ThirstyFrog Red — Carnival Cruise Lines’ private label draught beer that debuted in Carnival Magic’s Caribbean-themed RedFrog Pub in May — has proven to be such a hit that it’s being rolled out to other ships in the fleet.   Currently, 15 “Fun Ships” offer the tasty amber-colored brew in select bars and lounges with three others expected to receive kegs of ThirstyFrog Red over the next few weeks.    Since being introduced two months ago, guests have been lining up to savor ThirstyFrog Red’s rich taste and delicate aroma, wit...

Carnival Cruise Lines will launch a year-round program of eight-day cruises to the Caribbean and Bahamas from New York beginning in April 2012 – the line’s first year-round sailings from that port. On this schedule, Carnival Miracle will offer three uniquely different eight-day itineraries that visit a diversity of beautiful islands throughout the Caribbean and Bahamas. The itineraries include:  Eastern Caribbean departures to San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand Turk, offered on a rotating basis April through October Bahamas sailings featuring stops at the private Bahamia...

  Carnival Cruise Lines announced a unique and exciting new “Fun Ship” cruise program from Port Canaveral, Fla. The 2,052-passenger Carnival Ecstasy will operate four- and five-day Bahamas cruises from the Space Coast beginning November 7, 2011.  The move further bolsters Carnival’s position as Port Canaveral’s largest cruise operator with three year-round ships carrying approximately 600,000 guests annually. “In addition to offering a convenient departure point for millions of consumers in the southeastern U.S., along with attractive port faciliti...

  In a major boost for the tourism industry, the world’s largest cruise line – Carnival Cruise Lines – has announced that it will base one of its cruise ships fulltime in Australia. The 88,500 tonne Carnival Spirit will be the largest cruise ship ever to sail year round from Australia when she arrives in Sydney in October 2012 to operate a schedule of 8-12 day voyages to the Pacific Islands. The move – announced globally in Sydney today – represents the first time Carnival Cruise Lines has ever ventured into Australian waters and reflects growing confid...

  With the band warmed up, amps cranked, spotlight set and the adoring crowd ready to explode, Carnival guests will take the stage, grab the mic and live out their music-star daydreams on the open seas.  Introducing Superstar Live Karaoke, Carnival Cruise Lines’ newest entertainment feature puts guests into the act, fronting a live band and performing their favorite songs to a packed house. Superstar Live Karaoke combines two popular forms of entertainment – live music by talented musicians and karaoke by Carnival’s singing sailors &nda...

  Carnival Cruise Lines is adding more laughs and upping the fun quotient at sea with the introduction of Carnival Punchliner Comedy Clubs — dedicated comedy lounges rolling out fleetwide on all 22 “Fun Ships”by the end of the year.  Building on the tremendous success of its first comedy club, which debuted on the new Carnival Dream last fall, Punchliner Comedy Clubs will feature a wide variety of side-splitting comics. Located in the ship’s aft lounge, each Punchliner Comedy Club will offer guests loads of laughs with five 35-minute s...

  Carnival Cruise Lines’ newest ship, the 3,690 passenger  Carnival Magic, will operate seven-day Caribbean cruises from Galveston beginning Nov. 14, 2011, becoming the largest cruise ship based at the port year-round.  Additionally, the 2,758-passenger Carnival Triumph will reposition from New Orleans to Galveston to operate year-round four- and five-day Caribbean cruises from that port beginning Oct. 6, 2011 Homeporting the Carnival Magic and Carnival Triumph in Galveston represents the largest-ever capacity commitment by a cruise line to Texas....

Carnival Breeze has been selected as the name for the line’s new 130,000-ton cruise ship scheduled to enter service in spring 2012. To be constructed by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, the 3,690-passenger Carnival Breeze will be the third in the line’s Dream class.  The series’ namesake vessel, Carnival Dream, entered service in 2009 and a sister ship, Carnival Magic, is currently under construction at Fincantieri and is scheduled to debut in Europe in May 2011. Carnival Breeze will offer many of the popular innovations featured on Carnival Dream as well as some ...

