Carnival Cruise Line has announced that Costa Luminosa will join the Carnival fleet in September and will enter service as Carnival Luminosa in November 2022 from Brisbane, Australia.

The move marks a change in plans. Originally, CCL was going to acquire Costa Magica, which will now remain at sister brand Costa Cruises.

After delivery, Carnival Luminosa will operate October through April from Brisbane, then reposition to Seattle for an Alaska season from May through September, before heading south for another season in Australia.

The Luminosa is a sister ship to four other Spirit class ships that already sail for Carnival. Entering service in 2009, she accommodates up to 2,826 guests and 1,050 crew at 92,720 gross tons.

“With our full fleet back to guest operations and the pent-up demand for Carnival we are seeing every week aboard our ships, the chance to expand with Luminosa and then the arrival of Carnival Celebration in November provides our guests with more choices and new ways to enjoy a Carnival vacation,” said Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy.

“Our Spirit class ships are very popular with our guests and Luminosa will be a great addition given the large number of balcony cabins which make her an ideal ship for this deployment. Equally important, this will allow Carnival to finally start our highly anticipated itineraries from Brisbane, so we’ll have two ships operating in Australia for the high season Down Under.”

Given the short timeline to get Carnival Luminosa ready for service, the ship will undergo only modest updates to change over from Costa to Carnival ahead of the November service start-up. She will not initially have all of the Funship 2.0 branded spaces seen across the Carnival fleet, but the entire vessel will be staffed by CCL crew.

The line says cruises out of Brisbane will be announced shortly, and Carnival will sail a variety of itineraries that will initially include visits to favourites such as the Great Barrier Reef and Airlie Beach, and, as destinations open over time, ports of call such as Noumea and Lifou Isle in New Caledonia, Port Vila and Mystery Island in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

“The opportunity to deliver these bucket list itineraries will be exciting for our guests and we are thrilled to see the growing number of guests from the U.S. sailing on Carnival in Australia,” Duffy said.

In addition to Carnival Luminosa out of Brisbane, Carnival Splendor will arrive in Sydney to resume sailing year-round on October 2.

With the arrival of Carnival Celebration this November, Carnival’s fleet will number 24 ships, and its lower berth capacity will be 7% higher than at the end of November 2019.

Related to this announcement, the cruise programs for Costa Luminosa from September forward will be cancelled and Costa will revert to booked guests with a specific re-protection plan. Costa Magica will continue as part of the Costa fleet and its cruise programs will be announced shortly.