Carnival Freedom

[BigD]

CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES’ NEW 110,000-TON SUPERLINER TO BE NAMED CARNIVAL FREEDOM

New 2,974-Passenger ‘Fun Ship’ Scheduled To Enter Service in Spring 2007

MIAMI (November 16, 2004) – Carnival Freedom is the name selected by Carnival Cruise Lines for its new 110,000-ton cruise ship scheduled to enter service in spring 2007.

To be built at a cost of $500 million at the Fincantieri shipyard in Sestri, Italy, the new 2,974-passenger “Fun Ship” will be the fifth in Carnival’s highly successful Conquest-class, which also includes Carnival Conquest and Carnival Glory, currently in service, and Carnival Valor and Carnival Liberty, set to debut Dec. 15, 2004, and July 20, 2005, respectively. The itinerary for the Carnival Freedom will be announced at a later date.

The new Carnival Freedom will encompass 13 passenger decks housing 22 lounges and bars, a 13,300-square-foot health club, a 4,200-square-foot children’s play room, an 1,800-square-foot teen club/game room, four swimming pools, a 214-foot-long water slide, and four restaurants, including an upscale reservations-only supper club.

Other features will include a nine-deck-high atrium, a full gambling casino, a duty-free shopping mall, and a comprehensive golf program. Of the ship’s 1,487 staterooms, 60 percent will offer either an ocean view or a balcony.

“Among the largest passenger vessels at sea, Carnival Freedom will embody ‘Today’s Carnival,’ with a huge array of on-board features and facilities for guests to enjoy. It will certainly be a fantastic addition to the ‘Fun Ship’ fleet,” said Bob Dickinson, Carnival president and CEO.

Carnival Cruise Lines, a unit of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is the world’s largest and most popular cruise line with a fleet of 19 “Fun Ships” operating three- to 16-day voyages to The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Panama Canal, Canada, New England and Europe.

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Carnival Cruise Lines is a proud member of the exclusive World’s Leading Cruise Lines. Our exclusive alliance also includes Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, Windstar Cruises and The Yachts of Seabourn. Sharing a passion to please each guest, and a commitment to quality and value, our member lines appeal to a wide range of lifestyles and budgets. Together, we offer exciting and enriching cruise vacations to the world’s most desirable destinations.

[DanPolulak]

This is some sort of joke right? RCCL just announced the Freedom of the Seas... You have to be kidding me- this is retarded.

[Jim Bragg]

No joke Dan. See my press release on the Carnival board.
Jim

[Tauruschick]

That is stupid. Either the Freedom of the Seas or the Carnival Freedom (or both) need a new name.

[Rand]

well with the ultra voyager on the horizon, Carnival is starting to get a little scared. I think that they chose the name to confuse the passengers into thinking that their new ship is the new freedom of the seas or another comparable ship. I don' t know, it worked for me

[Jim Bragg]

Don't bet on it Rand. CCL has been naming ships in this class with names like, Conquest, Valor, Glory, Liberty and now Freedom. RCI was doing the "Voyager, Explorer, Adventurer, etc." They are the ones that changed the theme. While CCL and RCI are each others biggest competition, CCL isn't worried about their new ships and I doubt RCI is either.
Jim

[ttbryson]

??? That's absurd - someone needs to change the name, although neither will be likely to do so. Ahh this could be confusing... but I mean RCI did announce their name first...

[DanPolulak]

I am more disappointed with RCCL's choice, their ships always had nice names, Granduer, Splendour, Navigator, Mariner... But Freedom just dosent fit in, I would have expected it to flow more with Carnival's political race of ships- Glory, Pride, Liberty, Valor...

The Ulta Voyager should be named something elegent... Like...
Conquer of the Seas or Master of the Seas

I think both might be thinkin on this whole war thing...??? Who knows?

RCI's reason to name it Freedom: "Freedom of the Seas is really all about freedom of choice. Freedom to explore. Freedom to relax. Freedom to make one's own vacation plans reflective of one's own tastes and interests," - Richard Fain Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO. I like the idea and I am convinced why RCI named the Ultra 1 Freedom ots.

Now Carnival: "Among the largest passenger vessels at sea, Carnival Freedom will embody ‘Today’s Carnival,’ with a huge array of on-board features and facilities for guests to enjoy." - Bob Dickinson Carnival president and CEO. Ok, so did Carnival mentioned anywhere in the news release why they named this the Carnival Freedom???? I don't think so. Rather they say "huge array of on-board features and facilities" and this pharse has been said for all the newbuilds coming out for Carnival and even the similar Italian subsidary Costa Cruises.

Freedom OTS does not break any pattern in RCI's naming strategy in terms of per ship class. RCI's first generation ships has a naming theme of the Norwegian Nautical roots of RCI (ex: Sun Viking, Song of Norway, Nordic Prince, Nordic Empress). The Soverign-class ships have a kingdom-monarchy related theme-nuff said. The Vision-class is like a mixture of harmonic-soft toned theme (ex. Splendour, Rhapsody, Grandeur, Vision). The Voyager-class has a exploration nautical theme (ex. Voyager, Explorer, Mariner). The Radiance-class is like a quality-precious theme (ex. Radiance, Serenade). RCI considers the "Ultra-Voyagers" as a new class of ships, so technically its nothing wrong that RCI is changing naming themes.

Carnival went from the French-like endings Carnivale, Festivale, Tropicale to the Holiday class where you can argue that You are Celebrating Jubilantly on a Holiday. , to the Fantasy-class where there really wasn't a theme other than a broad "emotional" theme, which they broke with the Paradise. I can't think of a theme for the Spirit-class. The Destiny-class and the Conquest-class, I won't argue because there actually is a theme (about Battle, fighting, and war?). They even broke the tradition by adding the "Carnival" prefix with the Carnival Destiny - the first ship in Carnival's history to have the "Carnival" word included in the name. The only thing I wished Carnival would do is find an alternative and more original name than Freedom since their main competitor announced it not even a week ago ( I still think Carnival got it from RCI). I am sure that there are alternatives to the Destiny-Conquest themes. Funny thing that they went from Conquest (conquering) and Triumph to giving Liberty and Freedom ;-)!!!!

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