CORAL SPRINGS, FL, October 12, 2009/PRWeb – For the month of October 2009, Cruise Planners will join thousands of cruise-selling travel agents in World’s Largest Cruise Event, an exciting event designed to showcase the incredible choice, diversity and value of cruise vacations—an excellent chance to improve anyone’s CruisitudeSM. Travel agencies across North America will team up with 24 member lines of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) to provide consumers with information on cruise vacations and exceptional offers. If they choose, area residents can fi...

Cruise ships keep getting bigger and bigger these days and the additional space provides more opportunity to entertain in a variety of ways. Carnival has been famous for large scale comedy and revue shows and is now raising the bar higher on the new Carnival Dream. The ship will debut in September with a comedy club being featured in the new entertainment spot lineup. The 425-seat Burgundy lounge will feature six shows on four different nights per voyage. There will be both family-friendly and adult-only offerings in the club from a variety of comedians. The shows late at night will be l...

Dining options on Carnival Dream, debuting in September, range from a two-level casual eatery featuring a new Italian pasta station and a burrito bar to Ocean Plaza, an indoor/outdoor café and live music venue. In outlining the ship’s food selection, Carnival Cruise Lines emphasized that most choices are included in the fare. Exceptions are the reservations-recommended steak house and specialty coffees and select patisserie items. The two-level buffet restaurant’s new pasta bar gives a choice of noodles, sauce and ingredients, and the burrito bar will let diners c...

Poker seems to be the answer.  More and more cruise lines are adding Texas Hold ‘em poker to their casinos.  Unlike other games on board, poker players compete against each other and the house takes a percentage of the pot also known as the “rake”.  Most of the contemporary cruise ships of moderate size and larger feature at least one live poker table or an automated game that does not require a live dealer.  The tables are generally open in the evening for cash games and often one or more tournaments are offered during a cruise. Carnival Cruise Lines,...

The massive scale of Carnival’s newest and largest “Fun Ship,” the 130,000-ton Carnival Dream, combined with recent technological advancements and the incredible imagination of the line’s entertainment team, have created the most spectacular shows at sea that raise the bar on shipboard entertainment. In addition to three spell-binding production revues that will feature elaborate sets and costumes, state-of-the-art video technology and sophisticated special effects, Carnival Dream will offer a multitude of entertainment choices, everything from solo singers, comedia...

Carnival Cruise Lines has launched “Your Choice Dining” which provides a selection of three different dinner seating options for guests aboard the line’s 22-ship fleet. In addition to Early or Late assigned seating, the cruise line is rolling out “Your Time” open seating to accommodate individual guest preferences. Also, under the new Your Choice Dining program, dining assignments will be confirmed at the time of booking Your Time open seating, currently available on five ships, will be implemented one vessel at a time over the next several months as modificat...

As a part of a pilot program, a huge new inflatable laser tag arena is being periodically placed on the stage of the Carnival Valor's main lounge. The on-board attraction operates at various times throughout the day (and even a few night sessions) and thus far hundreds of guests have challenged their friends and fellow guests to a thrilling round of laser tag.   Each session allows four players at a time -either individually or in teams of two - to battle it out against each other in a fog-filled dome for an exciting five minute session. The cost is $5 per person. Based on guest fe...

We thought Carnival Valentines e-Card in the link below was just too funny and wanted to pass it along. Who can resist the charms of "Towel Art Theatre?" http://tinyurl.com/c2we2e Check out our own "sweet deals" for Valentines Day: http://www.cruise-plan.net/postcard

This year will be exciting with the introduction of 9 new cruise ships. The biggest and most discussed new vessel is Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas. Slated for her first voyage this spring, this floating city will rank as the largest cruise ship in history. Weighing in at 220,000-tons, the 5,400-passenger ship has created a buzz ever since Royal Caribbean announced the project. The Oasis will feature neighborhoods that replicate land based sites like Central Park and the Boardwalk.  Other innovations include an onboard “zip-line”, Aqua Theater and a bar that raises fi...

