tss Festivale - Carnival's Vintage Ships

I booked my first cruise through Carnival on the Fascination in 1995. It left from San Juan and it was visiting Caracas, Venezuela which was my primary reason for choosing this ship. My partner had a friend who was a travel agent so we gave the booking to him. The travel agent got sick with AIDS and died and we called his office just under 60 days before our cruise and found out that he had booked us on the Festivale.

We got the booking changed to the Fascination but had to pay a cancellation penalty and they wouldn't waive it. When we arrived in San Juan, the Festivale was right next to us and it seemed so small and old but stately.

The older I get, the more I appreciate the classic ships like the Norway, Queen Mary and the Festivale. I sailed a few years ago on the Holiday and loved it and had the time of my life. I wondered if life onboard was similar to what passengers on the Festivale experienced. They were about the same GRT and passenger capacity. The Holiday was an easy ship to learn and get around on and the crew was awesome. Someday the Holiday will be retired too but I can't help to think of how I should have gone on the Festivale. I got into collecting some mementos from the early ships of carnival and a blue rectangular plate of the first 3 Carnival ships is one of my favorite possessions.

I'm sure many of you have traveled on the Festivale and I would love to hear yours stories about her. I highly regret not being able to ever travel on her.

My husband and I took our second cruise in July, 1987 on the Festivale. We went out of San Juan and traveled to St. Thomas, St. Marten, Barbados, & Martinique. It was your oldtime ship. Instead of straight corridors, you had little hallways off the main one and the rooms were different. Not all exactly the same as some are now. I'm glad we got to experience an older ship. We went on the Tropicale in 1985 for our honeymoon and it was the new ship for Carnival, but still enjoyed the Festivale a couple of years later. We just booked our next cruise on the Miracle. It is in the Spirit class and looking forward to trying out that type of ship.

Tropicale 1985

Festivale 1987

Enchanted Isle 1998

Celebration 2000

Inspiration 2001

Conquest 2003

Holiday 2004

Glory 2005

Elation 2006

Miracle June, 2007

I loved their old ones and sailed on them many times. The Mardi Gras, Festivale and Carnivale...what great ships. Unlike today, you knew you were on a ship at all times! Small cabins, confusing hallways, lots and lots of open deck space (missing today, fer sure), little nooks and crannies where you could really get away from it all. The dining staff and stewards were mostly from the Caribbean and were a fun-loving bunch. If you were in rough seas, you felt it. You would sometimes see the bridge officers mixing and mingling with the guests. Flaming Baked Alaska on the last night, carefully placed on the waiters heads. They would turn out the lights in the dining room and the waiters would dance around the dining room with those delicious desserts on their heads (Fire hazard, no doubt).

Live music, all day, on the pool deck - and most of it was of the steel-drum variety. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. I know I did - and so did my friends and the groups of people I escorted on these ships in the late 70's-early 80's.

You rarely heard a complaint. Everyone seemed to understand you were on a ship in the middle of the sea; most of the times is was great, sometimes it was not. Folks were just glad to be there.

Very, very few cruisers brought young children. There was no children's program. Cruising was an adult activity for the most part.

Mickey Arison used to cruise on one of his ships at least once a month. You never knew where he would turn up. When he did, it was party time! He usually wouldn't stay for the whole cruise but would board, sail a coupla days, then get off at an island but he kept his finger on the pulse, fer sure.

I love to cruise today. I would prefer smaller ships but bigger seems to be the wave of the future so I deal with it. I love to cruise and Carnival is my cruise of choice; always has been! :)

Ahhh - The Festivale! What wonderful memories!! My two sisters and I took our first cruise on the Festivale. (Right after Mel's cruise - I just looked it up - August 30, 1987.) We also flew to San Juan from N.O., and went to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Barbados, and Martinique.

What I remember enjoying so much was the lounge chairs on the outer side decks. The outer decks were so wide, and you could walk around almost the entire ship. I don't recall the cabin being small - although our cabin had a porthole. It seems to me it was larger than the OV cabins I've had on more recent cruises.

Before the ship sailed from Martinique (or maybe Barbados), a group of locals came on board and performed some song and dance, getting one of my sisters on stage to join them. What fun!

