Today Carnival Cruise Line sent cancellation notices to Carnival Miracle guests for two sailings out of Galveston, Texas. The February 17, 2025 and April 2, 2025 cruises on the Carnival Miracle from Galveston are cancelled. 
             The Carnival Miracle's cruises have been cancelled due to the ship's 2025 dry-dock. The scope of work that Carnival will be completing during this dry-dock is not yet announced. 

What happens to guests booked on these two sailings?
             Since Carnival is cancelling the cruise, guests booked on these two sailings have some options. Carnival is giving an option for guests to book another cruise at a protected rate in similar accommodations and for the same cruise length (there is some fine print that excludes certain cruises). Carnival is also giving these guests a $25 per person Sail & Sign onboard credit on their comparable sailing. The other option guests booked on the two cancelled cruises have is to cancel and receive a refund. According to Carnival's letter there is no need for guests wanting the refund to call as refunds will be issued in the original form of payment after September 11, 2023. 
                  Guests who were on these two sailings should read their communication from Carnival to evaluate their options as well as read any fine print on the offer that I did not mention above. 

Does the Carnival Miracle have any other 4 night cruises available from Galveston?
                   At the time of writing this post, the Carnival Miracle does not have any other 4 night sailings available for booking from Galveston. However, the Carnival Breeze is another Carnival ship that sails from Galveston and offers 4 night sailings. Carnival Miracle is scheduled to primarily sail longer cruises from Galveston.

Letter From Carnival:
                   ​The below letter was emailed to Carnival Miracle guests on 8/28/2023. I took a screenshot of the email I received and am sharing below. Please click the email to make it larger!

Guests who were booked on the Carnival Miracle should consult with Carnival or their travel agent. For more information about the Carnival Miracle's 2025 dry-dock please stay tuned. Carnival has not released details of the dry-dock at this time, but I expect more information will be known sometime late next year (2024) or early 2025. 

         This week Carnival Cruise Line announced the Carnival Jubilee's scheduled cruise director and entertainment for the inaugural cruise season! The Carnival Jubilee is scheduled to debut in December 2023 from Galveston, Texas and sail 7 night cruises to Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Mahogany Bay (Roatan). 
​                The first cruise director of the Carnival Jubilee is scheduled to be Kyndall "Fire" Magyar. Kyndall is a Texas native and has worked for Carnival since 2016. She was the Carnival Vista's cruise director when the ship was the first in Carnival's fleet to restart after the Covid-19 operations pause. Kyndall's past contract was on the Mardi Gras, which is a sister ship to the Carnival Jubilee.
                   The first entertainment director of the Carnival Jubilee is scheduled to be Matthew Boyd. Matthew has been part of the Carnival family since 2010 and recently was named the Carnival 2023 Entertainment Director of the Year. 

This is exciting news for the Carnival Jubilee cruisers from Galveston! Congratulations to both Kyndall and Matthew! This news comes shortly after Carnival announced the Carnival Jubilee's inaugural senior officers. The Carnival Jubilee's captain is scheduled to be Andrea Catalani, chief engineer is scheduled to be Vittorino Perasole, and hotel director is scheduled to be Pierre Camilleri. 

Any information contained within this post is subject to change!

       Carnival Cruise Line has opened cruises from Galveston for summer 2025, fall 2025, winter 2026, and spring 2026. The 2025-2026 Galveston cruise season bookings are now live in Carnival's booking engine and available for guests to book sailings. In this post I will take a look at the ships and itineraries Carnival is planning to sail from Galveston.

Carnival Jubilee 
             The Carnival Jubilee is Carnival's largest ship to be sailing from Galveston. In Carnival's 2025-2026 cruises released for booking the Carnival Jubilee is scheduled to sail 7 night cruises from Galveston. Each seven night itinerary is scheduled to sail to Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Mahogany Bay (Roatan). Carnival offers two versions of this itinerary which include the same ports of call, but the order is flipped. 

Carnival Breeze
             The Carnival Breeze is scheduled to continue sailing 4 & 5 night cruises from Galveston during the 2025-2026 season. 4 night cruises depart Galveston on alternating Thursdays and are scheduled to have a port of call stop in Cozumel. The 5 night cruises released alternate between departing on Saturdays & Mondays and sail to Cozumel & Progreso. For the summer 2025-spring 2026 season the 5 night itineraries do not show any stops in Costa Maya for the Carnival Breeze. 

Carnival Dream
                  The Carnival Dream is scheduled to remain in Galveston to sail 6 & 8 night cruises for the summer 2025 season, but does not have cruises open for booking past July 2025. It is unclear if Carnival is going to keep the Carnival Dream out of Galveston after this point. 6 night cruises are scheduled to depart Galveston on Sundays and sail to Costa Maya, Belize, and Cozumel. 8 night cruises are scheduled to depart Galveston on Saturdays and sail to Key West, Freeport, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau. 