Carnival Cruise Lines which operates the only year-round cruise program from New Orleans – will increase capacity by 34 percent when the 2,758-passenger Carnival Triumph replaces the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy from the Big Easy in November 2009.  In addition to providing an exciting new “Fun Ship” cruise option from New Orleans, Carnival Triumph will introduce new seven-day eastern and exotic western Caribbean schedules to complement the line’s popular four- and five-day cruises to Mexico.  The Carnival Triumph’s seven-day cruises will depar...

Cruise Planners, a South Florida-based national cruise agency with a franchised network of more than 700 experienced travel professionals, announced today that it has been inducted into Carnival Cruise Lines’ Pinnacle Club. One of the industry’s highest honors, the Pinnacle Club was created by Carnival to acknowledge high-volume agencies that also exhibit excellence in promoting and selling the “Fun Ship” cruise experience. “Travel agencies are an important part of our distribution system, which is why we created the ‘Pinnacle Club’ to recognize...

“Carnival’s Seaside Theatres” — jumbo-sized LED screens currently featured poolside on five Carnival “Fun Ships,” including the new 113,300-ton Carnival Splendor which debuted earlier this month – will be expanded to an additional five vessels over the next year. The massive 270-square-foot screens display a variety of programming, including movies, concerts, news, sporting events and the entertaining “Morning Shows” which are hosted by the ships’ respective cruise directors. Additionally, during Carnival’s lively deck part...

The largest Carnival Cruise Lines vessel ever constructed, the 3,006-passenger SuperLiner debuts July 2 with an inaugural eight-day Western Europe voyage from Genoa to London (Dover).  From Dover, the ship will be officially named during a ceremony on July 10 presided over by its godmother, British celebrity Myleene Klass, a chart-topping musican, singer and television personality.  Following the naming, Carnival Splendor will sail on a special three-day voyage to Amsterdam July 10-13, then launch the line’s first-ever Northern Europe cruise program featuring ports from ...

Carnival Cruise Lines has announced that the new 130,000-ton Carnival Dream – the largest “Fun Ship” ever constructed – will be based at Port Canaveral, Fla., beginning in fall 2009. Details on the ship’s itinerary will be provided at a later date. Currently under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, the 3,652-passenger Carnival Dream is the first in a new class of ship for the line with a unique interior design, sleek hull and distinctive profile, along with a host of innovative facilities and features which will be released in the c...

Carnival Cruise Lines will begin testing a new flexible dining option with the Carnival Legend’s June 29, 2008, departure that will enable guests to choose an open seating option for dinner.  Guests who opt for flexible dining can  dine at whatever time they wish between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. nightly in the ship’s main restaurant. The new flexible dining pilot program aboard Carnival Legend will in no way replace Carnival’s popular classic dining system which provides a choice of either main or late seating.  Under classic dining, guests dine at the same ...

Carnival Cruise Lines is unveiling specific design details for its stunning new resort-style pool areas and spectacular “Carnival WaterWorks” aqua parks on its eight Fantasy-class ships, part of the line’s $250 million “Evolutions of Fun” enhancement program. “A quintessential part of the Carnival cruise experience centers around the ships’ pools and outdoor decks,” said Vicki Freed, Carnival’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “With the ‘Evolutions of Fun’ program, we have focused very heavily on making the...

Carnival Cruise Lines said it will operate its first voyages to South America in January 2009. The Miami-based cruise line said it plans 14- to 18-day departures with extended visits to destinations in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Chile and Peru. The cruises are to be aboard the new 113,300-ton Carnival Splendor. The 3,006-passenger ship is to operate three special South America departures: * a 17-day, six-port cruise from Fort Lauderdale, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jan. 31-Feb. 17. The voyage is to include visits to Dominica and Barbados, as well as day-long calls at the ...

Carnival Cruise Lines’ and NASCAR racing legend Rusty Wallace have teamed up again for another “Rusty Wallace Cruise” -- this time with a seven-day voyage aboard the 2,758-passenger Carnival Triumph in December 2007. The weeklong cruise – the seventh installment of the popular “Rusty Wallace Cruise” series -- will operate round-trip from Miami, Dec. 1-8, 2007. Featured ports include Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. Carnival’s “Rusty Wallace Cruises” began in 2001 and, over the years, more than 7,000 racing fans h...

