Carnival Cruise Line has announced that its third Excel-class LNG-powered vessel will be named Carnival Jubilee, and the new ship will be based out of Galveston in Texas. The new mega-ship will debut in 2023 and is the sister ship to Mardi Gras and Carnival Celebration.

Carnival Jubilee Will Homeport in Galveston

The Miami-based cruise line continues to rename its new Excel-class cruise ships after its former older vessels. The third ship in the new generation class will be named Carnival Jubilee, 37 years after the original Carnival Jubilee cruise ship, which first entered service in 1986 and was part of the Holiday-class.

“Carnival was the first cruise line to offer year-round cruising from Galveston in 2000, and we have continued to grow our presence and support of the Port of Galveston’s expansion, so we are thrilled to bring our brand-new Carnival Jubilee to Texas and the greater southwest region,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “This beautiful, innovative ship will bring an entirely new cruise experience to our guests, and we’ve got some great surprises to fun it up in ways we know they are going to love.”

The third Excel-class vessel will be identical to her sister ships and fully powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The ship will be 182,800 gross tons and have a guest capacity of more than 5,400 at double occupancy, along with 1,700 international crew members.

Carnival Jubilee will have the BOLT roller coaster, first introduced on sister ship Mardi Gras in 2020. There will also be expanded dining offerings, new cabin designs, and a main central three-deck atrium, just like her sister ships.

Carnival Jubilee Based in Texas

It’s also been revealed that Carnival Jubilee will be based out of the Port of Galveston in Texas when she debuts in 2023. It will be the largest ever Carnival cruise ship to ever sail from Galveston and follows the original vessel that also sailed from the port.

The news was teased and announced at the annual CruiseWorld travel advisor conference in Miami Beach, Florida. When Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy revealed the news, she was joined on stage by a seven-foot cowboy.

Duffy said, “We love Texas, and Texas loves Carnival. Galveston is one of our most popular homeports, and we draw guests to Texas from across the Midwest, southwest and western U.S. Bringing a brand-new ship to a market is a big commitment, and it’s one we gladly make for the greater Galveston community and entire region.”

The original Celebration (also the name of the second Excel-class vessel Carnival Celebration) was the first year-round ship in Galveston in 2000, and the original Jubilee followed her in 2002. The new Excel class, at four times larger than the original ship, will bring new exciting cruise options for Texans and beyond.

Carnival Jubilee will be sailing on seven-day western Caribbean itineraries from the Port of Galveston. The bookings will open in early 2022, and the cruise line will release more specific itinerary details by that time.

Mardi Gras was the first in the new LNG-powered Excel class in 2020 and is based in Port Canaveral. Carnival Celebration will be the second ship in the class and will debut in 2022 from Miami for the cruise line’s 50th Birthday celebrations.

Carnival Paradise becomes the first Fantasy-class Carnival cruise ship to receive the new red, white and blue livery design during dry dock and the eighth in the fleet overall. The vessel is now all shiny and fresh ready to welcome back guests in Spring 2022.

Carnival Paradise Completes Dry Dock

Carnival Cruise Line is now well underway with its fleetwide rollout of the new red, white and blue livery. Carnival Paradise becomes the latest ship to receive the new hull design and the first in the Fantasy class. It’s the first time this type of ship has been seen with the new hull design and thanks to the perfect capture from Million Dreams to Follow.

The livery was painted onto the ship during a dry dock at the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Spain. The ship first entered the dock on October 10, 2021, and moved back to the wet dock on October 22.

In addition to the new livery, there was also routine hotel maintenance and cosmetic enhancements. This typically includes new tiling where needed, carpeting, and minor changes in different departments onboard.

The Carnival cruise ship, which first entered service in 1998, has now completed a total of nice dry docks over its lifetime, with 2018 being the biggest due to all the new FUN 2.0 enhancements that were added. With the vessel currently the fourth oldest in the fleet, there may not be many more dry docks to come.

Carnival Paradise remains in Cadiz, Spain and it’s not yet known when she will head back over to the U.S. The ship is not scheduled to restart until Spring 2022, one of the last few to do so. So far, 13 Carnival cruise ships have already resumed operations.

The new livery design on the Fantasy-class vessel is inspired by the navy blue officer uniforms and the Iconic Carnival colors on the funnel. Carnival Magic was the first ship to receive the new design during a dry dock that took place in Marseilles, France, in July and early June.

Since Carnival Magic’s dry dock, a further seven ships have received the new look, including the newly transformed Carnival Radiance, which just recently arrived back in the U.S.

The new Mardi Gras also features the hull artwork, which was added during construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. Next up on the new livery front is the Carnival Sunshine. The vessel is currently receiving the latest look at the shipyard in Cadiz, Spain.

