfside neighbourhood
He acknowledged that while school-age children were at school for the majority of the year, families with pre-schoolers can holiday throughout the year. “That market is quite powerful. A young family is a big market, and we think it’s an under-served market and we think that Icon, especially with Surfside, is going to really deliver on that.”
He stressed that the ship caters for multigenerational families, highlighting the new neighbourhoods and features, including adults-only areas and the largest waterpark at sea.
The Royal Caribbean team in Miami has spent more than one million working hours on the design process for Icon, in addition to time spent by external experts. It worked with 10 futurists to understand what consumers of the future would expect from holidays.
Bayley said: “Icon is the culmination of everything we’ve learnt in more than 50 years. We push the boundaries of what’s possible and what’s expected. This is the work of thousands of industry experts from around the world.”
New family cabins include the 285-square-foot Family Infinite Balcony, which sleeps six and borrows the Infinite Balcony concept from sister line Celebrity Cruises. It includes a bunk bed alcove for children at the rear of the cabin, with a secret den, a separate space for adults and a 50-square-foot balcony.
The new Surfside neighbourhood houses the Ultimate Family Townhouse, which takes the brand’s existing Ultimate Family Suite concept and spreads it across three storeys, with 1,772-square-foot of internal space, alongside two balconies. Sleeping eight, it includes a slide, Lego wall, video games, movie theatre, karaoke and backyard that leads straight into Surfside.
The Family Infinite Balcony stateroom includes an area for children at the rear
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