Yes, there was music constantly on deck, and COKES were included in the price of the cruise back then...anywhere, anytime. Around the pool area didn't seem crowded at all.

In the dining room, there was no hoopla every evening as it is now. There was one night ONLY when the waiters did their conga line with the flaming Baked Alaska on their heads, to a dimly lit dining room, to "HOTHOTHOT".

The Captain, CD, and other officers were highly visible almost all the time, especially in the evenings at dinner and in the lounges afterwards.

The ship itself - Oh my, we thought she was HUGE! I appreciate wood, and was amazed at the decks and so much more on the ship than we see now. There was a lot more brass, as well, kept shined with a nice patina.

That ship - that first cruise - makes me smile each time I think of it. It made some wonderful memories for the 'three sisters' - as the dining room waiters called us.

Thx, JonV, for the trip back in time.:)

We cruised on the Carnivale & Mardi Gras back in the early 80's and IMO it was a very different experience vs. today.

Dinning - One waiter/bus boy pair per two 6 person tables, Waiter & bus boy became your best friends by the end of the cruise, Waiters would tell adult jokes & do table tricks while waiting for food to be ready. Even today I still miss some of the waiters from my cruises in the 80’s and wonder what they are doing now.

Staff - All of the staff went out of they way to make your cruise special. it was like they were out to prove the Carnival was the best and most fun cruise line. One example I remember was when we were in Nassau docked next to a competitors ship Carnival had a loud deck party going on when the Cruise director had all the passengers taunt the other ship to show how much more fun we were having.

Environment - Much more of a party atmosphere - not falling down drunks - just every lounge & bar packed with people having a good time. The bars wouldn't shut down until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. We would get up at noon to start the next day.

Room steward - Lots of interaction would get anything you wanted - tried to be your best friend.

Ship layout - If you look at a layout of the older ships they look like a maze in many ways. Sometimes you had to make several turns down a dead end hallway to get to your room. Much smaller (~20,000 tons) but the ships seemed big at the time. The ships were converted ocean liners so many of the amenities we expect today were nonexistent. The rooms were tiny, no TV, had a central movie theater, small cramped theater with columns that blocked your view.

Enjoyment - I have been on 19 cruises (14 on Carnival ships) and remember the cruises I took in the 80's better than the ones I took last year. I would give anything to be able to take a cruise on the Carnivale or Mardi Gras if the staff and attitudes were the way it was back then.

In the early 90’s the whole atmosphere started changing to be more mainstream and more like it is today. I asked a waiter in 91 what had caused the change and was told Carnival was getting too many complaints about the waiters being too personal and the adult jokes/tricks offended too many people.

I cruise today because I feel it’s a great value. I pay significantly less today for a cruise than I did back in the 80’s & 90’s. I guess that’s why the service is the way it is and why they try to hawk everything they can to get the revenue they need to make a profit. Every time I take a cruise I think back to the 80’s and wish this cruise could be like one of them but of course that’s not possible. I would gladly give up the big ship experience to get the service and staff interaction like it was back then.

Carnival-Page 2 shows the four first generation cruise ships of between 35000 and 47000grt.

from

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/CarnivalPCs.html

34 YEARS OF 'FUN': A HISTORY OF CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES

from

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Articles/history_virtual2.aspx

Derf - thanks for the website - and the memories!!:) :)

Oh the memories sailing on Carnivale with my 3 single girlfriends. Getting lost in the hallways. Our waiter feeding my friend her dessert because she said she was full. Going to the "room" to dry our hair and use our curling irons because we could not do that in the stateroom (even if there was room). I love the new modern cruise ships but I will never forget that sailing and all the fun we had. I thought we just just the luckiest girls to be able to afford that ($750.00 inluding air to Miami).

I booked my first cruise through Carnival on the Fascination in 1995. It left from San Juan and it was visiting Caracas, Venezuela which was my primary reason for choosing this ship. My partner had a friend who was a travel agent so we gave the booking to him. The travel agent got sick with AIDS and died and we called his office just under 60 days before our cruise and found out that he had booked us on the Festivale.

 

We got the booking changed to the Fascination but had to pay a cancellation penalty and they wouldn't waive it. When we arrived in San Juan, the Festivale was right next to us and it seemed so small and old but stately.

