Carnival Sunshine and Liberty Return to Cruising After 22 Months

Both Carnival Sunshine and Carnival Liberty returned to cruising from Florida on Sunday afternoon after sitting idle for nearly 22 months.

Both ships re-entered service early after Carnival Horizon was taken out of service for propulsion issues.

These ships mark ship numbers 18 and 19 to return to sea since Carnival Cruise Line restarted service in July 2021. The first ship to return was Carnival Vista on July 3 from Galveston, Texas.

Sunshine will run a few cruises from both Port Everglades and Miami before repositioning to Charleston, South Carolina for Bahamas and Caribbean cruises in early January.

The last cruise from Florida will be a New Year’s Eve sailing on December 31. Prior to the cruise industry shutdown, Sunshine was based in Charleston.

READ: 41 Carnival Sunshine Cruise Tips

Carnival Liberty is restarting operations in Miami and will remain there until late January 2022, before repositioning to Port Carnival.

Prior to the shutdown, Liberty was sailing short cruises from Central Florida.

By the end of the year, the cruise operator will have 19 vessels sailing from North America, and the three Fantasy-class ships Sensation (Mobile), Paradise (Tampa), and Ecstasy (Jacksonville) coming online from the first three months of 2022.

Formerly Carnival Destiny, the vessel underwent a major renovation in spring 2013, transforming her into Carnival Sunshine.

The ship emerged from the dry dock as part of Carnival’s Sunshine-class. Carnival Sunrise (former Triumph) and Carnival Radiance (former Victory) have also joined the class.

During the refit, the ship received new enhancements like Cucina del Capitano, RedFrog Rum Bar, BlueIguana Tequila Bar, Guy’s Burger Joint, Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, and an adults-only Serenity with a freshwater pool.

Carnival Liberty was the first ship to receive the Fun Ship 2.0 makeover, a refurbishment project that was announced in 2011, and would eventually make its way to every vessel in the fleet.

Last Monday, the third ship in the Sunshine-class, Carnival Radiance, entered service in Long Beach, California. Radiance is the third Carnival vessel sailing from the west coast, joining Carnival Miracle and Panorama.

Carnival Liberty Video Tour