Carnival Cruise Line to Bring Costa Venezia to the U.S. In 2023, Costa Firenze in 2024, to Sail as Part of the Carnival Fleet

MIAMI, June  22, 2022 – Carnival Cruise Line – proudly known as America’s cruise line – is teaming up with Costa Cruises – Italy’s favorite cruise line – creating a new concept for Carnival’s North American guests when COSTA® by CARNIVAL® debuts in the spring of 2023 and Costa Venezia TM   joins the Carnival fleet sailing from New York. Costa Venezia will be followed by Costa Firenze TM arriving in the spring of 2024 to sail from Long Beach.

Carnival will operate the ships, which will marry the great service, food and entertainment that Carnival’s guests enjoy with Costa’s Italian design features. “Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze will bring Carnival’s guests the ambiance and beauty of Italy,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.  “We’re going to invite our guests to Choose Fun with Carnival, Italian Style!”

“This is an exciting opportunity for us to operate two additional beautiful Vista class ships in the U.S. and bring a unique experience to those who love the culture, food and vibe of Italy,” said Duffy.  “There are lots of ways we plan to create an immersive fun experience for our guests who choose to sail on these ships, which have beautiful Italian-design elements, dining and retail that will deliver Carnival fun leveraging the spirit of Italy from our sister line Costa Cruises.”
Mario Zanetti, president of Costa Cruises, said, “We are excited to see these iconic ships make their debut in the U.S. under the leadership and operation of our sister brand.  Costa providing the beautiful ship with its’ Italian design and Carnival delivering FUN, Italian Style!”  Zanetti said that Costa will be informing clients impacted by this news.
Duffy said that the ships will continue operating their regular Costa itineraries until they are assigned to Carnival for dry dock work and deployment.  Deployment and itinerary plans are being finalized, with the Venezia announcement coming soon given the spring 2023 launch date. Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze are sister ships to Carnival Vista, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Panorama, weighing 135,500 gross tons and accommodating up to 5,260 guests. 
 
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ABOUT CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE
Carnival Cruise Line, part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is proud to be known as America's Cruise Line.  Since its founding in 1972, Carnival has continually revolutionized the cruise sector, making a cruise vacation an affordable and popular option for millions of guests.  Carnival operates from 14 U.S. homeports and employs more than 40,000 team members representing 120 nationalities. Carnival’s newest ship, Mardi Gras, featuring the first roller coaster at sea, is the first cruise ship in the Americas powered by eco-friendly Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).  Carnival returns to Australia in October 2022 and will welcome four additional ships over the next two years, including Carnival Celebration, which arrives to Miami in November to close out Carnival’s 50th birthday festivities.

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