Carnival Panorama is the current flagship of Carnival Cruise Line. As such, the 133,868 GT, 323 m (1,059 ft 8.5 in) long Vista-class cruise ship is the largest in the fleet. She is also Carnival's 27th operating vessel and the final Vista-class ship in the fleet, which includes Carnival Vista and Carnival Horizon.

Design and description

The vessel's public facilities are similar to and evolve from those offered on Carnival Vista and Carnival Horizon. One distinct feature is a Sky Zone trampoline park in place of the IMAX theater found on her older sister ships. The ship also has activity venues including a Waterworks aqua park inspired by Shaquille O'Neal.

Construction and career

In March 2015, Carnival Corporation and Fincantieri made an agreement for five ships to be delivered between 2019 and 2022. On an announcement released on 30 December 2015, Carnival Corporation further established that the planned 4,200-passenger ship was set to be delivered to Carnival's sister brand, P&O Cruises Australia. A year later, on 15 December 2016, Carnival Corporation announced that Carnival Cruise Line would receive a third Vista-class vessel, meaning the original order for P&O Cruises Australia was transferred over to Carnival Cruise Line. The announcement stated that a delivery for the vessel was set for the fall of 2019. On 1 December 2017, Carnival Corporation officially announced that the third and final ship in the Vista class of the fleet would be named Carnival Panorama.

Construction officially began on the then-unnamed vessel on 7 July 2017 at Fincantieri's shipyard in Marghera with a steel-cutting ceremony. The keel was laid on 10 January 2018. She was launched from the shipyard on 6 December 2018.

Carnival publicly previewed the ship in the 2019 Tournament of Roses Parade. The float, named "Come Sail Away," was modeled after the ship and contained trampolines and played upbeat music. On 18 July 2019, she completed her sea trials in the Adriatic Sea. On 29 October, Fincantieri officially presented Carnival Panorama to Carnival Cruise Line at the Marghera shipyard. To travel from Marghera to California for her christening and debut, Panorama embarked on a 38-day journey that took her across the Atlantic Ocean and through the Strait of Magellan to sail up the western coast of South America, making stops in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Montevideo, Santiago, and Puerto Vallarta. She arrived at her initial destination of the Port of Los Angeles in the early morning of 8 December for final preparations.

On the afternoon of 9 December, Carnival Panorama moved to her home port, the Port of Long Beach, for her welcoming ceremonies and docked there for the first time early that evening. The ship was christened the following day by her godmother, Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White.

Carnival Panorama is currently homeported at the Port of Long Beach. She embarked on her three-day inaugural voyage to Ensenada on 11 December 2019. Upon returning to Long Beach, she began sailing 7-day Mexican Riviera cruises to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, and Puerto Vallarta on a year-round basis, taking over Carnival Splendor's itinerary.