''Carnival Spirit'' is a operated by

Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel (ship), funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue colo ...

, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Built in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

by Kværner Masa-Yards, she was the first ''Spirit''-class cruise ship to join Carnival's fleet after she was delivered in 2001.

Construction

Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its

Helsinki New Shipyard Hietalahti shipyard (also known as Helsinki New Shipyard, ) is a shipyard in Hietalahti, Helsinki, Hietalahti, in downtown Helsinki, Finland. Since 2019, it has been operated by a company named Helsinki Shipyard (company), Helsinki Shipyard. H ...

, Finland, ''Carnival Spirit'' was launched on 7 July 2000 and completed on 11 April 2001. She was formally named by American politician

Elizabeth Dole Mary Elizabeth Alexander Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936)Mary Ella Cathey Hanford, "Asbury and Hanford Families: Newly Discovered Genealogical Information" ''The Historical Trail'' 33 (1996), pp. 44–45, 49. is an American attorney, auth ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Florida, on 27 April 2001.

Service history

Previously in the northern fall and winter seasons, ''Carnival Spirit'' sailed cruises from

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to the

Mexican Riviera The Mexican Riviera refers collectively to twenty cities and lagoons lying on the western coast of Mexico. Although there are long distances between these cities, they are often collectively referred to as the ''Mexican Riviera'' because of th ...

. After ''Carnival Spirit''s repositioning out of San Diego in April 2012, Carnival ceased operations with that port. During the period from mid-May and ending in September (northern summer), ''Carnival Spirit'' sailed the waters alongside the Alaskan Inside Passage on alternating one-week northbound and southbound voyages calling in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. In December 2011, ''Carnival Spirit'' sailed to the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

. After ''Carnival Spirit'' finished her Alaskan and Hawaii cruises, she embarked on a

transpacific crossing Transpacific crossings are voyages of passengers and cargo across the Pacific Ocean between Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Transpacific voyages frequently cross the International Date Line. The first recorded crossing of the Pacific was achieved ...

, calling in

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

to reposition to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, arriving on 16 October 2012. It marked the first time Carnival based a ship permanently outside North America. She had undergone a

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

in San Francisco nine months prior to prepare her for the Australian deployment, which included installing Australian-style power points, as well as changing the on-board currency to the Australian dollar. The total cost of the renovations was estimated to total . She sailed her first voyage from Sydney, to the South Pacific and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, from 20 October 2012. In May 2016, Carnival announced the ship would sail seasonally from

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

beginning in the Australian winter of 2018, making her the first Carnival ship to be based in China. In late 2016, Carnival subsequently reversed this decision and ''Carnival Spirit'' continued to sail from Sydney, and explained the Australian market continued to be strong, which did not make the move economically viable in the long term. In mid 2018, Carnival announced that ''Carnival Spirit'' would become the company's first ship to sail from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

from 2020. However, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and its impact on tourism, she never debuted in Brisbane during the cruise industry's pause in operations. She was also the last Cruise Ship to sail from sydney in 2020, before the Australian Cruising Shutdown In February 2022, Carnival announced she would be redeployed to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

and begin operating four-to-five-day itineraries to the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

on 7 March, replacing voyages originally slated for . It marked a decade since the ship last operated permanently in North America. She was scheduled to move to Seattle to sail in Alaska in mid 2022 and Caribbean from Miami afterwards from 2022 to 2023, replacing sailings planned for and was deployed to begin sailing from

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

in October 2023 following another Alaskan season in mid 2023. Melbourne Port Phillip Bay 20191106 02

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Official website
{{Spirit class Ships built in Helsinki Spirit Panamax cruise ships 2000 ships Maritime incidents in 2013