“We have 29 ships open for sale today for an incredible portfolio of options that are available to our guests,” Ugo Savino, senior director of deployment and itinerary planning for Carnival Cruise Line, told Cruise Industry News

Adding to that in a major way this summer will be Carnival’s new private destination, Celebration Key in the Bahamas.

“We will showcase Celebration Key to as many ships as possible and have 20 ships scheduled to call there, sailing from 10 U.S. homeports, which means every single port from the East Coast all the way to the Gulf.

“There is definitely a lot of excitement around Celebration Key. For the first time, we have a destination that is exclusively for the brand, and there will be so much to do for families, singles, everybody will enjoy Celebration Key.”

A newly built pier will enable two ships to come alongside this summer, while a second phase of the construction to be completed next year will allow four ships to call at the same time every day.

Carnival is also expanding and enhancing Half Moon Cay, which has traditionally been used by sister brand Holland America, and building a pier, which will allow Excel-class ships to come alongside when completed in 2026.

The island has also been renamed RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay.

“We wanted to make sure that guests appreciate that Celebration Key and RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay offer different experiences,” Savino explained.

“For a lot of activities and fun, everything Carnival stands for, Celebration Key is the perfect match.

“If you want to relax and enjoy one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay is the place.”

Other company-owned and managed destinations in the Caribbean include Princess Cays, Grand Turk, Amber Cove and Mahogany Bay, as well as the cruise terminal at Puerto Maya in Cozumel.

The private destinations will be among many pieces that will propel the brand forward, according to Savino.

“We are also welcoming the latest and greatest Excel-class ship that will enter service in 2027 and another in 2028.

“In addition to our bread-and-butter itineraries, we have a lot of unique and exciting opportunities coming up, such as America’s 250th birthday in 2026 for which we are arranging meetups. We will have seven ships on the East Coast that will meet near Celebration Key and three ships on the West Coast not far from Ensenada.

“At the same time, we are introducing some pretty exciting things we have never done before. For instance, we have the solar eclipse cruise aboard the Carnival Legend in 2026, sailing from Dover, and the itinerary is strategically planned to be in the path of the total eclipse.

“We will also have sailings from Singapore aboard the Carnival Encounter, Luminosa and Adventure, and from Tokyo, calling at ports in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam.”

Carnival tends to move ships around from year to year, as Savino explained: “We feel we can offer different experiences and really display what Carnival is about when we refresh our deployment.”

Excerpt from the Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine Spring 2025