At this point in time, it is not clear if Carnival is going to have another ship come to sail 9, 10, 11, and 12 night cruises from Galveston. The Carnival Miracle is scheduled to sail some longer cruises from Galveston in the 2024-2025 season, but Carnival has not yet announced plans for longer cruises from Galveston during the 2025-2026 season.

         Carnival Cruise Line announced the new main dining rooms will be soon expanding to more Carnival ships. Carnival completed an initial pilot implementation of the new main dining rooms on the Carnival Dream in June 2023 and after evaluating the guest feedback has decided to start rolling out the menus to more ships. 

The New Menus
            The new menus contain a variety of new or improved dishes curated by Carnival's Chief Culinary Officer, Emeril Lagasse. Carnival's press release mentioned 60 new dishes are being introduced to mix into the dining room menus. If you wish to see a sample of the menus offered on the Carnival Dream's 8 night cruise pilot cruise click here for my post. Menus on cruises on other lengths of cruises will vary and it will be interesting to see what options are available to guests on cruises shorter than 8 nights. 

June 2023 Menu Rollout:
Carnival Dream
​Saturday, June 24, 2023

August 2023 Menu Rollout:
The following Carnival ships are scheduled to receive the new menus in August 2023:
​​Carnival Sunrise
8/3/2023
Carnival Vista
8/12/2023
Carnival Radiance
8/18/2023
Mardi Gras
8/19/2023

September 2023 Menu Rollout:
The following Carnival ships are scheduled to receive the new menus in September 2023:
​Carnival Breeze
9/2/2023
Carnival Panorama
9/2/2023
Carnival Celebration
9/9/2023
Carnival Valor
9/18/2023
Carnival Miracle
​9/28/2023

October 2023 Menu Rollout:
​The following Carnival ships are scheduled to receive the new menus in October 2023:
Carnival Glory
10/1/2023
Carnival Liberty
10/2/2023
Carnival Sunshine
10/19/2023
Carnival Elation
10/21/2023
Carnival Magic
10/22/2023

November 2023 Menu Rollout:
​The following Carnival ships are scheduled to receive the new menus in November 2023:
Carnival Paradise
11/9/2023
Carnival Freedom
11/11/2023
Carnival Spirit
11/25/2023

December 2023 Menu Rollout:
​The following Carnival ships are scheduled to receive the new menus in December 2023:
Carnival Legend
​12/3/2023
Carnival Jubilee
Date To Be Announced

2024:
​Carnival Splendor 
Carnival Luminosa

Still Unknown:
The dates for the Carnival Pride and Carnival Venezia are to be determined. These ships could have a 2023 implementation, but the timing is not yet announced. 

Carnival has not announced the release for any other ships at this time. John Heald's Facebook is the source of this implementation schedule. Click Here for John Heald's Facebook (link will take you away from RyG's Cruise Guide to Facebook). 

For more information on the Carnival new main dining rooms check out Carnival's press release by clicking here (link will take you away from RyG's Cruise Guide and to Carnival's website). 

I plan to update this post with more information on Carnival's new menu rollout when more details are available.

        The fall is just around the corner and that means Halloween is coming up! Carnival Cruise ships celebrate Halloween each year with a variety of Halloween themed events & activities as well as costume contests. Carnival Cruise Line has announced 2023 Halloween sailing dates by ship as well as updated the their website to reflect the events & activities planned for the 2023 Halloween season onboard Carnival ships. 

New Information Now Available!

Halloween Activities
          As part of Carnival's 2023 Halloween activities there will be a variety of activities & events taking place on the ship to celebrate the Halloween season. The Halloween events & activities take place in addition to normal cruise events & activities. That means on a Halloween Carnival Cruise you can still enjoy many of the traditional cruise activities & events. The exact schedule of what events is offered will depend on your cruise director so there may be modifications made to allow for the Halloween activities to take place. 

• Patch's Halloween Deck Party
• Patch's Pumpkin Carving Contest
• Patch's Pumpkin Hunt
• Themed Trivia, Bingo, & Activities
• Dance Classes
• "Thriller & Chiller" On The Big Screen (Carnival did not elaborate what this involves, but there is a good chance the ships with Dive In Movies will be the only ones with this activity - we'll see if Carnival clarifies later) 
• Costume Contest
• Kid's & Teens Trick Or Treat 
• Kid's Only Costume Contest
• And More!