Carnival Paradise is 71,925 gross tone with a guest capacity of 2,124 at double occupancy. Currently, the ship is scheduled to begin cruises in early March out of Tampa, Florida. Carnival Cruise Line will no doubt confirm more details as part of a future restart update.

It was looking good that the former Carnival cruise ship named Carnival Fascination was to begin sailing for new owner Century Cruises in China. However, it’s now looking like the ship will become the fourth Fantasy-class vessel to be scrapped.

Former Carnival Fascination Heads for Alang Scrapyard

The hope was that at least one of the former Carnival cruise ships would be saved and keep sailing, but that’s now looking unlikely after Century Harmony (formerly Carnival Fascination) set its course for Alang in India. When any ship has a final destination of Alang, it’s almost certain that the vessel will be scrapped.

According to the Cruise Ship Tracker, the vessel is currently at anchor in Singapore. The track shows the final destination of Alang, India, with its arrival on October 28, 2021.

Alang is on the country’s west coast and is home to the ship-breaking facility, which has become more popular recently due to ships being sold for scrap due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Century Harmony was purchased from Carnival Cruise Line in 2020, when the global suspension on cruise operations had a significant impact. Carnival Corporation needed to offload some of its older vessels to reduce costs and raise capital.

Century Harmony’s new operator, Century Cruises, planned to operate the ship after undergoing a refurbishment in China that started in May 2021. Light work had already begun not long after the vessel departed Cadiz, Spain, and work on the ship’s new name was being done during a call in Gibraltar while heading for China at the end of 2020.

The sad news is that it seems Century Cruises has now decided to sell the vessel for scrap. It’s not known why the Chinese cruise line decided to offload the former Carnival cruise ship. With steel prices sky high at the moment, that could have impacted the decision.

The cruise ship will become the fourth Fantasy-class vessel to be sold for scrap due to the pandemic. Carnival Cruise Line sold Carnival Fantasy, the first to be beached at Turkey’s Aliaga ship-breaking facility. In the months following, she was joined by Carnival Inspiration and Carnival Imagination.

There have also been other former Carnival ships that have reached the end of the line during the difficult times, including Grand Celebration (formerly Celebration), which was operated by Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, and Magellan (formerly Holiday), which was operated by the now defunct Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

Carnival Fascination is set to join all the other former Carnival ships and that will be the end of the cruise ship that has brought so many memories to guests over the years.

The Fantasy-class cruise ship is 70,367 gross tons with a guest capacity of over 2,000 along with 920 crew members. The ship was built in Finland and entered service for Carnival in 1994.

Carnival Cruise Line continues to move forward with its new livery across the fleet as Carnival Liberty becomes the sixth ship in the fleet to don the new colors after dry dock. The vessel is currently headings back towards the U.S. with its new look and some other minor enhancements.

Carnival Liberty Completes Minor Dry Dock

The newly upgraded Carnival Liberty is heading back to the U.S. after becoming the sixth ship in the fleet to receive the new livery during dry dock. The vessel went into dry dock at the shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, on September 14, and during this time, the new red, white and blue livery design was added.

The livery, which has already been added to five other Carnival ships and the new Mardi Gras during construction, is inspired by the Carnival colors featured on the iconic ship funnel. The livery will continue to be rolled across the fleet, including the transformed Carnival Radiance, which will leave the shipyard this month.

Carnival Legend was the previouis ship to receive the new livery after completing its dry dock in Marseilles, France in early September. The Spisirt-class vessel has already returned to the the U.S. to prepare for operations out of Baltimore in November 2021.

Some other enhancements also took place on the Carnival Liberty, including routine maintenance and things such as carpeting, tiling, and painting to freshen up the ship. The Conquest-class vessel left the dry dock on September 28 and has also already departed Cadiz.

According to the Cruise Ship Tracker, the Carnival Liberty is in the central North Atlantic Ocean and will arrive in Miami, Florida, on September 15, 2021. Despite the ship being refreshed, she will remain on hold into 2022 and not among the ships to resume operations by the end of 2021.

Currently, the earliest sailing for the Carnival Liberty is January 3, 2022. However, Carnival Cruise Line has not yet announced its restart plan for the vessel, so the restart date could change. The January 3 departure is out of Port Canaveral and a 4-day itinerary including calls at Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas.

Carnival Liberty is a 110,000 gross-ton cruise ship with a guest capacity of 2,974 at double occupancy along with 1,160 international crew members. At the moment, Carnival ships are sailing at 70% capacity, but by the time Carnival Liberty resumes operations, that could change.

The ship’s previous refurbishment took place in December 2016, and that too was just a minor maintenance service. Carnival Liberty’s most extensive upgrade took place in 2011 as the ship was the first in the fleet to feature all the popular FUN 2.0 enhancements, including Guy’s Burger Joint and the Alchemy Bar.