Profile and Photo Tour of Carnival Liberty

With the addition of Carnival Liberty, Beyondships now has profiles of all of Carnival Cruise Lines’ ships that have grown out of the design first introduced with Carnival Destiny. This includes the Destiny, Triumph, Conquest, Splendor and Dream classes - - 10 ships in all

I did not plan for Carnival Liberty to be the last, it just worked out that way. Liberty was just the last one I encountered.

She entered service in 2005 and was the fourth of the Conquest-class. It is a good design that has worked well for Carnival and for its guests. There is a variety of public rooms and facilities, which offer guests real options on where to go and what to do.

While the general layout of the Conquest class ships is the same, they are not cookie cutters. Architect Joe Farcus always develops the interiors of the Carnival ships around a unifying idea. The idea is unique to each ship. For Carnival Liberty, he decided to pay tribute to “great artisans and their works.” This is a broad theme and so the theme is not as apparent as one walks through Liberty. However, the result is an interior that is perhaps more subtle than some of her fleetmates.

One of the things that stands out in my mind about Carnival Liberty was the friendliness of the crew. Of course, it all depends upon who you encounter as well as the circumstances but on Carnival Liberty, everyone I spoke with seemed nice and was helpful. The friendliness of the crew helps to create a ship’s personality but the ship’s personality also affects whether a crew is friendly.

Beyondships’ profile of Carnival Liberty is at: http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalLiberty-Profile.html The multi-page photo tour and commentary begins at: http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalLiberty-Tour-1.html

Carnival Imagination Photo Tour and Commentary

Between 1990 and 1998, Carnival Cruise Lines built eight nearly-identical ships known as the Fantasy class. When these ships entered service, they were among the largest and most modern cruise ships in service and were often referred to as “superliners.” As time has gone on, however, cruise ships have become much larger and have added more and more features. Consequently, the Fantasy-class ships are now often referred to as the “small ships” in Carnival’s fleet.
One by-product of the rapid evolution of cruise ships in recent years is that ships start to become outdated in the eyes of the cruising public before they reach the end of their useful lives as ships. This creates a dilemma for the major cruise lines. Do you sell these ships to other companies that operate in the secondary market or do you make the investment to upgrade them so that they remain competitive in the first tier of the market? On the one hand, these are perfectly good ships that could sail for another decade or more. On the other hand, even an upgraded middle-aged ship is not really competitive with a brand new ship.
Carnival Cruise Lines has chosen to upgrade. In a $235 million program called Evolutions of Fun - - much less than the cost of building one new ship - - it is upgrading the amenities, décor and features of its eight Fantasy class ships. While it may not make them the equal of the competition’s latest ships, they are in the same league. Moreover, it allows Carnival to be present in more markets including serving cities not served by other major cruise lines and to provide types of cruises such as short three or four day cruises which would not make economic sense for a new ship.
Carnival Imagination is one of the Fantasy class ships that has undergone the Evolutions of Fun upgrade. The result is a fresh looking ship with interesting features. Thus, while she may not have everything that one would find on the newer Carnival ships, the ship is able to offer a Carnival-style cruise. This makes her well-suited for providing an economical first taste cruise for newcomers and a good vehicle for short low-cost getaways for Carnival regulars.
My profile of Carnival Imagination is at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalImagination-Profile.htmland the photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalImagination-Tour-1.html

Carnival Pride Photo Tour and Commentary

Carnival Pride and her three Spirit-class sister ships are like the high performance sports cars of the Carnival fleet. Longer but yet smaller than Carnival’s Destiny-class megacruise ships, Pride can whip through the water at 24 knots. Her azipod propulsion system makes her highly maneuverable although I must admit that the Destiny-class ships are surprisingly maneuverable with their traditional propeller system. In any event, her technological prowess carries over and gives the ship something of the same feeling of superiority that comes with owning a performance car.

