''Carnival Panorama'' 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 ...

. After Carnival finalized the ship's order with Italian shipbuilder

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 ...

in December 2016, the vessel had her keel laid in January 2018. She was formally delivered in October 2019 as the last ''Vista''-class vessel and as the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

of the fleet; she has served in the latter role until debuted in 2021. Measuring and long, she is the largest of Carnival's three ''Vista''-class vessels. Since her debut in December 2019, she has been homeported at the

Port of Long Beach The Port of Long Beach, administered as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land wi ...

and sails week-long itineraries 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 ...

Design and description

The vessel's public facilities are similar to and evolved from those offered on ''Carnival Vista'' and ''Carnival Horizon''. One distinct feature is a

Sky Zone Sky Zone is a Provo, Utah–based company that operates indoor trampoline parks. The company is often credited with opening the first indoor trampoline park in 2004, History Sky Zone was founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Rick Platt in the Las Ve ...

trampoline park in place of the IMAX theater found on her older sister ships. The ship also has activity venues including a Waterworks aqua park inspired by

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

Construction and career

In March 2015, Carnival Corporation and

made an agreement for five ships to be delivered between 2019 and 2022. On an announcement released on 30 December 2015, Carnival Corporation further established that the planned 4,200-passenger ship was set to be delivered to Carnival's sister brand,

P&O Cruises Australia P&O Cruises Australia was a British-American owned cruise line with operational headquarters as part of Carnival Australia, based in Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia. Originally a sister company of P&O Cruises in the United Kingdom, it wa ...

. A year later, on 15 December 2016, Carnival Corporation announced that the original order for P&O Cruises Australia would be transferred to Carnival Cruise Line as their third ''Vista''-class vessel. The announcement stated that a delivery for the vessel was set for the fall of 2019. To compensate for the order, P&O was to receive a retrofitted instead, however in September 2017, it was announced that ''Carnival Splendor'' would stay in the Carnival fleet and P&O Cruises Australia would get

Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is an American cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. The company headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California and is incorporated in Bermuda. As of 2025, it is the List of cruise lines#List of cruise lines by size, s ...

in 2020. On 1 December 2017, Carnival Corporation officially announced that the third and final ship in the ''Vista'' class of the fleet would be named ''Carnival Panorama''. Construction officially began on the then-unnamed vessel on 7 July 2017 at Fincantieri's shipyard in

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy, Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popula ...

, Italy, with a steel-cutting ceremony. The

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

was laid on 10 January 2018. She was launched from the shipyard on 6 December 2018. Carnival publicly previewed the ship in the 2019

Tournament of Roses Parade A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. The float, named "Come Sail Away," was modeled after the ship and contained trampolines and played upbeat music. On 18 July 2019, she completed her

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

. On 29 October, Fincantieri officially presented ''Carnival Panorama'' to Carnival Cruise Line at the Marghera shipyard. To travel from Marghera to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

for her christening and debut, ''Panorama'' embarked on a 38-day journey that took her across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and through the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natura ...

to sail up the western coast of South America, making stops in

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (; locally ), commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a ...

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, and

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican resort city near the Bahía de Banderas on the Pacific coast of the Mexico, Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalajara ...

. She arrived at her initial destination of the

Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "Amer ...

in the early morning of 8 December for final preparations. On the afternoon of 9 December, ''Carnival Panorama'' moved to her home port, the

, for her welcoming ceremonies and docked there for the first time early that evening. The ship was christened the following day by her godmother, '' Wheel of Fortune'' hostess

Vanna White Vanna Marie White (née Rosich; born February 18, 1957) is an American television personality and game-show hostess, best known as the co-host of the game show '' Wheel of Fortune'', a position she has held since 1982. She began her career as a ...

. Since her debut, ''Carnival Panorama'' has been homeported in Long Beach. She embarked on her three-day inaugural voyage to

Ensenada Ensenada ("inlet") is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the third-largest city in Baja Californ ...

on 11 December 2019. Upon returning to Long Beach, she began sailing 7-day

cruises to

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Luke the Evangelist, Saint Luke Cape (geography), Cape"), also known simply as Cabo, is a Resort town, resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, in the Mexican Political divisions of Mexico, state of Baja ...

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding , known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast across from th ...

, and

on a year-round basis, taking over the week-long itinerary from .

COVID-19 pandemic

When ''Carnival Panorama'' returned to Long Beach on 7 March 2020, a female passenger was reported to be ill. As a result, the debarkation was halted by the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

(CDC) and the Long Beach Fire Department until the woman could be tested for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

at a nearby hospital. Initial reports stated that the ailing guest did not meet the criteria for coronavirus, but the CDC wanted to take "extra precautions". The CDC confirmed later in the evening that the guest tested negative for COVID-19, but the rest of the passengers spent the night onboard and disembarked the following morning. Due to the CDC holding ''Carnival Panorama'' one day late, her subsequent voyage was cut short to six days. The ship was returning from a trip to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

with scheduled stops at

and

, which were also scheduled stops for during the previous month. ''Carnival Panorama'' was the fifth Carnival ship (the others being , , , and Australia-based ) to repatriate crewmembers back to their respective countries. She was the only ship sailing from her homeport until April 2021, when ''

Carnival Radiance ''Carnival Radiance'' (formerly ''Carnival Victory'') is a operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Ordered by Carnival in 1997, the vessel was the third ''Destiny''-class cruise ship to join the fleet after her debut in 2000 and became one of the la ...

'' began sailing itineraries previously served by and . In 2023, the ship was drydocked at Portland. Therefore, it was necessary to remove the funnel because the bridges crossing the Victoria River are too low. In 2024, the ship got the new Carnival color scheme.

Notes

References

{{Carnival Cruise Line

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

Panamax cruise ships Ships built by Fincantieri Ships built in Venice