 

The older I get, the more I appreciate the classic ships like the Norway, Queen Mary and the Festivale. I sailed a few years ago on the Holiday and loved it and had the time of my life. I wondered if life onboard was similar to what passengers on the Festivale experienced. They were about the same GRT and passenger capacity. The Holiday was an easy ship to learn and get around on and the crew was awesome. Someday the Holiday will be retired too but I can't help to think of how I should have gone on the Festivale. I got into collecting some mementos from the early ships of carnival and a blue rectangular plate of the first 3 Carnival ships is one of my favorite possessions.

 

I'm sure many of you have traveled on the Festivale and I would love to hear yours stories about her. I highly regret not being able to ever travel on her.

My Husband & I were on the Festival in 1978(our first cruise) and it was memorable. I remember we went to St. THomas & St. Marten but not the third stop. Believe it was Nassau but I was in love. Very Romantic cruise & the ship had just been expanded.

St Thomas - went on an island tour, saw a termite nest on the way to St John's to snorkle. We even had time to go to shopping in the morning. Very few people there & it was a trip. St. Marten was not paved. The stores were on beach sand - remember getting a zoom lens for my camera there. We were known as the honeymooners - we were married 2 years later. We also started a tradition by placing a note in a bottle & tossing it one night from the fan-tail. Many memories!!!!

2 years later, our honeymoon was on RCCL Song of Norway (our 24 yo son wears the T-shirt from that cruise:) ). And then Mardi Gras with our now 25 yo son - crib in the middle of the cabin, very little room and we had a blast. (he was 13 months old then). Memories!!! His life vest made him look like an orange & he cried one time - tripped when he had it on. He also disappeared one night (formal) -- he was dressed in a short-pants lt blue suit -- so cute--he took off to the dining room --he was hungry & could smell the food. Our cabin was right down from the restaurant & the waiters let him in & he was on his way to his table. At lunch one day, they served linguini with clam sauce - his favorite. All of the waiters & ship's servers came over -- he polished off an adult sized portion. Have many pictures from his adventures, including the costume night -- he was a little clown & won a trophy!!! Ladies in the lounge painted a heart on his cheek, too. Wonderful memories!!!

Thanks for letting me go on & on!!!!

I sure have fond memories of the Festivale too. It was my first cruise in '85 with 3 other girls. That cruise spoiled me for balconies right off the bat because we got upgraded to a suite. Funny thing is, everyone was soooo jealous over our huge cabin but it was really only about the same size as standard balcony cabins by today's standards. Only the bathroom was a bit bigger because we had a full size tub and shower. We met a young couple on their honeymoon on that cruise and they had booked an inside cabin on the lowest deck with just upper and lower bunks. Can you imagine that, on your honeymoon. They must have been on a tight budget. That cabin was TINY!!!! Barely enough room to turn around. I guess the 4 of us were really lucky getting an upgrade to a suite. I also remember that you always had to step over a 4" lip at every doorway. I got so used to doing that that after I got home, I kept doing that whenever walked from one room into another even tho there was no lip. We had a blast on that ship.

Not FESTIVALE, but I have a photo gallery of THE TOPAZ, formerly CARNIVALE here.

Carnival had three second-hand ships. The first was their very first ship, MARDI GRAS, originally EMPRESS OF CANADA. The second was CARNIVALE, originally EMPRESS OF BRITAIN. The third was FESTIVALE, originally TRANSVAAL CASTLE.

Then came TROPICALE, their first brand-new ship.

Of the three "used" ships, CARNIVALE, as THE TOPAZ, is the only one that survives today.

Looking at her now, it is amazing to believe that just a little over a decade ago, she was a Carnival ship! Certainly, a world away from the mega-ships of today...

JonV:

So funny to have you mention that little blue glass plate with Carnival's original trio of ships. Mine sits before me on my desk, a prized memento from over a quarter-century ago.

They really were the original "fun" ships, and I can still taste the Spaghetti Carbonara from my very first voyage.

Oh the memories. My wife and I took our first cruise on the Festival for our honeymoon in May '89. It seemed like such a large ship at the time and I remember the quality that was put into the construction (wood, brass, etc.). I also remember how small the cabins & bathrooms were. We had an exterior cabin with a porthole. This has always been a nice memory to hold onto since I haven't been cruising since. Well I'm going on NOS this weekend so I'll have something to compare it to. We had a blast on that cruise.

