With most of the cruise industry still under lockdown and many lines selling off older ships for scrap or to second-tier operators, it's almost a surprise to remember that new ships are still hitting the water.
One of the latest and largest is Carnival's Mardi Gras, which had ten days of sea trials in the Baltic Sea earlier this month, sailing from the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, one of the few capable of producing true mega-ships.
Mardi Gras is 1,130 feet long, 15 decks high, and 35% bigger than any previous ship Carnival has owned. With all berths filled, it can accommodate over 6,600 passengers. Even at that size, it's only the seventh-largest ever built, trailing behind Royal Caribbean's Oasis class ships, two of which were also built at Turku.
Next steps: installation of furniture and decor, final touches to the onboard roller coaster and water park, and a hop across the Atlantic. The ship is scheduled to pick up its first passengers in February at Port Canaveral, Florida, assuming cruising from U.S. ports has resumed.
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