Key Aspects:
- Carnival Cruise Line has released its confirmed schedule of 2025 holiday sailings, showing when each ship in the fleet will be decorated for the season.
- Every ship will offer at least three holiday-decorated cruises as well as a New Year’s Eve cruise, depending on itinerary lengths and sailing departure dates.
- Decorations are typically removed shortly after January 1, even if ships are sailing longer cruises.
A holiday cruise can be a fantastic way to enjoy the season without the stresses of shopping, baking, gifts, and more. Instead, many travelers brave the stresses of packing, embarkation, and proper documents to ensure they can have an amazing holiday getaway.
But will your November or December Carnival cruise be a holiday sailing? The exact schedule can vary from year-to-year and depends on the scheduling availability of the professional decorators hired to bedeck each ship in its holiday finest.
Carnival Cruise Line has now released its schedule of 2025 Christmas and New Year’s cruises, beginning as early as November 21 with Carnival Adventure and with halls fully decked aboard the final ship, Carnival Sunshine, by December 7.
The full schedule of holiday sailing departure dates for the Carnival fleet is as follows:
- Adventure: November 21, 24; December 2, 5, 9, 13, 16
- Breeze: December 1, 6, 11, 15, 20, 24
- Celebration: November 30; December 7, 14, 21
- Conquest: November 28; December 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22
- Dream: November 29; December 7, 13, 19
- Elation: November 30; December 4, 8, 13, 18, 22
- Encounter: November 22, 25, 29; December 2, 6, 12, 15, 19
- Firenze: December 1, 4, 11, 15, 21
- Freedom: December 1, 6, 11, 15, 20, 24
- Glory: November 29; December 1, 5, 9, 12, 15, 19, 22
- Horizon: November 30; December 6, 14, 20
- Jubilee: November 29; December 6, 13, 20
- Legend: December 4, 8, 18
- Liberty: November 30; December 14, 20
- Luminosa: November 23; December 4, 7, 14, 18
- Magic: November 29; December 7, 13, 19
- Mardi Gras: November 29; December 6, 13, 20
- Miracle: November 30; December 7, 14, 20
- Panorama: November 30; December 6, 14, 20
- Paradise: November 29; December 4, 8, 13, 18, 22
- Pride: November 30; December 7, 14, 21
- Radiance: November 29; December 13, 18, 22
- Spirit: November 30; December 6, 14, 20
- Splendor: November 24; December 4, 8, 18
- Sunrise: December 4, 8, 13, 18, 22
- Sunshine: December 7, 13, 19
- Valor: December 4, 8, 13, 18, 22
- Venezia: November 30, December 14, 21
- Vista: November 29, December 7, 13, 19
Read Also: What to Expect on a Christmas Cruise
With this schedule, three Carnival ships will be offering the most holiday sailings this year: Carnival Conquest, Carnival Encounter, and Carnival Glory will all be fully decorated for eight cruises.
Meanwhile, four ships will be offering just three holiday cruises each: Carnival Legend, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Sunshine, and Carnival Venezia.
New Year’s Eve Cruises
There is one bonus cruise for each ship that should still be decorated for the season. Each Carnival ship’s New Year’s Eve cruise will begin the sailing with the seasonal decorations intact.
Holiday decorations are usually removed shortly after January 1, even if the cruise is a longer sailing. The decorations are then packaged and stored, ready for offloading when the ship returns to its homeport.
Across the Carnival fleet, this means that sailings departing from December 26 (Carnival Legend) through December 31 (Carnival Elation, Carnival Paradise, and Carnival Sunrise) will still enjoy holiday decorations as well as all the New Year’s Eve festivities.
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To be clear, all ships in the fleet will have New Year’s Eve events, such as balloon drops, midnight countdowns, and special parties. Those are the last sailings of the season that ought to showcase holiday decor.
Exactly when decorations will be removed will vary for onboard operations, and guests who miss out will need to wait until the 2026 holiday sailing season to enjoy the garlands, baubles, trees, Santa mailboxes, twinkle lights, and other adornments of the season.