We sailed on one the Festivale's first cruises as a Carnival ship, in fall 1978 (could have be 1979..it was along time ago), r/t from Miami to San Juan, St. Thomas and Nassau. At the time, I believe that the ship was the 5th largest passenger ship in the world. Only the QE2, Canberra, Oriana and Oceanic were larger. We had the tiniest indoor cabin, with bunk beds, the sink in the cabin, and a bathroom that was so tiny, your knees extended into the shower stall when you sat on the toilet. But we were on a cruise, and that's all that mattered! I remember that the ship sailed the entire cruise with a permanent list to starboard;the water in the swimming pool and in drinking glasses was always at a skewed angle. It was a "latenight" ship. Dinner at 8:30pm, variety show every evening at 10:45pm, adult comedy at 12:30am, and pizza served in all the lounges at 2:30am. And like the other posters, I don't remember any children or teens onboard. I'm glad that we sailed the classic ships many years ago, but I am also glad for the new generation of ships with better bathrooms, larger cabins (with balconies!), higher ceilings, better lighting and air conditioning, and all the other technological maritme innovations developed over the last 30 years.

At the time, I believe that the ship was the 5th largest passenger ship in the world. Only the QE2, Canberra, Oriana and Oceanic were larger.

And FRANCE, but she was laid-up at the time, so I guess in a way she didn't count.

I should add that in 1978, FESTIVALE was also the largest cruise ship operating from Florida.

When she was scrapped in 2003, she was the largest passenger ship ever broken up in India.

My very first cruise was on the Festivale in Oct 1987 in celebration of my 10th wedding anniversary. I also remember the waiters sing Hot Hot Hot with the flaming cherries jubilee on their heads.

I can still hear the steel drum band on the pier at Barbados singing "Steer"

it up, little darlin', "steer" it up :)

My very first cruise was on the Festivale in Oct 1987 in celebration of my 10th wedding anniversary.

My first cruise was also on the Festivale out of Puerto Rico to Barbados, Martinique, St Maarten and St Thomas for a New Years cruise 1987-88. It was the itinerary that attracted me to this particular ship. It was booked up and I could not get a reservation (due to it being a holiday cruise) until my smart travel agent found Singleworld--which taught me, sometimes when things are "booked up" it just means some groups have the cabins and you need to find out what groups have them and see if you can't become a member to join the group somehow!

I went with the group called Singleworld ($15 a year to join them at that time) and we just had a blast! We met up with a group of Canadians traveling as singles and we mingled and had so much fun! Seemed the Canadian single men wanted to party and dance while the American single men were just interested in watching football or standing around drinking telling the same old lies they could have told at home for free--no fun at all LOL!!

Definately hooked me on cruising, and loved the older ships, the winding corridors, the different sized rooms, the slightly musty smell of an old ship, yep, those were the good old days. Loved the islands we visited, would love to take in those particular islands again.

There were several servicemen from the Pentagon on the cruise and during 9-11 I thot about them and hoped they were all OK, they were all very handsome in their dress military uniforms for the formal evenings!

I went on to one more Carnival cruise then switched to the NCL Norway for several more cruises--lots of fun memories (including dodging hurricanes Gilbert and Hugo who were out there dancing around while we were under sail!):eek:

My first cruise was on the Tropicale in 1998 out of Tampa to the Western Caribbean and yes it was smaller than the other ships I have cruised on since, but at the time it was huge! I went to a art auction (bought a cool lithograph with mermaids swimming in a circle), had a memorable galley tour, the shows were even held in the afternoon! I still have my postcards from the great ship, T-shirts and the lithograph

As we were waiting to disembark the ship at the end of the cruise I asked my husband about a door that I saw (closed of course) and he said it was the disco, which I didn't even see earlier on the cruise. And I had thought that there wasn't a ship big enough to contain me for the 5 night cruise!

The Tropicale taught me to book a the longest cruise that I could for my days off work!

Ga-Fl Peach sailing Sep 2 on the Glory and packing for the last month!

I posted this website under the Norway thread in response to people asking how to get a hold of ship fittings, furniture, etc.