While Pride is smaller than the Destiny-class ships, especially the latest evolutions of that design such as Carnival Splendor, she offers many of the passenger choices that Carnival features. Indeed, there is even a specialty steakhouse and a flexible dining option in the main restaurant.

Inside, Pride is flamboyant. Carnival designer Joe Farcus has made use of numerous reproductions of Old Master artworks in a tribute to the “icons of beauty.” There is probably not another ship afloat that makes such extensive use of the works of Raphael, Van Gough, Michelangelo, and other renowned painters. These are not lined up one after another as in a museum but rather are blown-up to giant proportions or blended into the décor in interesting ways. Not only does it create a fun, Pop-style environment but it leads one to look around at the detail work and say “Hey, isn’t that from . . . .”

Aside from the hardware, I was impressed by the friendliness of the crew during my recent voyage on Pride. Everyone was friendly and confident in what they were doing.

My profile of Carnival Pride is at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalPride-Profile.html and the multi-page photo tour and commentary begins at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalPride-Tour-1.html.

Pride is the 50th ship that I have profiled on Beyondships.com including 10 other Carnival ships, 8 Royal Caribbean ships, 8 Holland America ships, 7 Princess ships, four NCL ships, three each from Cunard, P&O Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises as well as individual ships from three other lines. There is a dedicated section on the website for each ship with a photo tour, copies of menus and daily programs and in many cases interviews with the captain and/or other officers.

A Profile and Photo Tour of Carnival Valor

One of the interesting things about going aboard a Carnival Cruise ship is discovering the interior. Designer Joe Farcus creates a different décor for each ship. Often they are bold and unrestrained like a theme park. In other places, they are elegant and full of details taken from old master paintings or literature. They are never dull.

The theme of Carnival Valor is “heroes and heroic acts.” This gave Farcus a wide spectrum to draw from as the public rooms celebrate such diverse personalities as George Washington, Josephine Baker and Lou Gehrig. Other rooms are dedicated to characters from the movies, novels or mythology. It is fun just to explore the ship to see the various design interpretations.

Of course, Carnival Valor offers other things to do. She is a megacruise ship and thus can contain a wide array of amenities, entertainment and sports facilities as well as several dining alternatives.

My profile of Carnival Valor appears at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalValor-Profile.html and the photo tour and commentary starts at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalValor-Profile.html

Captains Interviews: Carnival Splendor and Explorer of the Seas

The primary objective of Beyondships is to give people a feel for the various ships profiled on the site. To do this, I like to present the views of the people who actually run those ships in addition to the photo tour, menus, daily programs and other information presented on the site. I think it helps give more of the human element of the experience. This week we present conversations with the senior officers of two popular ships: Carnival Splendor and Explorer of the Seas.

I met with Captain Giorgio Pagano, Master of the Carnival Splendor, and seven of his senior officers in the ship’s Robusto Bar. It was a free-flowing exchange with the various officers supplementing what each other was saying. Since Splendor is a new ship, the conversation focused on the construction of the ship and how she was brought into service. On a ship that reportedly cost half a billion dollars, it was a much more involved process than simply turning up at the shipyard on the delivery date and taking the keys.

The second item is based on a conversation that I had with Captain Erik Standal (top photo above) when he was Captain of Explorer of the Seas. (He has since gone on to command Explorer’s sister ship Navigator of the Seas). Captain Erik is a great source of information and there is already interview with him on the site about Explorer and some of his comments are included in the photo tour of Navigator.

Explorer sails year-round from New York harbor (Bayonne, New Jersey) and in this conversation we discussed Explorer’s ability to handle the winter weather in the northeast. We also talked about his approach to actually driving one of the world’s largest ships. Finally, we discussed emergency rescues at sea.

My conversation with the officers of Splendor is at http://beyondships.com/CarnivalSplendor-interview.html. While the article about Explorer is at http://beyondships.com/Explorer-Standal-2.html.

