CruiseAdict218

I wish it was open later than 11pm, need something else besides pizza….

Just glad they are keeping the BLT, makes for a nice late snack.

Its certainly possible, I am curious if that brass was donated to them or they kept it in long term storage, many items donated to Celebration came from Peter Knego (I believe). Yep, just stating it is possible to get items; however it comes down to the owner of the scrap company that bought the ship, some do resell stuff and other keep it for themselves.

Unless they plan on pulling anything else off for Celebration, everything inside will be sold with the ship, minus probably her coin and bell. While they probably won’t auction anything, there was a contact at Aliaga who could get stuff from the Carnival ships, I have a few items from Fantasy and Inspiration, however it wasn’t cheap by any means.

Well according to this article, more options are being considered: “According to a press release, given Costa Cruises' significant presence in Asia, particularly China, which remains closed to cruising, the brand continues to evaluate deployment options and fleet optimization alternatives beyond the previously announced transfers of Costa Luminosa to Carnival Cruise Line as well as Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze to the COSTA by CARNIVAL concept.“ https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28390-carnival-corporation-reports-2022-q3-earnings-ebitda-turns-positive.html Magica and Serena have no current plans and even though they were transferred to the new China brand, Mediterranea and Atlantica are also still out of service.

I wonder if they will order a few more or come up with something new, once Celebration and Jubilee come out. The sailings are there, but there's only two, one in August and one in September 2023 on the Legend. However, the one rooms that look to be available are interior and for a steep price.

I’ve never seen either of these before, that makes sense if the concept is called or styled as “Choose Carnival, Italian Style”. But whatever it may be I’m ready to book, hope they post the New York sailings soon.

Yes that is also correct but to the few it does cater too, it would keep them in brand.

They are keeping their Costa names; and will remain Costa ships in the entirety, except maybe minor changes, as they are joining the “joint” brand, the point is to get Americans familiar with Costa, which would be pointless if they lost their Costa name. Costa Luminosa will be receiving the Carnival name, as previously mentioned; as it’s joining the Carnival fleet.

You can buy a one day internet pass while onboard only.

Having also returned from the July 18th cruise, we really didn't witness too much of what went on, but we heard stories from other cruisers, even seeing them posted in the Facebook group. I think the most I witnessed were kids hanging out in the hallways late at night but they were just being loud. If anything saw more rude adults then kids. Definitely saw an increase of security scattered around the ship as well. Outside of that, food was hit or miss; buffet was just so so, breakfast seemed more limited and the food was just bland. Sea Day Brunch was a big miss, food wasn't the greatest either and most was actually quite greasy. Guy's Burgers was good as always, Blue Iguana was okay (my first time trying it), Mongolian Wok was great but not worth the hour wait to get the food. MDR was probably the best of all of it, however portions did seem smaller as another poster pointed out. Room Service chicken tenders are a must! Second time in an ocean suite, much bigger than on Horizon, only complaint is the closet is awkward to get to when the beds are split. TV stopped working but our room stewart was quick to get this resolved, he was probably one of the best we ever had as well. Also surprised there weren't more USB outlets. Embarkation/Disembarkation were both quick and easy. Ship overall is nice but lido did get crowded during the sea days. Cruise Director and his team were excellent, he's probably one of my favorites now. Parents go again on the Magic in a few weeks, and then some family have a cruise next year as well. But now I'm curious and excited to see Costa Venezia come to NYC and how Carnival/Costa will handle that.

Luminosa is staying with Carnival and is not joining the joint brand, whereas Costa Venezia/Firenze are and will be keeping their Costa names. She will look just fine compared to Miracle and Splendor. They said from the start it wasn’t going to be a full conversion, if her interiors look great then there should be no complaints. While they have nothing on the books for the Carnival brand, they have stuff on the books for Princess, P&O, Seabourn, etc, they have more brands to look after where as the competition only has 3-4 brands. Bottom line, if they can save time of her being out of service with a wet dock vs. a dry dock they will take it. It also makes sense why they are taking Luminosa over Magica which is more older and probably more out dated and would need an more lengthy and costly dry dock conversion. She will probably receive some Fun 2.0 upgrades but not all of them and we don’t know the full details just yet, still have 2 months to go.

Seems more of just a wet dock verse a dry dock, which would explain the missing blue hull, and keeping the lifeboats yellow. Anyone know when she has a scheduled dry dock or when her last was?

I would still go with Sunshine, and I would agree with jsglow she is certainly the most unique with the three deck serenity. I would try Sunrise again in the future though, I sailed when it first came out of the transformation and see how things settled in.

Freedom is out of Port Canaveral, Sunrise is out of Miami and Sunshine out of Charleston. So if you do choose Charleston you’d be on Sunshine which I personally would pick above Freedom and Sunrise.

Costa Luminosa will be rebranded into Carnival Luminosa and will sail seasonally from Australia (along with Splendor) and Alaska.

Firenze is going to Long Beach (2024), Venezia to New York (2023). I wouldn't expect this pair back in the region, until the joint venture takes off I would assume, as their first Vista is due to be complete in 2023, market would be slow at first anyway no?

The move would only be temporary so I would think another West Coast port, there is no clear time table yet as to how long Venezia/Firenze stay in the fleet (should it not get cancelled).

Figured it was a menu change or a new concept altogether but opening more BBQ restaurants is good too.

No you’re right, I was thinking at least for the maiden season before they kick Carnival out completely in 2024 but I didn’t know there was also a capacity limit, oh well.

I don’t really understand how it’s not more popular if Royal Caribbean and NCL have no problem sailing year round, just need to have better itineraries than Port Canaveral/Nassau/Freeport. Traditionally though Carnival has struggled with NY, seasonally they do well but their year round service never paid off, but like I said above if they offer something better than Bahamas it could work. and we also don’t know if this will be year round or seasonal, my assumption is year round but let’s see if they cook up some exciting itineraries, throwing in a stop to Charleston or Newport/Boston would go a long way or even some 9-10 day cruises. If MSC thinks they can do it, so can Carnival.

That could be possible, no sense in having Miracle in Long Beach with Panorama, Radiance and now Firenze so something will have to give (again unless they predict record demand).

Granted they are only slightly older than Atlantica/Mediterranea but I’m not sure if they can handle that much added capacity so. I would hate to see them go but if it comes down to it, that would probably be the decision but it really depends on how much say they have with the joint venture as those are the final ships not in service and I don’t think that market will be open any time soon.

If Carnival (Corp) ends up buying back Atlantica/Mediterranea and are sent to Carnival, Elation/Paradise would be out unless the demand is that strong. There is also the two Chinese Vistas as well, but I’m not sure how much say Carnival has being the minority partner.

They will return in Oct 2023 with Spirit sailing seasonally from Mobile, and Mobile will probably stay seasonal as well. Plus they are more modern than the other 6 anyway. The other thing to consider, is if the China brand goes bust, they could buy back Costa Atlantica/Mediterranea plus the two Vistas being built. But if this concept pays off then we may see more ships shared between the brands, guess we shall see.