Carnival Cruise Line is winding the clock back almost 50 years by naming its largest ever vessel the Mardi Gras.
The Miami-based cruise giant revealed the name on US TV game show Wheel of Fortune.
Meyer Turku in Finland will deliver the 180,000-gt, XL-class newbuilding in 2020, which has been named in what Carnival Cruise Line describes as a nod to the company’s rich American cruising history.
Fun ships
The original 27,284-gt TSS Mardi Gras (ex-Empress of Canada, built 1961) was acquired by Carnival Cruise Line founder Ted Arison in 1972 to launch Carnival's “fun ships”.
Carnival Cruise Line' second vessel in 1975 was the slightly smaller Empress of Britain (built 1956).
Arison, along with former partner Knut Kloster, is considered one of the founders of the international cruise industry. Carnival Cruise Line, the flagship line of market titan Carnival Corp, today has a fleet of 26 cruiseships.
The Empress of Canada sailed between Liverpool and Greenock in the UK, and Quebec and Montreal under Canadian Pacific Steamships’ colours.
It arrived in Liverpool for the last time in 1971, ending Canadian Pacific’s North Atlantic service after 68 years.
After more than 20 years in Florida and Caribbean waters, the ship was bought by the Potamianos family-controlled Epirotiki, which merged with the Keusseoglou family’s Sun Line Cruises to become Royal Olympic Cruises.
Arison, originally co-founder with Kloster of Norwegian Caribbean Line in Miami in 1966, retired as Carnival chairman in 1990. He handed control to son Micky, now chairman of Carnival Corp. Arison Snr died in 1999, aged 75.
Next generation
The new Mardi Gras will be light years ahead of the original, not least being the first of Carnival Cruise Line's fleet in North America to be powered by LNG.
It will also be six times the size of its namesake, accommodating more than 5,200 passengers.
Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy said: “The new Mardi Gras will follow the trailblazing lead of her predecessor, introducing features and technological innovations that have never been seen before on a cruiseship.”
The Mardi Gras will be based in Port Canaveral, Florida.
