Make five new ships Festival cruise line in just 18 months.
On Thursday, the world’s second-largest cruise brand welcomed cruisers aboard another new ship, the 4,126-passenger Carnival Firenze, for the first time in Long Beach, California.
The 135,156-ton ship’s debut comes just four months after Carnival unveiled an even larger ship that can accommodate 5,374 passengers carnival festival and 11 months after the line began operating the ship carried 4,090 passengers Venezuelan Festival.
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The latter two ships operate out of Galveston, Texas and New York City, respectively. Carnival Venice also spends part of the year sailing out of Port Canaveral, Florida.
Over the past 18 months, Carnival has also added a 5,374-passenger flight based in Miami. Carnival and an Australian-based airline with 2,260 passengers Luminosa Festival. Luminosa Festival also spends part of the year sailing out of Seattle.
The addition of five ships to the Carnival fleet in such a short period of time marks one of the fastest expansions of any cruise brand in the history of cruises.
With the addition of five ships, Carnival now has a record 27 ships in its fleet.
A new ship has an asterisk
Scheduled to sail year-round from Long Beach, California, the Carnival Firenze is a new ship for Carnival, but it’s new with an asterisk. The 15-story ship had previously sailed for another cruise line, Italy-based Costa Cruises.
Originally called Costa Firenze, the ship made its maiden voyage to Costa, a sister brand to Carnival, in July 2021, making it almost three years old.
The Carnival Firenze is just one of many Costa ships that Carnival Corporation, the parent company of Costa and Carnival, has transferred from Costa to Carnival in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic and its aftermath have damaged the Costa brand more than the Carnival brand. This is partly because the Costa brand has large operations in China, where cruises have been shut down during the pandemic for much longer than in North America.
Carnival operates most of its ships out of US ports and attracts many of its ship buyers from states near these ports – a segment of close-to-home travel that has boomed since its launch. Cruise tourism continues to return in 2021.
As a result, demand for Carnival ships is stronger than for Costa ships.
Carnival Firenze’s first sailing for Carnival, which begins Thursday, will be a seven-night cruise to the Mexican Riviera that includes stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.
Cruise the festival with Italian style
Like the Carnival Venezia, which is also a former Costa ship, the Carnival Firenze is an outlier in the Carnival fleet as the ship retains much of its Italian theme from its departure to Costa.
The ship still has the distinctive yellow and blue funnel that is a trademark of Costa ships.
That said, Carnival Firenze won’t be lacking in Carnival’s signature onboard locations. In recent months, the ship has undergone a significant overhaul at a dry dock in Spain, including re-theming of many of the eateries and bars inside as well as attractions on deck to make them more consistent with the Carnival brand.
For example, the ship will have a Carnival Waterworks water play area and a Steakhouse – the signature Carnival venue.
Related: Explaining the 8 types of Carnival Cruise Line ships
Other locations currently on board that will be familiar to Festival fans include the Guy Fieri-inspired Guy’s Burger Joint, Bonsai Sushi eatery, Chef’s Table, Lido Marketplace, Seafood Shack, Pizzeria del Capitano pizza shop and Heroes Tribute Bar.
The ship will also have a new crew made up of Carnival employees.
In short, Carnival Firenze will combine elements of both Costa and Carnival ships.
Initially, Carnival intended to call the ship a “Costa by Carnival” product to differentiate it from the rest of the Carnival fleet, but they eventually switched to marketing the Carnival Firenze as a ship offering “Italian Style.” fun at the festival.
Notably, Carnival Firenze was originally built to sail out of China with Chinese tourists but with an Italian theme that reflected Costa’s Italian roots. Its theme is particularly associated with Florence, Italy – Florence is what the Italians call Florence.
The Carnival and Costa brands have long had similarities that make transferring ships between the two routes less complicated than one might think. Both Costa and Carnival’s ships are often built on the same platform – meaning they share the same basic structural design and raw interior space. In such cases, the main difference between the two brands’ ships is the theme of the specific spaces.
As of this week, fares for Carnival Florence cruises start at $214 per person, not including taxes and fees, for a four-night trip from Long Beach to Mexico.
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