Carnival Firenze

Carnival Firenze was not built for Carnival. Fincantieri floated her out at Marghera in November 2019 and delivered her in December 2020 as Costa Firenze, a ship themed end to end on Florence, with interiors by YSA Design pulling from the cathedral, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi. She sailed for Costa in the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, South America and northern Europe from July 2021, and then Carnival Corporation moved her, and her older sister Costa Venezia, across to Carnival Cruise Line.

The transfer, and what it is called

The conversion took forty-two days at Navantia in Cadiz. She transferred on February 2, 2024, was christened by Jonathan Bennett on April 24, and started her first Carnival season out of Long Beach the following day.

When the transfers were announced, Carnival Corporation branded the idea “Costa by Carnival.” That phrase is still what you will find in the 2023 and 2024 trade coverage, and it is a fair description of what the ships are. It is not, however, what Carnival calls it now: the line’s own pages for Firenze and Venezia market them as “Fun Italian Style,” with no Costa branding anywhere. Treat “Costa by Carnival” as the name of the project, not the name of the product you board.

The conversion was unusually light-handed by the standards of these things. The funnel got the whale tail, Carnival’s venues went in (Fahrenheit 555, Guy’s Burger Joint, the Heroes Tribute Lounge, Serenity, WaterWorks, SportSquare, the kids’ clubs), but the Italian shell was mostly left alone. The atrium is still Piazza Duomo, modeled on the square in front of Santa Maria del Fiore. The main dining rooms are still the Michelangelo and the Medici. The theater is still the Teatro Rosso. Il Viaggio, La Strada Grill, Il Mercato, Tomodoro, Amari, Rococo and Frizzante all read as Costa venues with a Carnival menu behind them.

The practical consequence is that she does not feel like the rest of the fleet. The corridors, the cabin fittings, the color palette and the way the public rooms are stacked are all European, and there is more marble and gilding than a Carnival regular expects. Whether that is charming or slightly confusing is a matter of taste, but it is real and it is the reason to pick her.

Where she actually sails

Today, Long Beach, year-round, with the median sailing five nights. The short runs are Baja: Ensenada, and Catalina Island a few hours up the coast. The longer ones are the Mexican Riviera proper, down to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta, with occasional two-week itineraries. That has been her whole career under this name.

It ends in early 2027. She repositions to PortMiami in February 2027 for a short Caribbean season, including an eleven-day Southern Caribbean sailing on May 16, then arrives in Manhattan on May 27, 2027 to take over the New York homeport from Carnival Venezia. From there she runs four- and five-day Bermuda and Canada trips, seven-day Bermuda itineraries with three consecutive days on the island, and eight-day Eastern Caribbean sailings. In late November 2027 she shifts again, to Port Canaveral, for a winter of Bahamas and Southern Caribbean cruises.

Four homeports inside the booking window. Check which one you are sailing from.

Who she suits

People who want a mainstream American cruise inside a European ship, West Coast passengers who do not want to fly to Florida, and, from mid-2027, New Yorkers who can walk or cab to the pier. The Bermuda itineraries with three days docked are the best use of her.

She does not suit anyone who wants the current Carnival product delivered exactly as advertised. The cabins were built to Costa’s specification and are fitted accordingly; the layout is not the one the rest of the fleet uses; and there is no roller coaster, no LNG and no suite deck. She is also a poor choice if you are booking far ahead without reading the departure port, because she moves three times between now and spring 2028.