CruiseAdict218

I think its a little bit of both, use the ships were they can generate more profit as well as pushing the Costa name back in North America but the latter probably to a lesser degree given the ships are changing names but keeping their yellow Costa funnels. I'm not sure what you mean by only the buffet is included? But the concept won't be for everyone and neither is "The Fun Ship" style. Throw in a few American concepts but outside of that what would you consider to be a true Italian style? There is a new concept restaurant coming, but I think it will really be the decor that gives it the "wow" factor in this case. It's not going to be an entire huge brand created but like a sub brand between the two, when you think about it, how different is the concept of using the ships in Asia, outside of specialized signage and what not. But you are right, I forgot that was the reason for that season to be cancelled given everything that is going on in Europe. But all in all, its a good trial concept that has never been done before and certainly has potential to really be something, give lack of information. I'm excited to just sail on the ship regardless of the marketing concept.

But what are the "uncertainties"? Quite a few details have been released, what public areas will be changed over, what won't be. Cruises from NYC are being sold and at a great pace. They pulled the ship out of service on December 1, and doesn't reenter service till the end of May, so there's plenty of time for work to be slowly carried out. There's no reason for them to rush all the work now when they can do it closer to May and still have plenty of time for it to be finished. The ship can always reposition quickly to any dry dock yard but Chantier Naval de Marseille isn't the only yard they used for major work. I'm not sure what more details you would need? If this wasn't going to happen the ship wouldn't have been pulled out of service for so long, maybe for a shorter period of time like Diadema and/or sent else where like to South America. Carnival isn't going to backtrack now and potentially lose a lot of money when they can't afford to.

Carnival brand ambassador John said she was undergoing wet dock refreshment at Cagliari then will probably move to a dry dock to have the new livery applied. He’s expected to fly out to give an update on the process as things finalize.

Where does the last cruise leave from? I wonder if they will cancel any because they cancelled a huge chunk of Venezia’s cruises but also gave them plenty of time for conversion work (which has probably started based on what John Heald posted) and will probably enter dry dock at the very end.

We had a fantastic cruise with him on Magic this last summer and was really hoping he’d be the inaugural one for Venezia. Sounds very sudden like it was out of his control, very disappointed.

He announced today on his Facebook page that he’s leaving the company, so disappointed.

Can’t wait to do this cruise in March on the Pride!

Older ships have to go every 2-3 years, I think this time around is just general maintenance and probably to paint her blue. I think its still happening as Cruise Industry News reported so and Carnival probably would have said otherwise by now.

John posted today, that work should be starting soon if it hasn’t already at Cagliari, Italy, where the ship currently is. He will be flying back out at some point as work wraps up to show the updated areas.

Oh I hope so, he was fantastic on the Magic.

Agreed but probably unlike since they do a World Cruise and I can’t imagine them using a larger vessel for that kind of run. The former brand of Ibero cruises used to flag their ships in Portugal, perhaps sold to a Spanish start up company? If not then probably a bank. I don’t think they would get that much if it was sold for scrap?

No they were not specifically named yet, just widely expected to be Fortuna and Magica. Fortuna will probably depart the fleet at the end of its current SA season and I guess Magica won’t return at all. Deliziosa Is the smallest but is used on the World Cruise run so unlikely. Serena will reenter service at the end of this year in the Caribbean.

June 19 is the third sailing, there’s a 4 day to Bermuda that leaves the 15th, two days after it arrives. With that said and mentioned above, the ship had been out of service since December 1, so it has plenty of time between now and the end of May to have dry dock work complete.

No official timeline yet, hopefully soon we’ll know. 😊

Might not happen for a few more weeks and/or months, she doesn’t reenter service till end of May, beginning of June. Should be plenty of time to finish all the work prior to the T/A hopefully.

Did Alaska a few years ago on Princess, and is still probably my favorite cruise to date. You really don’t need a big “modern” ship for Alaska unlike say to the Caribbean. With that said, we did round trip Seattle, on the Golden Princess (now Pacific Adventure) and was the right size for us. Lots of open decks for viewing, I think the top of the bridge was open, etc. Excursions aren’t cheap so I would budget for that and we also didn’t do a land portion. Princess or Holland are probably the two best choices for Alaska, they’ve been there the longest but whichever cruise line you choose would be a fine choice.

Bermuda only has two docks that can handle large ships, and most of the slots go to NCL, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. The few Carnival can snag usually go to NYC and Norfolk sailings.

I thought Ambition was delayed prior to that charter, unless that was already in the works at the time and the announcement came a little down the line. Never say never (though while very rare), the former Tropicale (then Pacific Star) was purchased from P&O Australia for Pullmantur.

I'm just curious what you mean by this?

I guess we will see which two then, if that’s the case then both are fairly big and not that old why not send them to Carnival. I get what you mean if it was say AIDAaura or the last two Rs (HAL) but to get rid of two decent sized ships is kinda surprising.

Ambassador still has one ship to put into service, Margaritaville is very unlikely.

I believe Atlantica and Mediterranea’s ownership falls under the joint venture now, so Carnival may not be paying much to keep them a float Luminosa is also a few years younger than both, so it would t require that much change over. Other candidates would be, AIDAaura, one of the last two Rs, Aurora, I suppose Elation or Paradise could go too since they are due for dry dock.

This most likely don’t have the funds to convert them, so they’d rather sell them. The third ship is probably one of Hollands left or Aurora sadly.

I would like to know your sources as well as it doesn’t make sense though for that short period of time, as these ships weren’t for the main Costa fleet to begin with and they would have to change everything back. Plus Costa still has to decide what to do with Magica and Fortuna. With no new build on the horizon for Carnival they could very well remain in the Carnival fleet. The funnel can easily be changed while it’s in service, they already will be adapting the Carnival name and a special navy blue hull.

I'm referring to pre-incident when Splendor came out, not present day. But I believe the class is still referred to that name, but if I'm wrong then Serena Class which is the next one in line. These feel on a smaller scale, its really just the food and drink venues, changing signage no? Decor wise I thought all remained the same from what I could tell.