Carnival Cruise Lines' 3,006-passenger Carnival Splendor - the largest "Fun Ship" ever constructed - will launch year-round seven-day Mexican Riviera cruises from Long Beach, Calif., beginning in March 2009, following its inaugural schedule of European and Caribbean voyages. The Carnival Splendor will further bolster the line's dominant position as cruise industry leader in Southern California, which is currently home to four Carnival ships. With the arrival of Carnival Splendor, the line expects to carry approximately 650,000 guests annually on these highly popular West Coast...

Carnival Cruise Lines is holding a contest to name the new Carnival Splendor’s luxurious 21,000-square-foot health spa, the largest and most elaborate in the “Fun Ship” fleet, which will bring an entirely new dimension to the seagoing spa experience. Offering a host of innovations, the expansive facility will take personal pampering to a new level with such features as Carnival’s first spa staterooms and suites, a thalassotherapy pool, thermal suite, and a menu of Middle Eastern and Asian therapies administered in spacious, modern treatment rooms. The grand prize ...

Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise operator, has rolled out a new electronic cruise document system, providing added convenience and efficiency for the line’s guests. Located within the line’s comprehensive Web site, the new "paperless" system provides guests with the same travel documentation and information typically available with traditional cruise documents, all in a secure, easy-to-navigate Internet portal accessible on a "24/7" basis. Further, Carnival’s electronic document system is in "real time," ensuring that...

This special sailing will feature exclusive events, special giveaways, and meet and greet opportunities on the seven-day Caribbean voyage aboardCarnival Freedom. Based on the incredible success of the Internet blog of Carnivals Senior Cruise Director John Heald - whose humorous and insightful postings have attracted nearly 200,000 visitors since the site was launched last month - Heald will host his first-ever Bloggers Cruiseaboard the Carnival Freedom in January 2008. The seven-day western Caribbean cruise will operate round-trip from Miami January 19-26, 2008, and will visit three o...

“Carnival Dream” and “Carnival Magic” are the names Carnival Cruise Lines has chosen for its two 130,000-ton SuperLiners scheduled to enter service in October 2009 and June 2011, respectively. Representing a new class of vessel for the line, the 3,652-passenger “Fun Ships” will be the largest in Carnival Cruise Lines’ fleet and offer a host of innovative on-board amenities and facilities. “Carnival has earned a reputation as a cruise industry innovator by continually upgrading its product and introducing new and exciting features. Carnival ...

Carnival Cruises will put its newest ship, the Carnival Freedom, on the Carnival Liberty's six- and eight-day Caribbean cruise route from Fort Lauderdale in November 2008. The Liberty will launch a seven-day Caribbean cruise schedule from Miami beginning in May 2008 and sail year-round, alternating seven-day eastern and western Caribbean cruises. The Freedom is was recently delivered from Italy's Fincantieri shipyard and debuted in Europe on March 5th. Carnival also confirmed an order for a second 130,000-ton vessel for Carnival Cruise Lines, to be constructed by Fincantieri and delivered...

Carnival Cruise Lines, in a joint venture with Wireless Maritime Services, the world's largest cruise line will outfit its fleet of 22 ships with technology that will enable guests with any cell phone service to make or receive calls as they normally do on land, no matter how far out to sea they are. Carnival Triumph already has the service installed, and Carnival's remaining 21 vessels will be fitted with the technology by the first quarter of 2007. Consumers view cell phones as a necessity in today's world, said Carnival CEO Bob Dickinson. We've been exploring cellular phone service for...

A new loyalty program providing past guests with a variety of value-added benefits and features, including priority embarkation and debarkation, guaranteed supper club reservations and dining times, personalized stationery and custom-designed Carnival logo items. Available exclusively to Platinum cardholders who have sailed aboard the Fun Ships 10 or more times, the new Carnival Concierge Club benefits are designed to recognize and reward those longtime Carnival guests for their loyalty over the years. Carnival is committed to the highest standards of guest service and hospitality. The ne...