Port Canaveral Bound Carnival Cruise Line Mardi Gras Arrival Delayed Until November 2020

Mardi Gras Currently under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland

(ThePointsGuys) – Cruise giant Carnival on Friday said its giant new flagship, the Port Canaveral bound, 17-deck-high Mardi Gras, won’t begin revenue sailings until 14 November — more than two months later than originally planned.

Currently under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, the much-anticipated vessel had been scheduled to begin standard voyages on 31 August.

Carnival said the first eight sailings of the ship have been canceled.

The canceled trips include Mardi Gras’ inaugural voyage out of Copenhagen, Denmark; a transatlantic crossing to New York; two New York-based itineraries and four sailings out of Florida’s Port Canaveral.

Carnival isn’t saying much about the reason for the delay other than the shipyard needs more time.

“We have been working closely with Meyer Turku executives to keep the Mardi Gras delivery on schedule, and while we deeply regret disappointing our guests, this change in the delivery date is required to make sure all of the ship’s systems, features and technology will be fully operational,” Carnival’s senior vice president of newbuild, Ben Clement, said in a statement.

Clement said the change was necessary to “give our guests the vacation they expect.”

Mardi Gras is the first of a new series of bigger Carnival ships designed to take the line’s “Fun Ship” shtick to a new level.  The vessel has been getting a lot of buzz over the past year as the first cruise ship that’ll have its very own deck-top roller coaster.

It’ll also have a far broader array of suites than earlier Carnival ships and new dining venues such as the first Emeril Lagasse restaurant at sea.

It’s also notable as the first ship from a North America-based line designed to operate on liquid natural gas. The fuel is touted as being cleaner than traditional ship fuel.

At 180,000 tons, Mardi Gras will be nearly 35% bigger than Carnival’s just-unveiled Carnival Panorama, and the biggest new ship to debut from any line in 2020. It’ll be the seventh biggest cruise ship ever built.

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