''Carnival Sunshine'' (formerly ''Carnival Destiny'') is a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

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 shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue color scheme. This ...

. She debuted in 1996 as the first passenger ship ever built to exceed 100,000

gross tons Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

, and became the first to break the record the '' Queen Elizabeth'' set in 1940 as the world's largest passenger vessel, holding it until 1998, . Built by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

at its

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Bisiacco: ; fur, Monfalcon; sl, Tržič; archaic german: Falkenberg) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Gorizia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Trieste. Monfalcone means 'falcon mountain ...

shipyard in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, she was christened as ''Carnival Destiny'' in Venice, Italy, in November 1996 by

Lin Arison Marilyn "Lin" Arison is the co-founder of the National YoungArts Foundation and the New World Symphony. She is the widow of Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Cruise Lines, and a real estate investor in Florida. Arison is an arts education advoc ...

, the wife of Carnival Cruise Line founder Ted Arison. In the 1997 American comedy-drama film

Holy Man ''Holy Man'' is a 1998 American television satirical comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Herek, written by Tom Schulman, and starring Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Preston, Robert Loggia, Jon Cryer, and Eric McCormack. The film was a ...

featuring Eddie Murphy,

Jeff Goldblum Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and ''Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels. ...

and

Kelly Preston Kelly Kamalelehua Smith (October 13, 1962 – July 12, 2020), known professionally as Kelly Preston, was an American actress. She appeared in more than 60 television and film productions, including '' Mischief'' (1985), '' Twins'' (1988), ...

, ''Carnival Destiny'' is seen in the background several times at the beginning of the movie, the first time the main characters meet. In 2013, she received a major refit and a rename, with sister ships '' Carnival Sunrise'' and '' Carnival Radiance'' following suit in 2019 and 2021 respectively. At a ceremony in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

on 17 November 2013, she was formally renamed, with Lin Arison once again serving as her godmother. Since May 2019 the ship has been homeported in Charleston, South Carolina. It was originally planned to sail to Cuba from Charleston but those plans were cancelled after the Cuban travel ban in 2019.

History

''Carnival Destiny'' went into dry dock in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 2013 to be refitted and renamed ''Carnival Sunshine''. The refitting, which was completed in May 2013, was delayed by a month to install new back-up generator systems. In late 2021, ''Carnival Sunshine'' was repainted into Carnival's new livery. In October 2022, she became the oldest operating ship in Carnival's fleet, due to the retirement of '' Carnival Ecstasy''.

Layout

Following a multimillion-dollar refurbishment in 2005, ''Carnival Destiny'' featured three pools, a variety of dining options, lounges, nightclubs, a casino and a spa. ''Carnival Destiny'' received more modifications in 2010, including a movie screen on the Lido deck and cabin renovations. On 6 March 2012, Carnival announced that ''Destiny'' would undergo a US$155-million dollar refit, and renaming of the ship as ''Carnival Sunshine''. The ship was re-launched on 5 May 2013. The refit included a racing themed waterpark with one of the biggest slides in Carnival's fleet.

Areas of operation

Other than an 18-day cruise across the Atlantic to position her for the refit in Italy, the ship has always operated from ports in the United States cruising primarily to Caribbean destinations. The Carnival Sunshine is primarily doing three to five night voyages from Charleston that visit Nassau, Freeport, Half Moon Cay, and Princess Cays. The ship also participated in the fun ship meet up in March 2022 to commemorate Carnival's 50th anniversary. It will also do various ten day voyages that visit St. Thomas, St. Martin, Antigua, St. Kitts, San Juan, Princess Cays, Grand Turk, Aruba, and Bonaire.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

*
Carnival Sunshine Photo GalleryPhotos of the disco from 1997
{{Authority control 1995 ships Sunshine Ships built in Monfalcone Ships built by Fincantieri