Since the pause in operations through the end of 2025, Carnival Cruise Line will have conducted 42 drydocks, the company’s President, Christine Duffy, revealed.
Nineteen of those were part of the company’s return to service efforts, while the other five were tied to the conversion of ships from sister brands, she revealed during Carnival’s Innovation Itinerary media briefing earlier this month.
“We also did the major refurbishment of the Carnival Radiance, which is now in Long Beach, and then, of course, we are required to have regular drydocks,” Duffy noted.
During these scheduled shipyard stays, Carnival’s team focuses on areas that need to be updated, maintained, improved or changed, she continued.
The drydocks are said to have represented a $1.8 billion capital investment in existing ships in the past five years.
In addition to updating the hotel side of the ships, Carnival also invested in technical aspects, Duffy said.
“Beyond LNG, we invested a lot in energy efficiency and food waste reduction. It isn’t just about the fun that people see on the outside but also a lot of ways that we change operationally, focusing on efficiency and the environment,” she added.
In the past, Carnival invested in Fun Ship 2.0, which included a major upgrade effort to its existing ships, including the addition of many new venues and features.
“We introduced this program back in 2011, under the idea that we were going to bring consistent, branded experiences to ships across the fleet, covering all areas of guest experience,” Duffy explained.
Duffy said that venues introduced as part of Fun Ship 2.0 include some that are now among the most popular for Carnival, including Guy’s Burger Joint and Alchemy Bar.
“It was a $700 million capital investment for the corporation, and we kind of wrapped that up in 2020,” she continued.
At this time, while the company is not launching a large refurbishment program like it did in the past, it is still investing in updates to its existing fleet.
“As we came out of the pandemic, our team has been discussing what’s next, and the reality is: we don’t need a Fun Ship 3.0,” Duffy added.
Instead, the company is promoting a continuous evolution of the onboard experience through the addition of new concepts and experiences.
While most of these are being created on newbuilds, the older vessels are also getting new venues as well, including the Heroes Tribute Lounge and Bar.
Since debuting on the Carnival Panorama in 2019, the military-themed space has been added to ten ships and three newbuilds over the past few years.
Existing ships also got expanded non-smoking casinos, refreshed retail spaces, new entertainment productions and more.