Peter Knego is an author / expert on older ships. He has acquired fittings and furniture from the breakers and sells the pieces. He has several pieces from the Festivale.

MidShipCentury Ship Index

Looks like it was sleak ship in its day.

(I have no affiliation with Mr. Knego. I am just passing this along b/c I was on his site this a.m. and remembered he had some items)

I enjoyed reading Ryndam's comments about the bathroom. We'd sailed out of San Juan I believe. It was almost like the ship builder had built a long tiled shower and as an after thought had put a toilet in one end with a shower curtain between the toilet and shower head. If you hadn't seen it there is no way you could explain it to anyone else. You didn't want anyone to be on the toilet with their partner taking a shower at the same time. We had an inside cabin - the sink butted against the wall on the left of the door, my husband's bed butted up against that on one end and the wall on the other, the "closet" was against the side of his bed and my bed took up the wall on the other end of the room one end against the wall butting against the shower wall and the foot butting against the other wall. My mattress sagged like an aging horse in the middle. There was room for one chair on the expanse of the wall with the toilet on the other side. I took pics and still couldn't explain the room to our TA (a good friend of ours). When you went to the breakfast buffet, if it was very crowded you were standing in line on the stairs. Whoever was in the cabin next to ours brushed their teeth and tapped the toothbrush on the side of the sink every morning - that was my alarm clock. But you know, we had a fun cruise anyway. Our first cruise had been on Commodore's Enchanted Seas and the room as well as the bathroom was much larger.

BenBilly, that bathroom sounds like the one we had on Carnivale! We also had an inside quad (if you can believe that). I don't think 2 people could have been in that bathroom at the same time. Could use the toilet AND take a shower at the same time. You had a chair??? You were lucky. We sat on the bottom bunks and at one point my girlfriend opened the closet and sat in there. We had a description of our cruise - "Stand in line, climb stairs, change clothes, and eat". We could not dry our hair or use curling irons either. We had to go to the room provided on each level for things like that. But we were 4 recently divorced 30 something's and we had so much fun. Will remember that trip forever.

I remember if you left your nightie out, the room stewards would make them into different designs -- I specifically remember mine being shaped into an anchor a couple of times!:)

Talk about bringing back memories! My first cruise was also on the Festivale back in the mid eighties. A girlfriend and I booked the cheapest cabin on the ship on the advise of our TA "you won't spend any time in the cabin anyway". Luckily she was right because it was tiny with one lower and one upper twin bed. It was an odd angled aft room and when we studied the deck plan we noticed that it was the only cabin on the ship shaped like that. When we boarded we investigated and found out that the matching room on the other side of the ship was actually a utility closet. The bathroom had a drain in the floor so you could sit on the toilet. take a shower and brush your teeth at the same time (only one at a time of course). The amazing thing was, it had a porthole! I couldn't imagine sailing like that today but back then it was an absolute thrill just to be on a ship!

Thanks to the member who posted the note about taunting the big ships. We sailed the Mardi Gras in 1986.

We were making a 10:00 PM departure from one of our ports, having been tied up next to one of the BIG SHIPS all day long.

The cruise staff on the Mardi Gras was hosting a ROWDY Ho-Down on the aft deck, with bar-b-que, kegs of beer, cowboy hats, bales of hay, LOUD country music, line dancing, and more beer.

Every so often the cruise director would get the crowd whoopin' and hollerin' at the big ship to show 'em what a great time we were having.

Meanwhile, the folks way up high on the deck of the big ship were strolling around empty decks, among stacks of lounge chairs, listening to bland muzak.

The Mardi Gras slipped her lines, backed out of her berth, spun around, and sailed into the night with all of us dancing the Cotton Eyed Joe.:D

We felt like a bunch of naughty little kids.

The Festivale was my 1st cruise, let me see it was Oct 1984 I believe.:rolleyes: It was a short trip from Norfolk VA to Nassau, there was a storm out in the Atlantic so needless to say the 1st day and a half I was sick. We stayed docked at the pier for a couple of days and went to a Hotel for the remainder of the week. Had to fly home. What I remember of the ship it was a nice ship, and boy did I think it was big. :D Little did I know what big was! All in all it was very enjoyable.