tidecat

Embarkation day is a great time to hit up Piazza Panini and Pizzeria del Capitano, especially if you get on relatively early - they will be much busier later in the cruise.

It would depend on the exact circumstances behind Costa failing to be profitable. If LNG fuel is cheaper in the US than in Europe, it is quite possible Toscana and Smeralda find their way to North America. These are also the last two themed after places in Italy, so it would represent an opportunity to extend the "Carnival Fun Italian Style" concept to some combination of Port Canaveral, Miami, and Galveston. If it's just a case of a lack of demand, you start looking for ships that are coming up for drydock anyway.

If we just count the "lower berths" (double occupancy): Mardi Gras (5,282) > Fantasy (2,052) + Fascination (2,056) + 50% of Sensation (1,026) Celebration (5,374) > Imagination (2,056) + Inspiration (2,056) + 50% of Sensation (1,026) Luminosa (2,260) > Ecstasy (2,052) So Carnival was up over 500 lower berths at the end of 2022 despite having 3 fewer ships. Carnival Jubilee (5,374) and Carnival Venezia (4,208) are going to make for a substantial expansion in capacity compares to the roughly 75,000 lower berths has now. When Firenze joins by mid-2024, Carnival will be closer to 89,000 lower berths.

Carnival Imagination, which was beached in September 2020 after being sold for scrap, finally had her bow cut in February 2023. Demolition on Fantasy and Inspiration, which for a while were side-by-side with the Imagination, has been complete for over a year (closer to 18 months in Fantasy's case).

Costa Magica. She was completed in October 2004. Costa Fortuna was completed 11 months prior and will presumably be the next to go. Carnival nearly sold Carnival Destiny before refurbishing her into Carnival Sunshine in 2013, a few months shy of Destiny having completed 17 years of service.

Typically speaking, the more expensive the fare, the higher the crew/passenger ratio. Mardi Gras is staffed at 0.328 crew per passenger when at double occupancy (1,735/5,282); this past week it was more like 0.275 to 1 as the ship was sailing at just under 6,300 passengers. Wonder of the Seas is at 0.401 to 1 at double occupancy, and would be at 0.329 to 1 at maximum occupancy (2,300/6,988). Norwegian Prima is close to 0.5 to 1 (1,506/3,099) at double occupancy. I couldn't find a total occupancy figure for Prima. Celebrity and Princess don't really fit the pattern, as their ratios are closer to Carnival's and Royal's, but the closer you get to high-end luxury pricing (i.e., Viking) the crew:passenger ratio often meets or even exceeds 1:1.

It's on the dark blue wall of the pool on the Serenity area, at the forward end of the pool.

When will CCL stock be worth $70 again?

There actually is a small waterfall in the Serenity area from Deck 19 to Deck 18, at least on Mardi Gras.

I would agree, although I think any of the Spirit class ships could be in play. With Firenze apparently displacing Miracle from Long Beach, there's a chance we might see something for early 2025.

I'm on Mardi Gras now. There are 6,296 pax on board, and only 584 of them are under 21 per John Heald. I believe the LSA code requires a 16.2" minimum seat width. Some airlines sell coach seats that are that narrow.

On the Mardi Gras now. It was mentioned in Donkey's announcement that anyone who made reservations for Farenheit 555 or Rudi's Seagrill for tonight (embarkation day) would get a free bottle of wine.

The one thing I'd be curious about is if something like Emeril's Bistro will replace Seafood Shack or potentially other venues on some older vessels. This seems like it could potentially be better for revenue yields.

Guests, generally speaking, love the Sunshine class. However the conversion costs are much higher, and the potential additional revenue is limited. Luminosa is better suited for the Australian and Alaskan markets. I also expect Carnival to offer their first World Cruise on Luminosa in 2025 or 2026 given how well the Transpacific cruises seem to be selling.

I guess we'll see if Seajets ever starts cruise operations, or if they're just hoping for scrap prices to appreciate.

