Carnival Cruise Line has added its fifth ship to the fleet in 18 months as it christened its newest ship, Carnival Firenze, at its new home, the Long Beach Cruise Terminal in California. Hollywood actor Jonathan Bennett served as the ship’s godfather, and he and Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy celebrated all things Italian with the help of a Broadway star, a Puccini aria, and even a Catholic priest making a running jump onto the stage to deliver a blessing.
The 5,000-guest Carnival Fun Italian Style ship is sailing year-round from the Port of Long Beach, adding significant capacity and joining two Carnival ships currently sailing year-round – the 5,100-passenger Carnival Panorama and the nearly 4,000-passenger Carnival Radiance.
Launching just ahead of the busy summer travel season, and amid continued growth of cruise vacations’ popularity. By next year, Carnival will embark more than 750,000 guests from Long Beach on more than 200 sailings, an increase of 100,000 more guests compared to 2019.
Like sister Carnival Venezia, the ship features new concepts and experiences that put an Italian Style twist on Carnival staples. Carnival Firenze, however, is the first ship in the fleet to usher in new technology and harnesses artificial intelligence that creates guides for optimal, energy-saving routes on each sailing. The ship’s captain and officers will be the first to utilize this significant update to Carnival’s voyage efficiency system, ahead of a fleetwide rollout the cruise line expects to begin later this year.
The ship is also the latest Carnival vessel to utilize shore power and joins Carnival Panorama and Carnival Radiance in connecting to the electric grid while docked in Long Beach instead of running its engines.
The 2020-built Carnival Firenze just finished a 49-day dry dock in Cadiz, Spain that integrated Carnival Fun Italian Style features into the ship’s design. Notable additions to the ship include the specialty restaurant Il Viaggio – Italian for “The Voyage;” it’s aptly named as its menu promises a journey across Italy through the country’s rich and diverse cuisine. And special programming, like Festa Italiana, a top-deck “street party,” enhances the Italian theming.
The ship will sail a variety of itinerary lengths, with three- to seven-day Baja Mexico and Mexican Riviera cruises open for sale now through the spring of 2026.
Afte the christening, the ship set sail on a seven-day cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, and Cabo San Lucas.