Touring Carnival Legend

Carnival Legend is a Kaverner-built Vista class cruise ship. In other words, she has essentially the same hull design as the more recent Vistas that have been built for Holland America, Costa and P&O by Fincantieri in Italy. This has been a very successful design which gives the ships better speed and seakeeping abilities than many cruise ships.

In the Carnival Cruise Lines fleet, the four Vista class ships are better known as Spirit class ships after the first ship in this series Carnival Spirit. They are smaller in size than the Destiny/Conquest/Splendor class but at over 80,000 gross tons are still quite formidable ships. They are the fastest ships in the Carnival Cruise Lines fleet and have a certain distinct elegance.

Like all Carnival ships, the interior of Carnival Legend has a theme. Appropriately enough, the theme on Legend is legends. As a result, guest find themselves surrounded by ancient Greek myths and medieval sagas. Still other public rooms are dedicated to jazz legends or are inspired by famous athletes. At the same time, there are luxurious facilities such as the spa and the fitness center and the spectacular supper club. It is a fascinating escape from the every day world.

My profile of Carnival Legend is posted at: http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalLegend-Profile.html and my photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalLegend-Tour-1.html

Exploring Carnival Freedom

I was trying to think of how to describe Carnival Freedom and the words “big, exciting and fun” came to mind. Now, I suppose I have to say why.

At 110,000 gross tons, 950 feet in length and 106 feet wide, Carnival Freedom certainly is big. Still, she can maneuver in and out of Caribbean ports quite handily with no external assistance. She can carry between 2, 970 to 3,700 passengers depending upon the number of beds that are occupied in each cabin. That is a lot of people. However, the design of the ship is such and things are organized so that one does not feel overcrowded.

The décor of Carnival Freedom kindles the excitement. I admire the way designer Joe Farcus sets out to make each ship in the Carnival Cruise Lines fleet have its own character. Yes, the general layout of each class of ship is the same but the use of color and design makes each one unique. Moreover, the bold colors and often whimsical designs make the public spaces exciting. You probably would not want to have your home decorated this way but it is fine for a get-away.

Fun comes both from the whimsical designs and from the fact that there are so many different options for things to do. These include not just the facilities but the organized activities. They may not be intellectual but they are good light hearted fun.

My profile of Carnival Freedom is posted at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalFreedom-Profile.html and my photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalFreedom-Tour-1.html

Focusing on Carnival Sensation

Carnival Sensation is one of eight 70,000 gross ton large cruise ships built for Carnival Cruise Lines in the 1990s known as the Fantasy class. While Carnival had had ships before the Fantasy class, including a few that were built for the line, these eight were what really cemented Carnival’s position as the world’s leading cruise line. They enabled Carnival to bring the features of a large ship to mass market cruising.

Since then Carnival has gone on to build even larger and more luxurious cruise ships. However, it has not forgotten the Fantasy class ships. Through a multi-million dollar program called "Evolutions of Fun," Carnival is making over these ships so that they have the type of features that today’s passenger has come to expect.

For Carnival Sensation, this has been a two part process. Following Hurricane Katrina, Carnival Sensation was leased to the government for use as emergency housing. The ship then went through a major refit in 2007 during which all of the staterooms were redone with things like flat panel televisions being added. In addition, several of the public rooms were refurbished and enhanced. As a result, the ship remains a vibrant, gleaming venue for having a fun time.

This month, Carnival Sensation will go in for a second refit during which balconies will be added to 98 staterooms. In addition, all of the ship’s swimming pools will be changed. A resort style pool will replace the main swimming pool. An extensive water park will replace the aft pool on Verandah Deck and the children’s pool will be replaced with an adults-only spa pool.

My profile of Carnival Sensation is at http://beyondships.com/CarnivalSensation-Profile.html. The photo tour and commentary, including discussion of what is about to be changed on the ship begins at http://beyondships.com/CarnivalSensation-Tour-1.html