Key Aspects:
- Carnival Festivale now has the new “Sea to Shining Sea” bow crest on her hull as construction on the fourth Excel-class ship continues.
- Photos of the crest that was first introduced in May 2026 illustrate its size, giving Carnival cruise fans an unusual perspective to appreciate.
- The new crest is being rolled out to all but two ships in the fleet, as Carnival Jubilee features the Star of Texas crest, as will the upcoming Carnival Tropicale.
Carnival Festivale is still six months from her debut in Port Canaveral, but Carnival Cruise Line’s fourth Excel-class ship has received a distinctive touch that makes her more recognizable as a future Fun Ship. On Tuesday, November 10, 2026, the cruise line revealed that Carnival Festivale has officially received her Sea to Shining Sea bow crest.
The announcement was made with a Facebook post that offers a unique perspective of the new crest with an up-close view. Precisely positioned on the ship’s blue bow, the white crest is an embossed feature rather than just painted on the hull.
The crest features the same design that was introduced with Carnival Legend and Carnival Magic during their side-by-side dry dock updates in May 2026.
An outer double circle border features the words “From Sea to Shining Sea” with a 5-pointed star on each side, and the word Carnival at the bottom of the circle. All words are in the familiar Carnival Cruise Line font. Inside the crest is a stylized whale tail funnel, the iconic logo all Carnival cruise fans can recognize, atop three gently rolling waves.
“With the debut of this new crest, we’re reinforcing what guests have long known: Carnival is proud to be America’s Cruise Line,” Christine Duffy, Carnival Cruise Line’s president, said when the crest design was first revealed.
“We sail coast to coast and connect with millions of guests every year, and this crest reflects the reach of our brand across the U.S. – from the communities we visit to the memories we help create at sea.”
The view of the new crest on Carnival Festivale gives guests a unique insight into the overall size of the ornament as well as just how huge the bow of a 182,015-gross ton ship really is.
One photo shows a shipyard worker carefully painting the white part of the crest, using a construction lift to reach the feature and applying paint with a small roller. Yet the worker is dwarfed by the design, and the capital “C” in “Carnival” is larger than the worker’s head.
Carnival Cruise Line has not released any official measurements on the crest, but in comparison to the worker, it is easily 10 feet or more in diameter, making it a stunning and highly visible adornment to the Carnival fleet.
Steel was cut for Carnival Festivale on April 8, 2025, and construction continues at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Her maiden voyage is a 15-night transatlantic crossing from Southampton on May 2, 2027, followed by her first Port Canaveral sailing, a 4-night Bahamas cruise, on May 19.
Not All Ships Will Have the Same Crest
The “Sea to Shining Sea” crest is being rolled out to most of the Carnival fleet. For most ships, the crest is being added as part of planned dry dock refurbishments.
Carnival Freedom, for example, was in dry dock in September 2026 and not only got her new whale tail funnel to replace the straight funnel that she had been sailing with since her previous whale tail was damaged by fire in March 2024, but also received the new bow crest at that time.
New build ships will debut with the crest already in place on the bow, as the latest update for Carnival Festivale confirms.
Two ships, however, will not have the same crest as the rest of the fleet. When Carnival Jubilee debuted in December 2023, she was the first to feature any type of bow crest, but it was not the “Sea to Shining Sea” design.
Instead, the Texas-based ship features a Star of Texas crest, which was first revealed when the ship was floated out in July 2023. That design emphasizes the ship’s connection to the Lone Star State and her year-round Galveston homeport.
Carnival Cruise Line also announced in April 2026 that the upcoming Carnival Tropicale would likewise have the Texas Star bow crest and be homeported year-round from Galveston.
