| IMO | 9837456 |
|---|---|
| Length | 344.53 m |
| Builder | Meyer Turku |
| Yard | Perno shipyard |
| Hull number | 1397 |
| Launched | 2022 |
| Maiden voyage | 2022 |
| Class | Excel-class cruise ship |
| Operator | Carnival Cruise Line |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Carnival Celebration is an Excel-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line, and the second ship of Carnival's Excel class — its share of Carnival Corporation's wider Excellence-class design. Delivered by Meyer Turku in Finland in November 2022, she was built as the culminating ship of Carnival's 50th anniversary year, and her name deliberately echoes the line's earlier Celebration of 1987. On entering service she was the largest ship in the Carnival fleet.
She is also a technological break with the Carnival ships that came before her: like her sister Mardi Gras, she is powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and driven by Azipod propulsion units rather than conventional shafts, and she carries the second example of BOLT, the roller coaster at sea first installed on Mardi Gras.
Key specifications
The dataset records the ship's length at 344.53 m and her builder's yard number as 1397; the dataset's tonnage, beam, capacity, crew and speed fields are blank and are therefore not stated in the box above. For reference, her published figures are considerably larger than those of any earlier Carnival ship: Wikipedia lists her at 183,521 GT with capacity for 5,374 passengers at double occupancy and around 6,500 at maximum, with a crew of about 1,735. She has 19 decks in total.
Design and construction
Carnival Celebration was built by Meyer Turku at its Perno shipyard in Turku, Finland. She was ordered in 2016 as the second of Carnival's Excel-class ships, following Mardi Gras. Construction began on 13 January 2021, and she was floated out of the building dock on 11 February 2022. Meyer Turku completed and delivered her on 2 November 2022.
Her machinery marks the Excel class out from the rest of the fleet: four dual-fuel engines able to run on LNG or marine gas oil, generating power for two ABB Azipod XO propulsion pods. LNG operation was the centrepiece of the class's environmental case and made the Excel ships the first LNG-powered vessels in the Carnival Cruise Line fleet alongside Mardi Gras.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
The name was announced on 21 August 2020. Unlike her sister Mardi Gras and the original 1987 ship, which sailed simply as Celebration, this ship carries the full Carnival Celebration name with the Carnival prefix. Meyer Turku presented her from the outset as the line's 50th birthday ship, and her interiors were designed with deliberate nods to Carnival ships of the past.
She was christened at PortMiami on 20 November 2022 by her godmother, Cassidy Gifford. Her maiden voyage had already taken place by then: she entered service on 6 November 2022 with the transatlantic crossing from Southampton that positioned her to Florida for the naming.
Career by operator
Carnival Celebration has had one name and one operator throughout her short career:
| Years | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2022–present | Carnival Celebration | Carnival Cruise Line |
As a new ship, her career so far is simply the opening chapter of a front-line deployment in the Carnival fleet: she was delivered as the fleet's largest vessel and its 50th anniversary flagship, the 25th ship built for the line by the Meyer group yards in the modern era.
Onboard character
The Excel class reorganised the big Carnival ship around six themed zones rather than a single undifferentiated stack of public rooms. Three of the zones were designed specifically for Celebration. They include The Gateway, a travel-themed zone built around the idea of the journeys cruising makes possible, and 820 Biscayne, named for the address of Carnival's original Miami headquarters and styled as a tribute to the city where the line began. At the centre of the ship is a three-deck-high atrium with panoramic sea views — a sharp change from the enclosed, inward-looking atriums of earlier Carnival designs.
On deck, her signature is BOLT, the electric roller coaster mounted on the top deck — the second installed at sea after Mardi Gras. The combination of the anniversary theming, with design elements gathered from earlier Carnival ships, and the new zone layout defines her character: a ship designed as both a celebration of the line's first fifty years and the template for its next generation.
Major refits and incidents
Carnival Celebration entered service in November 2022 and is among the newest ships in this directory. She has undergone no major refit, and no significant incidents are recorded in the sources used for this guide. Her early career has been routine front-line service, interrupted only by the normal cycle of inspections and maintenance expected of a new vessel.
Sister ships and class
Within Carnival Cruise Line, her Excel-class sisters are Mardi Gras (2021), built by Meyer Turku before her, and Carnival Jubilee (2023), built by Meyer Werft in Germany. The Excel class is Carnival's version of Carnival Corporation's Excellence-class platform, which also produced ships for sister brands including AIDA Cruises and P&O Cruises; all share the same basic LNG-powered, Azipod-driven design scaled at roughly 180,000 GT or more.
Fate and where she is now
Carnival Celebration is in active service with Carnival Cruise Line, operating as one of the fleet's flagship Excel-class vessels and, at her delivery, its largest ship.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_Celebration, https://www.meyerturku.fi/en/news-publications/news/carnival-celebration-floated-out-at-meyer-turku-shipyard/, https://www.motorship.com/news/ships-yards/carnival-celebration-delivered/