If you are going or thinking of going on a cruise with Carnival, you will surely be interested in the changes the cruise line has planned for this year.
Some of these changes involve the composition of the fleet, others affect life on board, and some relate to destinations and cruise itineraries.
In this article, we will look at the 7 biggest changes for Carnival in 2025!
1. Ships Changes
The first major change to report is definitely the absorption of P&O Australia’s operations within the Carnival Cruise Line brand.
If you haven’t heard yet, P&O Australia will cease operations in March 2025, and its two ships, Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter, will be rebranded as Carnival Adventure and Carnival Encounter.
This is obviously a marketing move to strengthen the Carnival brand, which can now say it has two more ships in its fleet.
In particular, Carnival Adventure will be based in Sydney, and Carnival Encounter will homeport in Brisbane. Both will undergo a two-week wet dock for rebranding and to align their interiors with Carnival’s style.
2. The New Celebration Key
Another major change is the introduction of a new private on the south side of Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas
The new destination is called “Celebration Key” and will open to guests in July 2025.
As you can imagine, there will be true island-style fun with both relaxation and adventure blended together.
According to the first details, this new destination will spread across 65 acres and will be divided into five different areas (that Carnival calls portals). Each area will have its own distinctive features and be designed to please different guests.
For example, there will be a portal for families with racing slides and sports courts. A portal for adults with spaces to relax and an infinity pool, and also a portal dedicated to shopping with duty-free stores and local souvenirs.
3. New Alaska Sailings
This year will also be a great one for people who want to go on an Alaska cruise with Carnival.
The cruise line is expanding its offering and will have many interesting cruises to Alaska on Carnival Spirit and Carnival Luminosa.
Both ships will operate weekly cruises (7 nights) departing from Seattle and will basically stop at the same ports: Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm, Ketchikan, and Victoria.
4. Drink Packages Price Increase
Unfortunately, among the less pleasant changes for passengers is a price increase for the drink package.
Basically, in mid-December 2024, Carnival decided to raise prices, so this will affect all 2025 cruises (unless you had already added the package at the time of booking).
The new price is $82.54 per day (per person) for the Cheers! drink package regardless of the length of the cruise. If you remember, previously, this package was $70.74 per day for cruises of at least six nights. That’s a $11.80 increase!
Fortunately, the price is unchanged for short cruises of 5 days or less.
5. New Menu for the Lido Deck Buffet
The buffet is one of the most loved things on Carnival ships. Passengers love the variety of food and always like to try something new.
Recently, a guest reached out to Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald, to complain about seafood being placed next to other dishes, as she had a seafood allergy.
Well, John’s answer is quite interesting because he revealed that Carnival is working on a new buffet menu for this year.
Here’s what he said:
“Thank you so much, you’re very kind. Seafood is very popular, and that’s why I think perhaps we have a lot of it.Â
However, I do know that my colleagues at the mothership are this coming year going to be working on a new menu for the Lido deck buffet, and I will make sure this comment from you is included in my report so they see it.”
6. Taking Away a Popular Discount
Now, another negative thing that Carnival’s most senior travelers will surely dislike.
Unfortunately, the cruise line will no longer offer discounted gift cards through AARP, America’s leading organization for people aged 50 and older.
Some of you may have read the news that in November 2024, the discount dropped from 10% to 8%. Then, in December 2024, it went down again to 5%.
Now, the partnership seems to have ended completely, and many elderly passengers were disappointed by the move.
On this, the Carnival Brand Ambassador said:
“I can confirm that we are, as of January 1, not offering an AARP discount card.
I can also confirm that we remain the most affordable cruise line with the most fun and that’s why I hope you’ve reached the level with us that you have.”
7. New Ships?
Many of you may also be wondering if there will be a big change in the fleet as well, perhaps with the introduction of a new ship.
In reality, there will be no new ships for Carnival in 2025.
As we have seen in recent years, the company has focused on a different approach than some of its competitors.
They prefer to bring in ships from other brands, as we have seen with Costa and P&O, rather than build new ones.
Will this strategy be a hit with passengers? I don’t know, but we’ll see. In the meantime, you can also check out the big changes Royal Caribbean has in store for 2025.
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