Carnival Cruise Line’s New Mega-Ship Begins Sea Trials

The second ship in Carnival Cruise Line’s Excel-class fleet, Carnival Celebration, has set sail for her maiden voyage and accompanying sea testing. It has been many days since the Mardi Gras’s sister ship left the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland for an unknown period at sea.

The ship’s engineers will put all the technical systems and the ship’s manoeuvrability and speed through their paces during the sea trials.

The Carnival Celebration’s construction began in January 2021, and the ship was expected to begin sailing out of Miami, Florida, perhaps in the autumn of that same year.

Even though she isn’t ready to welcome passengers, Carnival Celebration is nearing its official premiere later this year. On Monday, 5 September, from the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, the newest cruise ship in the Carnival Cruise Line fleet sailed on her maiden round of sea trials after a building phase that began just twenty months ago.

Engineers are now testing all the ship’s systems as it sails around the Baltic Sea archipelago near the port city. The building process isn’t complete until the sea trials, which can take anywhere from a few days to 10 days, depending on the outcome of the tests.

Like her sibling Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration runs on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Even though the shipyard has installed the power source on numerous ships at this point, the ship still has to undergo extensive testing to ensure that it can manoeuvre and travel at the speeds and manoeuvrability required by Carnival Cruise Line.

The sea trials will also allow the ship’s crew and officers to become acquainted with the vessel.

During sea trials, the ship is subjected to a series of tests designed to assess the ship’s capacity and performance. Several tests are done, like endurance tests, steering tests, speed tests, thruster tests, zig-zag tests (part of manoeuvring tests), and all Class necessary exams.

The shipyard is still supervising the sea testing, and while the Captain is onboard, he is merely acting as an observer:

The Captain is not the only senior officer and crew member onboard; numerous other senior officers and crew members have also boarded the ship. They will oversee the launching of the Carnival Celebration and assist her through the rigorous launch period.

The Carnival Celebration will have 180,800 gross tonnages, with a capacity of 5,282 guests at double occupancy and 1,282 crew members. Both ships, like Mardi Gras, are members of the Excel class of ships. Other ships in the category include P&O Cruises’ Iona and Arvia, AIDA Cruises’ AIDAnova, Costa Smeralda and Toscana, Carnival Jubilee, which is scheduled to be delivered in 2023, and others.

The Carnival Celebration is perhaps the most anticipated cruise ship for 2022. The ship is an important part of Carnival Cruise Line’s 50th-anniversary celebrations, culminating with its arrival in Miami later this year.

Guests can enjoy a wide range of activities while onboard, including BOLT, the same roller coaster featured onboard Mardi Gras, and six fun-filled zones onboard, including Celebration Central, The Gateway, Summer Landing, 802 Biscayne, Lido, and the Ultimate Playground.

Even though Carnival Cruise Line refers to the first Caribbean cruise as the maiden voyage, Carnival Celebration will only sail on one cruise before arriving in the United States. Carnival Celebration will take sail on its inaugural transatlantic journey from Southampton, England, on Sunday, 6 November.

“Carnival Celebration promises to be a spectacular addition to our fleet – just in time for our 50th birthday – and we’ve put together a terrific array of itineraries kicking off with a two-week-long inaugural transatlantic cruise and then year-round Caribbean sailings from PortMiami featuring some of the most beautiful and popular destinations in the region,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

During the 14-day cruise, she will stop in La Coruna and Vigo, Spain, Funchal, Madeira, and Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Carnival Celebration will arrive in Miami in the early morning of 20 November, after which Carnival Cruise Line will organise a series of activities, including the formal naming ceremony, to mark the arrival of the newest ship in the fleet.