Carnival Ecstasy commenced her final voyage on Monday, October 10.
The 31-year-old boat that has carried ~5.5 million tourists on "fun ship" vacations brought longtime Carnival fans to Mobile Alabama to embark on the farewell cruise.
The sold-out 5-day trip, which includes calls at Progreso (Merida) and Cozumel (Quintana Roo) in Mexico, is the last of 2,300+ voyages for the liner.
CCL-Carnival Cruise Line's Brand Ambassador John Heald, who served as Ecstasy’s cruise director in the early days of the ship, is hosting a large group of fans.
The vessel was built in Helsinki Finland and launched in 1991 as CCL’s second “Fun Ship” of the FANTASY class. Over the years, she has served 8 of CCL’s homeports, including PortMiami, Port Canaveral (Orlando) and Jacksonville (JAXPORT) Florida, Galveston TX, Los Angeles (Long Beach-San Pedro, California), New Orleans (Port NOLA Louisiana), Charleston SC, and most recently, Mobile AL.
An important piece of Ecstasy memorabilia, the 1934 Rolls Royce Saloon which had been parked by the vessel’s aptly named Rolls Royce Cafe, will stay a part of CCL's fleet onboard the new Carnival Celebration.
The car millions have admired will become a feature of Celebration’s The Gateway, a 2-deck area celebrating the excitement of exploring new destinations and highlighting the CCL’s evolution of liners over the last 50 years.
Carnival Celebration is scheduled to debut at PortMiami on November 20.
Carnival will restart voyages from the homeport of Mobile AL in October 2023 when Carnival Spirit starts Eastern and Western Caribbean roundtrips from Alabama beginning October 6th. The new seasonal 6- and 8-day itinerary program features visits to various destinations in The Bahamas, Belize, and Mexico.