MIAMI — Carnival Cruise Line is celebrating the official float out of the new Carnival Celebration, the second of the line’s three Excel-class ships.
The ship was floated out during a ceremony at Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland on Feb. 11. Following the float out, work will begin on installing some of the ship’s exterior features that are already on sister ship Mardi Gras, including the award-winning BOLT roller coaster at sea. Upon completion, the ship will feature six distinct zones much like Mardi Gras, but three of those are designed specifically for Carnival Celebration.
“This is the exciting part, after the float out – that’s when everything that everyone will love about the ship goes from blueprint to reality,” said Ben Clement, senior vice president of New Builds, Refurbishment and Product Innovation for Carnival Cruise Line. “When there’s a new ship coming, it’s always tough to pick your favourite part but Carnival Celebration is going to make that choice tougher than ever when she makes her way to Miami.”
Scheduled to enter service this fall, Carnival Celebration will sail a transatlantic voyage from Southampton to Carnival’s newly transformed Terminal F in PortMiami. The ship’s first sailing from Miami to the Caribbean will take place on Nov. 21, 2022, marking the culmination of Carnival Cruise Line’s year-long 50th birthday celebrations.
Carnival Celebration will join Mardi Gras, already sailing from Port Canaveral, and Carnival Jubilee, set to sail from Galveston, Texas in 2023, as part of Carnival’s Excel class. As the company’s newest and biggest class of ships, all three vessels will run on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology platform.
