Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. It is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is the funnel, like the funnels found on its ships, with red, white, and blue colors. The funnels are shaped like a whale's tail. Carnival is ranked first on the list of largest cruise lines based on passengers carried annually and total number of ships in fleet.

As of September 2020, Carnival Cruise Line has a fleet of 24 ships.

Company structure

Carnival is one of ten cruise lines owned by the world's largest cruise ship operator, the American-British Carnival Corporation & plc. In 2018 Carnival Cruise Line was estimated to hold an 8.9% share of cruise industry revenue and 22.0% of passengers. It has 26 vessels and is the largest fleet in the Carnival group. The ships fly flags of convenience: 18 of the ships fly the Panama flag, six that of the Bahamas and two that of Malta. Its headquarters are in Miami, Florida, United States. The North American division of Carnival Corporation has executive control over the corporation and is headquartered in Doral, Florida.

History

Carnival Cruise Line was founded in 1972 by Ted Arison. To finance the venture, Arison turned to his friend Meshulam Riklis, who owned Boston-based American International Travel Service (AITS). Arison and Riklis set up the new company as a subsidiary of AITS. AITS was to market and promote the new venture. In 1974, due to regulatory issues, Riklis sold AITS's interest in the company to Arison for $1, but subject to Arison taking over the substantial company debts. The split enabled Arison to enter into new relationships with independent travel agents. He also promoted his cruises to fun-loving younger people. The format was very successful financially.

1970s: Early years

Carnival Cruise Lines commenced sailings from Miami with their first ship the Mardi Gras in 1972, a former transatlantic liner purchased from Canadian Pacific Line. Carnival would adapt and evolve the green Canadian Pacific livery for their new logo, changing the colors to red,white and blue as seen today.

In 1975 acquired another former Canadian Pacific Line ship, renaming it the Carnivale. The success of the two ships led to the acquisition of their third ship in 1978, the TSS Festivale, another former ocean liner. With the success of the three ships, Carnival decided to build new ships to be able to compete with the rival Miami cruise lines.

1980s: First new build ships

In 1982, Carnival introduced their first purpose built ship, the Tropicale. This was the first ship where the iconic winged funnel was introduced, designed by Joe Farcus, who would become a longtime Carnival Cruise Line design collaborator, which has since been used on all ships in the fleet.

In 1984, Carnival would introduce a new television marketing campaign during this time, starring Kathie Lee Gifford, who continues to be a longtime collaborator with the line.

Following the success of the Tropicale, and increased competition in Miami with newer ships, Carnival ordered the Holiday in 1985, followed by the Jubilee in 1986 and Celebration in 1987.

1990s: Fleet expansion

Beginning in 1990, Carnival introduced the popular Fantasy-Class, beginning with the Fantasy, and completed with the eighth in the class Paradise in 1998. When completed, the Fantasy was one of the largest ships at the time and had the largest atrium at sea. After having done design work on all the previous Carnival ships, Joe Farcus continued as the lead designer for the entire class.

In 1993, Carnival began to get rid of their older second-hand tonnage, and sold their first ship, the Mardis Gras, after 21 years of service with the line. The Carnivale followed the same year, going to newly created Carnival subsidiary Fiesta Marina Cruises.

In 1996, the new Destiny-class was introduced, with the Carnival Destiny. At 101,000 GT , it became the largest passenger ship in the world at the time and first to exceed 100,000 tons. The Destiny-class platform continued to be used in various iterations all the way to the Carnival Splendor in 2008. The same year the veteran ship Festivale, the last of the original second hand fleet, was retired.

In 1998, the seventh ship in the fantasy-class, the Elation, was the first cruise ship to have the innovative azipod propulsion, used on most new cruise ships today. The Paradise also debuted in 1998, and was the first completely non-smoking cruise when it originally debuted.

2000s: Early modern era

In 2001, the new panamax size Spirit-Class debuted with the Carnival Spirit, the first of the four ship class within the Carnival fleet.

In 2001, Robert H. Dickinson, then President and CTC, participated in a BBC documentary, Back To The Floor. Dickinson went to work at the lowest crew levels on the MS Imagination in the Caribbean, where he shadowed a Romanian cleaner, Alina. In October 2002, Carnival acquired P&O Princess Cruises for 3.5 billion euro.

