SINGAPORE, 9 April 2025: Carnival Cruise Line has unveiled details of its newest ship, Carnival Festivale, featuring a new outdoor zone on the top three decks named the Sunsation Point.
The cruise line also provided details of its five-year plan for new ships, deployments, and fleet enhancements.
“Since our inception in 1972, we have defined and led the modern cruise industry, and our plans for the next five years and beyond are no different,” said the cruise line’s President, Christine Duffy. “Having just integrated two ships into the Carnival fleet in Australia, we now stand at 29 cruise ships, the largest global fleet in our history.
“Looking ahead, we have the delivery of our fourth and fifth Excel ships in 2027 and 2028, and then the introduction of three ships in our new platform, Project Ace, beginning in 2029, plus fleet enhancements and new investments at some of our existing destinations.”
New Ships
Duffy revealed that the fourth ship in Carnival’s award-winning Excel class ships will be named Carnival Festivale, continuing the tradition of giving these ships the names of the first Carnival ships that popularised cruise vacations for so many Americans.
Carnival Festivale will debut in spring 2027 and sail from Port Canaveral, Florida. Reservation and itinerary details will be released this summer.
Catering to the family market, it will feature 1,000 interconnecting rooms, nearly 70% more than on the first three Excel ships. The expanded interconnecting rooms will replace the Family Harbor staterooms on the existing Excel ships. Carnival Festivale will also feature a new outdoor zone on the top three decks, Sunsation Point.
Duffy also revealed that the name of the line’s fifth Excel class ship would be Carnival Tropicale, also one of the original names of early Carnival ships. The homeport and open-for-sale date will be unveiled well ahead of the scheduled delivery of the ship in spring 2028. Many of the new features of Carnival Festivale will also be included in Carnival Tropicale, as well as some new concepts and theming.
Looking further ahead, Carnival’s exclusive new ship platform, currently called Project Ace, includes three ships at 230,000 gross tons, each being built by Fincantieri and delivered in 2029, 2031, and 2033, respectively. With over 3,000 guest staterooms, the new ships will be the largest in the Carnival Corporation global fleet. When carrying almost 8,000 guests at full capacity, they will be able to deliver fun to more guests than any ship in the world.
Deployment Updates
When Carnival Festivale is delivered in spring 2027 and begins sailing from Port Canaveral, Mardi Gras will move to offer short cruises from the same homeport.
“As new ships are introduced, this will allow us to upgrade capacity and hardware in key markets, with a particular focus on short cruises,” explained Duffy. “With short cruises on Mardi Gras, our guests who may not have the time to take a weeklong vacation can experience all the amazing features of our Excel class.”