Carnival's website notes for 2023 Patch the Pumpkin Pirate will not be on the Carnival Freedom, Carnival Luminosa, Carnival Paradise, or Carnival Pride. 

How will I know which Halloween activities are taking place during my Carnival Cruise for Halloween?
​               You can check your Carnival Hub App or paper FunTimes onboard for the exact events & activities taking place each day of the cruise. This will include regular events and the Halloween events. Both the Carnival Hub App and paper FunTimes should display the time and location of each event & activity taking place. 

2023 Ships and Dates Halloween Events Will Be Held Onboard
                  Carnival Cruise Line has announced the 2023 Halloween ships & dates. The below dates are when Carnival plans to have the ships decorated and begin the Halloween events and activities. The dates are subject to change!

• Carnival Breeze Halloween Sailings:  September 30, 2023​
• Carnival Celebration Halloween Sailings: October 1, 2023
• Carnival Conquest Halloween Sailings: September 29, 2023
• Carnival Dream Halloween Sailings: October 1, 2023
• Carnival Elation Halloween Sailings: September 28, 2023
• Carnival Freedom Halloween Sailings: October 23, 2023
• Carnival Glory Halloween Sailings: October 1, 2023
• Carnival Horizon Halloween Sailings: September 30, 2023
• Carnival Legend Halloween Sailings: September 30, 2023
• Carnival Liberty Halloween Sailings: September 29, 2023
• Carnival Luminosa Halloween Sailings: October 15, 2023
• ​Carnival Magic Halloween Sailings: September 30, 2023
• Carnival Miracle Halloween Sailings: September 28, 2023
• Carnival Panorama Halloween Sailings: September 30, 2023
• Carnival Paradise Halloween Sailings: September 28, 2023
• Carnival Pride Halloween Sailings: September 29, 2023
• Carnival Radiance Halloween Sailings: September 29, 2023
• Carnival Spirit Halloween Sailings: October 6, 2023
• Carnival Splendor Halloween Sailings: October 1, 2023
• Carnival Sunrise Halloween Sailings: September 28, 2023
• Carnival Sunshine Halloween Sailings: September 30, 2023
• Carnival Valor Halloween Sailings: September 28, 2023
• Carnival Venezia Halloween Sailings: September 29, 2023
• Carnival Vista Halloween Sailings: September 30, 2023
• ​Mardi Gras Halloween Sailings: September 30, 2023

For more information please check out Carnival's website. Click Here To View Carnival's Frightfully Fun page that gives some information about activities (link will take you away from RyG's Cruise Guide). The list of ships and Halloween sailing dates was posted by John Heald, Carnival's brand ambassador, to Facebook. 

Please keep in mind sailing dates, events, activities, and information is subject to change at any point in time. Please consult Carnival for the latest information related to your sailing. 

      Carnival's third Excel class ship, the Carnival Jubilee, has entered the next phase of construction. The ship has floated out of the covered dock at the Meyer Werft shipyard and now had the iconic Carnival funnel installed. This post includes a summary of some of the recent Carnival Jubilee construction updates. 

Carnival Jubilee Float Out
       The Carnival Jubilee has been built in a covered building dock at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. On June 22nd the Carnival Jubilee was ready for an official float out from the covered building. According to Carnival, hundreds of spectators were present for the ship's floating out. 
          At the time the Carnival Jubilee floated out it was a unveiled the ship has a Texas star at the tip of the bow. This iconic feature is a tribute to Carnival's Galveston history and the Carnival Jubilee's homeport being Galveston. 
                If you want to watch the Carnival Jubilee's float out I recommend checking out a YouTube video Carnival posted online. Click Here To View Carnival's video on You-Tube. This link will take you away from RyG's Cruise Guide to YouTube.

Carnival Jubilee Funnel Installation 
                   After the float out, the construction process on the Carnival Jubilee continued and the ship received the winged funnel. The ship has also had tests completed on bow thrusters and stabilizers completed and according to Carnival the tests were successful. If you want to check out picture of the Carnival Jubilee showing the ship with the funnel constructed please click here to view Carnival's press release. This link will take you away from RyG's Cruise Guide to Carnival's News website.

What Happens Between Now & Sailing With Guests?
                          There are still a few months remaining until the Carnival Jubilee is ready to welcome guests. Work will continue on the ship's interior and exterior. At some point the ship will also have sea trials. Prior to the ship welcoming guests the crew will also be welcomed onboard and the ship will reposition to Galveston, Texas to begin cruising. As of the time of writing, the Carnival Jubilee is scheduled to begin sailing from Galveston on December 23, 2023. The typical itinerary for the Carnival Jubilee from Galveston consists of 7 night cruises to Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Roatan.