Carnival Cruise Line’s Excel class will continue with Carnival Festivale in spring 2027 and Carnival Tropicale in spring 2028. Festivale will deploy from Port Canaveral, Florida, and Tropicale’s homeport will be revealed in the future. Sister ships include Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee.
Editor’s Note: We will continue to update this preview page as new information is released.
New Zones
Festivale will feature three new zones. Two zones across Decks 6, 7 and 8 will “celebrate music with new music-themed venues and immersive experiences, representing the ways in which music brings people together,” according to the line. The first will take its cues from the music creation process with interactive media, lighting and sound, and the second will showcase the energy of outdoor music performances.
And the third new zone, Sunsation Point, is a new outdoor area for family fun and all-ages entertainment. By replacing BOLT, the Ultimate Seacoaster from previous sister ships, an expanded Carnival WaterWorks Ultra water park will reside here.
The zone will showcase half a dozen waterslides, two separate splash pads with their own slides and spray elements and a baby-centric aquatic area. Among the six new main slides will be four that are entirely new to the brand including two family raft varieties and one for guests as short as 3 feet.
There will also be a dry treehouse-inspired adventure trail and more toddler areas for shaded activities, as well as a ropes course, a miniature golf course, a sports court, a jogging track, arcade spaces and additional outdoor games.
Sunsation Point will even be open into the evening with extended water park hours, DJ events and other special activities.
Accommodations
Replacing Family Harbor staterooms are 1,000 interconnecting rooms, almost 70% more than on the first Excel-series ships, located here to cater to multigenerational guests.
Kids’ Facilities
As the cruise line that sails the most families — totaling 1 million children annually — Festivale will have a dedicated area and open-deck experiences for Carnival’s Turtles program geared to kids ages six months to two years old. Plus, the line’s overall onboard youth programs will be expanded.
Carnival Festivale’s Sunsation Point will feature six waterslides, splash pads, a treehouse-inspired adventure trail and extended evening entertainment.
Credit: 2025 Carnival Cruise LineDining
To vary its dining options since Mardi Gras — which will also be sailing from Port Canaveral — Emeril Lagasse, chief culinary officer for Carnival, and the line’s food and beverage team are working on new options, one of which will swap out ChiBang. Joining the ship are guest favorites such as Guy’s Burger Joint, Pig & Anchor Smokehouse Brewhouse and Big Chicken.
Carnival Tropicale
At this point, not much has been revealed beyond Carnival Tropicale’s name and its spring 2028 launch date, but it will carry over many features from Festivale, while also introducing some of its own concepts and themes.
