The Carnival Adventure and Encounter have recently completed their first year of service for Carnival Cruise Line.
The two vessels made their debut for the American brand in March 2025, following the shutdown of P&O Cruises Australia, where they were operating as the Pacific Adventure and Encounter.
Originally built for Princess Cruises in the early 2000s, the sister ships had been sailing for the Australian brand since 2021.
With the Australian brand winding down, the Adventure and the Encounter were transferred to Carnival but continued their year-round deployments in the South Pacific.
Before their official debut the ships also underwent a minor refurbishment, which included the addition of some of the brand’s signature features, an updated livery and the addition of the Carnival prefix to their names.
Formerly the Golden Princess, the Carnival Adventure is presently sailing from Sydney along with the Carnival Splendor.
The vessels offer a year-round schedule of three- to 12-night cruises to destinations in Australia and the South Pacific, including the Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and more.
Earlier this year, Carnival announced plans to expand the deployments of the Adventure, adding itineraries from more homeports, including Melbourne, Adelaide, Auckland and Singapore.
The 2,600-passenger ship is then scheduled to reposition to North America in April 2028, spending the summer in the region before returning to Australia for the 2028-29 season.
Originally built as the Star Princess, the Carnival Encounter recently returned to its homeport Brisbane following a major refurbishment in Singapore.
The refit included the revitalization of the ship’s pool decks, in addition to upgrades to the Cloud 9 Spa and other technical improvements.
Now sporting Carnival’s new livery, the 109,000-ton vessel resumed its year-round schedule in Brisbane, which includes a series of three- to 12-night itineraries to a range of South Pacific destinations.
In addition to the Encounter, Carnival also operates the Carnival Luminosa out of Brisbane on a seasonal basis.
