Debut Sailing for Carnival Luminosa Revealed and Carnival Corvid Protocol Updated

The itineraries for a former Costa ship that will join sibling company Carnival Cruise Line this fall have been released.

On 6th November, Carnival Luminosa will begin serving the US corporation out of Brisbane, Australia, before switching ports and operating summer 2023 trips to Alsaka out of Seattle.

The four additional ships in the fleet that belong to the Spirit-class are sisters of Carnival Luminosa.

Before the ship’s start-up in November, more information regarding the dry dock work and the renovation it will undergo as it changes owners from Costa to Carnival will be made public.

The line, however, stated that Carnival Luminosa “will be home to many of the activities and experiences from other Carnival ships that guests have come to know and love as well as some new spaces”.

Until 13th April 2023, the ship will depart Brisbane on seasonal itineraries that include three- and four-day cruises to well-known Australian ports, six- and seven-day cruises to the South Pacific and the Great Barrier Reef, and longer eight- to 11-day voyages to places like New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Zealand.

Tahiti will be one of the stops on a trans-Pacific cruise for repositioning.

Then, a four-month Alaska itinerary featuring 17 seven-day sailings as well as six- and eight-day sailings will be operated by Carnival Luminosa.

There will be stops in Kushiro, Aomori, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in Japan as well as Puerto Princesa, Philippines, and Bitung, Indonesia on the return trans-Pacific route to Brisbane.

Christine Duffy, the company’s president, said: “We couldn’t be prouder to welcome Carnival Luminosa to our fleet and to start our highly anticipated sailings from Brisbane followed by unique bucket-list itineraries in Alaska.

“To truly make Luminosa feel part of the Carnival Cruise Line family, we are adding our beautiful new livery to her hull, of course, and are keeping her throwback funnel design that once adorned some of our most iconic earlier vessels. 

“We’ll be adding some Carnival features in the upcoming dry dock and adapting some existing features to align with Carnival’s casual style, but ultimately, our crew will make everyone feel right at home as soon as they join the ship.”

For sailings beginning on 6th September, Carnival Cruise Line has also updated its pre-cruise testing procedures for customers who are not immunized.

The following are the updated protocols:

• For unvaccinated passengers on cruises lasting up to 15 nights, self-testing is acceptable in addition to lab-given tests.
• Unsupervised pre-cruise self-testing is not permitted in Bermuda, Canada, Greece, or Spain, among other places. Self-testing needs to be under a doctor’s supervision if it’s used for going to these places.
• Unvaccinated travelers must provide negative test results, regardless of the test type, as part of the embarkation process.

“These changes are consistent with what local destinations have advised will be acceptable for arriving cruise guests, and Carnival will continue to work closely with local destinations to protect the health of its guests, crew and the communities the cruise line visits,” the line said.

“Additionally, travel insurance is no longer a requirement for unvaccinated guests unless it is required by a destination, such as Bermuda. Irrespective of vaccination status, travel insurance is required for all guests visiting Fiji.”