Carnival Cruise Line has christened Carnival Firenze at the ship’s new home in Long Beach, California. 

Delivered in December 2020, the Vista-Class ship was originally commissioned for the Chinese market and Carnival Corp.’s Costa brand, but COVID scuttled that plan.

Last year, Carnival Corp. announced that Costa Firenze would be transferred to Carnival Cruise Line under a new sub-brand named “Costa as Carnival” operating as “Carnival Fun Italian Style.” Sister ship Costa Venezia joined the CCL fleet as well, in a bid to boost domestic American capacity after the cruise line had sold numerous older vessels.

Actor Jonathan Bennett, Godfather of Carnival Firenze. (Photo Credit: Carnival Cruise Line)

At the Long Beach naming event, 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 will sail year-round from the Port of Long Beach, joining two Carnival ships currently sailing year-round — the 5,100-passenger Carnival Panorama and the nearly 4,000-passenger Carnival Radiance.

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.

“We carry more guests than any other cruise line from California, and now this ship is giving us the opportunity to offer more fun to more people sailing from Long Beach,” said Duffy. “The recipe combining this ship’s beautiful Italian theming with the familiarity of our friendly team’s hospitality is, in a word, perfecto!”

Carnival Firenze will join Carnival Cruise Line, obtained from Costa Cruises.

Like sister Carnival Venezia, the ship features experiences that put an Italian Style twist on Carnival staples for guests to enjoy. The Firenze just completed 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, which promises a journey across Italy through the country’s rich and diverse cuisine. 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. 

Carnival Firenze is the first ship in the fleet to usher in new technology that 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.

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