In 2001, Carnival transferred their first new build, the 1982 built Tropicale to Costa Cruises. Through the rest of the decade, the line would continue to sell, or transfer the other 1980s built ships to other lines, with the Jubilee in 2004, Celebration in 2008, and Holiday in 2009.

In 2004, Carnival Corporation initiated a development program for Carnival's new ships, the Pinnacle Project, calling for a 200,000 GT prototype, which would have been the world's largest cruise ship at the time. The ship was cancelled, but they then developed a project called Next Generation.

In 2009, Carnival released their biggest ship at the time, the Carnival Dream, a new 128,000 GT ship. Carnival Dream entered service on 21 September 2009. After several voyages in the Mediterranean, she was set to offer weekly Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral from December 5, 2009. A sister ship, Carnival Magic, debuted on May 1, 2011. On December 1, 2009 it was announced that Carnival had placed an order for a third Dream-class vessel. It entered service in June 2012 and its homeport is now Galveston. On May 10, 2010, Carnival selected a name for their new Dream-class vessel in 2012 - Carnival Breeze.

2010s

On October 26, 2012, it was announced that Carnival had ordered a new 133,500 GT ship. This ship, built by Fincantieri, was the largest ship they have ever built. The new ship was named Carnival Vista, and sailed her maiden voyage on May 1, 2016, from Trieste, Italy.

In January 2017, Michael Thamm was appointed CEO of Carnival Asia to oversee operations in China and the surrounding region.

A sister to Carnival Vista, Carnival Horizon, joined the fleet with her inaugural voyage from Barcelona, Spain on April 2, 2018. Queen Latifah is the ship's godmother, and christened her May 23, 2018.

Carnival Panorama, another sister to Carnival Vista, entered service as the cruise line's flagship on December 11, 2019. She became the first new ship to homeport on the West Coast since MS Paradise (now MS Carnival Paradise) in 1998. Both ships sailed from Long Beach, California.

In February 2018, the company's officials unveiled a major port development project in Ensenada, Mexico.

Reports in late June 2019 stated that Carnival was building their first terminal in Japan, in the port city of Sasebo, to be named Uragashira Cruise Terminal. Local officials were hoping that the terminal would be open by late July 2020.

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic

In a filing with regulators, the company stated that as of July 31, 2020, it had $7.9 billion in "cash and cash equivalent" available. An industry news item estimated that this would enable Carnival to continue operating for roughly a year in a situation where none of the ships was sailing. A few days earlier, the company confirmed that it had sold the Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration (which were to be scrapped) and that Carnival Fascination and Carnival Imagination would move to long term layup (storage).

All cruises were cancelled in March 2020 due to the worldwide pandemic and eventually, 55 passengers on ships owned by Carnival Corporation & plc were reported as having died. In September 2020, the corporation (the corporate umbrella of nine cruise ship companies, including Carnival Cruise Line) announced a reduction in its fleet. The company intended to dispose of 18 of its ships, a full 12% of the group's fleet. By that time, several ships had already been scrapped, including the Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration. In September 2020, Carnival announced that Carnival Fascination and Carnival Imagination had been sold as well. Carnival Corporation also said that it was delaying the delivery of several ships already on order. The adjusted net loss in the third quarter for Carnival Corporation & plc was reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as US$1.7 billion.

As of September 2020, the no-sail rule by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prohibited cruising in the U.S. until October 31, 2020, at the earliest. Members of the Cruise Lines International Association, including Carnival Cruise Lines, had announced in early August that its members were extending a voluntary suspension until October 31; that applied to cruises that were to depart from the U.S. or planned to stop at U.S. ports of call. On September 16, 2020, Carnival Cruise Lines extended the suspension of four of its ships sailings well beyond October to complete required dry-dock enhancements.

Costa Cruise Lines began new sailings on September 6, 2020, in Italy, initially with two ships, Costa Deliziosa and Costa Diadema, At that time, the line required all passengers to be from Italy. By September 27, 2020, however, "Costa Cruises will be available for all European citizens who are residents in any of the countries listed in the most recent decree from the Prime Minister of Italy" according to a news report. The company had implemented strict health protocols to protect its staff and guests.

The Corporate parent's 4th Quarter (ending November 30, 2020) financial statement released on January 11, 2021, indicated that one extra ship, in addition to the 18 previously planned, was to be sold. Carnival Corporation was in an excellent cash position, with US $9.5 billion, but suffered an adjusted net loss of $1.9 billion in the Quarter.