Latest Carnival Cruise Ship Arrives in Australia

The latest addition to the Carnival Cruise Line fleet, Carnival Luminosa, arrived in Queensland, Australia on Sunday, marking the first ship in the Carnival fleet to be homeported in Brisbane.

The vessel, which docked at the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal with a special “We Love Queensland” message to locals, will set sail on her first cruise on November 6th. Luminosa will operate 28 sailings through April 13th, visiting 60 ports across Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. These voyages will support Carnival Australia’s anticipated $165 million contribution to the Queensland economy this year.

“Carnival Luminosa is a testament to our ongoing commitment to Australia, and the start of a period of growth unlike any other in Carnival’s 50-year history,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “Having a Brisbane-based ship has been a goal of ours for quite some time, so we are so happy that they are the first market globally to experience the big, bright, fun that this ship has to offer and so excited to give our guests more Carnival ships and itinerary options to sail over the next two years.”

Including Luminosa, Carnival is adding five new ships to its fleet over the next two years. Next in the lineup is the delivery of two Excel-class ships: Carnival Celebration to Miami in November, and Carnival Jubilee to Galveston in 2023.

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As part of this growth plan, Carnival Cruise Line will also be introducing a new concept with two additional ships from sister brand Costa Cruises, which it is calling “Carnival Fun Italian Style.” Costa Venezia will join Carnival next spring and sail year-round from New York City. Costa Firenze will join the fleet in 2024, operating voyages from Long Beach, California. Both vessels will replace the “Costa” prefix with “Carnival.”

Carnival Luminosa also came from the Costa brand; the ship was previously named Costa Luminosa. She officially joined the Carnival fleet on September 8th and underwent enhancements over the last two months to become more in line with other vessels in the Carnival fleet.

Following her time in Brisbane, Luminosa will reposition to Seattle in May to spend the season operating voyages to Alaska. She’ll return to Queensland in fall 2023.

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