Carnival Cruise Line's newest ship, the 6,631-passenger Carnival Celebration, was designed to celebrate the line's 50-year history, down to its planned 2022 debut to mark the occasion.
Among the ways that the ship differs from its nearly identical sister ship, the Mardi Gras, is the new Gateway Zone, which supplants the New Orleans-themed French Quarter on the Mardi Gras. Dedicated to travel, the Gateway is home to the Golden Jubilee Bar, which pays homage to Carnival's heritage, and is my favorite space onboard.
The writer posing in a doorway created by items salvaged from scrap yards in India, including etched glass and brass doors from the Carnivale's ballroom. Photo Credit: Peter Knego
Admittedly, I'm a little biased. I provided the cruise line with many of the key decorative and historical elements from its first two ships -- items that I rescued from Indian scrap yards and sold back to Carnival to use here.
As an ocean liner historian, for decades I have traveled to the beaches of Alang, India, the final resting place for many ocean liners and cruise vessels, and have returned home with containers full of their often historical artwork, fixtures, furniture and other relics.
On this ship, those items include an 18-foot curved wall of etched glass and mahogany from the casino of the original 1961-built Mardi Gras and a pair of etched glass and brass doors and a matching panel from the ballroom of the 1956-built Carnivale as well as a brass telegraph from that ship's bridge.
The chairs are replicas of original Albegna chairs I rescued from the Carnivale's Riverboat Club Lounge, and the tabletops were saved by Carnival from the Carnival Fascination. Blueprints of past Carnival ships line the ceiling of the bar, which has inset copies of etched glass panels from the Carnivale's lobby doors, and the floor of the bar has tiles that replicate the maple leaf pattern in the Mardi Gras ballroom railings.
Throughout the cruise, it was a moving experience to hear the din of live music and laughter bringing these items that had for years sat in my home or garage, back to life.
A brass telegraph from the bridge of the 1956-built Carnivale, among the items salvaged by the writer. Photo Credit: Peter Knego
Like maritime Easter eggs, there are many more Golden Jubilee elements, big and small, waiting to be discovered by appreciative guests. And a QR code can be scanned here that provides much of the room's back story.
The outer edge of the Golden Jubilee features a walkway with inlaid brass coins representing every Carnival ship in tandem with a wall of porthole-framed dioramas telling the Carnival story through the decades, all progressing forward in time as one moves forward on the ship. If Carnival's remarkable first 50 years is any indication, there will be many more brass coins and dioramas to come.
The Gateway is also home to the two main dining rooms, both named for former Carnival ships: the double-deck Festivale and the more intimate Carnivale.
The zone's Latitudes Bar has a large, train station-style clapboard sign and giant fiber-optic windows projecting visuals of world destinations. In the adjacent a la carte-priced Emeril's Bistro 1397, there are some additional travel-themed courses not available on the Mardi Gras.
The Tropicale Bar is named for Carnival's first newbuild ship from 1982. Photo Credit: Peter Knego
New ship, new zones
Delivered in November as the second in Carnival's Excel Class, the Celebration is slightly larger than the Mardi Gras, which entered service in summer 2021.
While both ships have six themed zones, three of which are pretty much identical, the Gateway is one of the three new ones on the Celebration.
More Carnival nostalgia is found at the Miami-themed 820 Biscayne on Deck 8, which replaces the Italian-themed Piazza Zone on the Mardi Gras and is named for Carnival's first headquarters. Its guest relations desk features three Len Janklow kinetic artworks rescued from the Carnival Ecstasy.
On embarkation day, I settled in for a delicious Cuban-inspired sandwich at the convenient Deco Deli, which, along with the Miami Slice pizzeria, the Bar 820, the Cucina del Capitano (Italian) restaurant and the for-fee Rudi's Seagrill, relieves some of the top deck traffic.
Similar to the Mardi Gras' Grand Central, Celebration Central is a stunning, three-deck side atrium with a giant wall of glass overlooking the sea. Fourteen-hundred fiber-optic lucite confetti panels burst upward from its proscenium into the ceiling, and with the push of a button, video screens cover the pane of glass to provide a backdrop for bingo and other games.
The ship's Aquaria Bar features ocean-themed glass murals salvaged from the Carnival Victory. Photo Credit: Peter Knego
One of its two bars, the Aquaria Bar, features ocean-themed glass murals salvaged from the Carnival Victory. And, steps away from the JavaBlue cafe, there is the blue 1934 Rolls Royce saloon car that was recently removed from the Carnival Ecstasy's promenade.
At night, Celebration Central is used for spectacular shows like "The Most Magnificent Circus" that employ acrobatic performances. Meanwhile, the double-deck Grand Spectrum Theater is the more traditional main showroom, and there are smaller venues like the Punchliner Comedy Club and the Limelight Lounge, which becomes the late-night disco.
The Celebration offers five- to eight-day cruises from Miami to the Caribbean. A third Excel Class sister ship, the Carnival Jubilee, is expected in 2023.