Travel advisors now can book shore excursions and lounge facilities for clients booked on the 600 Carnival cruises that will stop at the Pearl Cove Beach Club.

When it opens in July 2025, the new adults-only area on Carnival Cruise Line’s (CCL) first private island will feature an 11,000-square-foot infinity pool lined with shaded daybeds and loungers, a swim-up bar and a spacious sun shelf, as well as a beach and a full-service restaurant.

Passengers and travel advisors now can book:

Daybeds and Water Daybeds (in Starfish Lagoon and Calypso Lagoon): Daybeds and water daybeds for two have canopies, pillows, and privacy curtains.

Cabanas (at the freshwater lagoons): Cabanas hold up to four guests and include armchairs, a sofa, two sun loungers, a cooler with chilled water, privacy curtains, a lockable cabinet, snacks, and fresh fruit.

Over-the-Lagoon Cabanas (near the Starfish and Calypso Lagoons): Cabanas that also have a ceiling fan and sunshelf.

Large Cabanas (near the Starfish and Calypso Lagoons): Large cabanas hold up to six, and include four sun loungers, stocked mini refrigerators, a lockable cabinet, a sofa, a dining table, a ceiling fan, privacy curtains, snacks, fruits and lunch.

AquaBanas (at the Starfish Lagoon): AquaBanas, which allow guests to keep their feet in the water, seat eight people under a shaded canopy.

Over-the-Lagoon Supervillas (at the Starfish Lagoon) and Beach Supervillas (at the beaches): Supervillas hold up to 10 guests with plenty of shaded seating options and extra amenities, including hammocks, lunch delivery, and stocked mini-refrigerators.

Also now bookable are kayaking, snorkeling, glass bottom boat tours, and land tours.

Unlike other private islands, admission to Pearl Cove is not included in the cost of a Carnival cruise. Prices for the least expensive package, at $99.99 per person, include club access and a welcome drink. Adding an open bar that offers up to 10 drinks—draft domestic beer, house red or white wine, well drinks, or rum punch—increases the price to $139.99 per person, and adding food from the Pearl Cove restaurant costs $179.99 per person.

“The World’s Largest Cruise Company” is growing even larger, introducing a new class of ships that hold 8,000 passengers each – and ordering three of them for Carnival Cruise Line from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.

At 230,000 gross registered tons each, and with more than 3,000 guest staterooms apiece, the new ships will be the largest in the Carnival fleet when they arrive in 2029, 2031 and 2033. They will be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and feature advanced energy efficiency, waste management, and emission reduction technologies.

Carnival Cruise Line earlier this year placed its first newbuild order in five years, for two more Excel-class ships scheduled to join the fleet in 2027 and 2028. In addition, five vessels are being transferred over from sister brands between 2023 and March 2025.

When you’re on a roll, said Carnival Corporation & plc CEO Josh Weinstein, you stick with it. And so the company is “doubling down on the growth of Carnival Cruise Line – our highest-returning brand – to keep up with the incredibly strong demand we continue to see for the world’s most popular cruise line. At this point, our newbuild pipeline is just one delivery in each of 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031 and 2033. We continue to take a disciplined approach to growth, strategically directing new capacity to the areas of highest demand at a rate of one to two new ships per year.”

Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy, meanwhile, promised “innovative guest experiences that will take Carnival Cruise Line into the future with new FUN features and excitement that we know our guests will LOVE.”

With five years to go until the ships debut, the company did not yet share details on the ships’ designs or itineraries.

“Cue the Junkanoo band,” says Carnival Cruise Line. When its new private port opens on Grand Bahama in November, it will be named Celebration Key, the company announced today.

With the opening, Carnival joins a popular trend toward having its own unrestricted access to land after a day at sea. Celebration Key will offer a mile-long white-sand beach, and Bahamian-themed retail, food and beverage options. “Invoking the natural beauty of Grand Bahama, every day at Celebration Key will be a celebration of our guests’ own making with a variety of experiences and something for everyone,” said president Christine Duffy.

With a capacity of 2 million guests a year, Celebration Key will be able to accommodate two Excel-class ships at once. It will be used by at least 10 ships from multiple homeports beginning July 2025.

More details will be released in late September, Carnival said.

Carnival Cruise Line has begun testing a new charge for some guests eating at its popular ChiBang specialty restaurant on Mardi Gras.

All guests still can eat at the venue for free at lunchtime or once for dinner. Though they now will incur an $8 per person surcharge if they return to eat dinner in the restaurant a second time.

There is also a ChiBang restaurant on the second Excel-class ship, Carnival Celebration, and there will be one on Carnival Jubilee as well. For now, the fee is only being charged on Mardi Gras, however.

Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald, on his Facebook page, called the move a pilot project designed “to give everyone an opportunity to dine in this unique venue” on a ship that holds about 6,000 passengers.

The popular ChiBang offers both a Chinese and a Mexican menu, neither of which are available elsewhere on the ship, as well as specialty desserts.

Following on the heels of Royal Caribbean’s decision yesterday to no longer require Covid testing for passengers on short cruises, Carnival today followed suit. A press release issued Friday afternoon said Carnival Cruise Line is “adjusting certain protocols to reflect the lifting of CDC requirements for the U.S. cruise industry.” Read the rest of this entry »