The biggest refurbishment in the history of the cruise industry is set to take place this spring as the Carnival Triumph will emerge as the Carnival Sunrise following a $200 million drydock.
In 2020, the same will happen with the Victory, which will be renamed the Radiance.
“We’ve been investing in our fleet in terms of hardware, upgrades and enhancements,” said Gus Antorcha, COO, Carnival Cruise Line
“Since the Destiny-to-Sunshine conversion and the additions we’ve made on other vessels, we’ve seen great customer feedback. They love the new spaces. Given the Sunshine and how well it was received and continues to perform, it merits a similar size investment and refurbishment of two more ships.”
After a massive conversion, making the Destiny into the Sunshine in 2013, Carnival is rounding out its fleet-wide $2 billion Fun Ship 2.0 upgrade program in style.
“On the commercial side, it offers us the opportunity to deploy the ships as we would a new one,” said Antorcha. “The guests tell us it feels like a new ship. We are re-doing cabins, corridors and the atrium. They also become feature rich with Fun Ship 2.0 venues. It opens up the deployment options around the competitiveness of the ship; we’ll treat it as a new ship as that is how we think our customers will feel about it.”
New ship it may be, as Carnival is re-doing the entire promenade, adding all of its Fun Ship 2.0 features, as well as adding capacity for an additional 115 guests, highlighted by two Captain’s Suites adjacent to the bridge featuring floor-to-ceiling windows.
Highlights on the food and beverage side will include Seafood Shack, Bonsai Sushi and Guy’s Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que, which Antorcha said could see upwards of 1,000 guests on sea days.
Carnival has made a habit of big-scale refurbs, piling investments into its fleet, as both the Elation and Paradise were also subject to recent, large-scale upgrades.
“We’re putting the core set of Fun Ship 2.0 features across every vessel, which offers the ability to deliver the experience that guests are coming to expect, on every itinerary, on every ship and in every port. Some of the other lines will pick and choose; we are committing to a set of features that resonate with the guest.”
Additional capacity will take the ship up to a double occupancy of 2,945 guests, but the extra rooms are complemented by more food and beverage venues, taking over previously under-utilized spaces.
With the ship out of the water in Cadiz, the technical plant will also see upgrades, including significant HVAC adjustments.
Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2018-2019