About 6 to 8 years would probably be the longest Carnival could go before a change of ship in Mobile. That would put Spirit at age 28 to 30. After that I think if Mobile can't justify a larger ship, Mobile is out. Spirit would probably replace Elation or Paradise for the final 3-7 years of her career.

You are correct that Carnival could offer a choice of disembarkation ports, but it comes with the risk of one option severely underselling. Carnival has always sailed empty between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, it is literally only a few hours' sail. I believe they have done the same between other Florida ports, as the only way to make the itinerary legal is to call at a distant foreign port (i.e. South America). I also would anticipate a substantial crew change in New Orleans.

I noticed Spirit will also have a Tampa embarkation when she heads back West in 2024. Mobile's airport can take you anywhere, as long as you connect through Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, or Houston.

Yes, that is correct.

Puerto Vallarta is generally 2 hours later than Los Angeles - it is on what we call Central Time in the US. My past experience with this itinerary is that the ship is one hour behind local time in Puerto Vallarta, i.e. if it is 9 AM on the ship it is 10 AM ashore. However that was with both the US and Mexico on DST. I would suspect if a sailing falls into the period where the US is on DST and Mexico is not, the ship would not do a time change, as it would be only one hour behind Puerto Vallarta. In a case where the US is on DST and Mexico is not, Los Angeles, Cabo, and Mazatlan would all have the same local time.

John Heald's post on Facebook makes it sound like a Europe announcement is imminent: "And finally for today ( there is more to come including whats happening in Europe in 2024) we have the gorgeous Carnival Sunrise." Miracle's last Long Beach cruise is on 5/5/24, so Firenze could slide into Long Beach any time after that cruise ends on 5/8/24.

Part of the reason of the Costa by Carnival/Carnival Fun Italian Style concept is that it doesn't require a more expensive rebranding. Yes, some changes are being made, but Carnival isn't having to spend $200 Million like they did with the Sunshine/Destiny conversion. This is important since Carnival doesn't really have the financial flexibility to rebrand ships right now. The only thing that really is a bit of a head scratcher is not repainting the funnel even to the "throwback" Carnival design. Since Costa Luminosa had the same architect as most of Carnival's fleet (Joe Farcus), she required less work for rebranding. The decor on Luminosa is more in line with Carnival Spirit than Costa Firenze.

@At7Seas I think you're trying to read way too much into things by what Carnival has said or not said. First, if not most importantly, this will be a Carnival, not Costa, cruise. Those who sail on it will earn points towards Carnival's VIFP program, which was communicated at the onset. All communications have referred to the ship being crewed by a Carnival crew. "Costa by Carnival" has given way to "Carnival Fun Italian Style" which has been legally trademarked. Even the first few sailings were originally sold as sailings on Carnival Magic. Venezia and Firenze are also Vista-class ships like Carnival Vista, Carnival Horizon, and Carnival Panorama. There obviously is some flexibility on a ship that large, but ultimately all five ships have practically identical layouts. There are certain things to expect from every Carnival sailing. One of those is that the main dining rooms are complimentary (with a few select upcharge items). One specialty dining restaurant hasn't been completely revealed, although we know some things about it from the reveal Christine Duffy did in New York. At this point all of the alternative dining venues have been revealed; they are not huge departures from what is installed on the rest of Carnival's fleet, aside from replacing Blue Iguana Cantina with a Mexican-Italian fusion concept. Obviously Italian theming will never replace the experience of going to Italy. It's just that theming is now being deployed in the American market instead of the Chinese market. I suspect the names will be legally changed as the ships go into drydock to get any required hull maintenance and have the new livery applied. That was when Costa Luminosa became Carnival Luminosa. Costa Venezia was going to have to go to drydock anyway, as was Costa Firenze, which will still be in Costa service until January 2024. Even if CARNIVAL FUN ITALIAN STYLETM winds up being a failure, we're probably stuck with it until 2028-29 when Venezia and Firenze come up for drydock again.

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I'm sure there's some value in having that space during New York sailaways, but Firenze isn't going to have that out of Looooooong Beach.