Carnival Corporation surprised many in the industry recently by announcing it would move Queen Anne from Cunard Line to sister brand P&O Cruises, and further swap P&O’s Arcadia over to Holland America Line.
All three lines are part of the Carnival Corporation umbrella. These latest moves show the company looking to trim capacity on some brands while fulfilling demand requirements for others.
It can also be seen as a vote of non-confidence on Queen Anne’s suitability for the Cunard brand. The ship, which debuted in 2024, has had mixed reviews in its service for Cunard, and is notable for lacking the transatlantic handling capabilities built into Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth.
On the flip side, Arcadia’s transfer to Holland America Line seems appropriate. The Vista-class ship, which debuted in 2005, was originally ordered by Holland America as its fifth Vista-class ship, before being assigned to Cunard Line. The vessel was then transferred to P&O Cruises before entering service.
Arcadia’s repositioning to Holland America gives that line its fifth Vista-class ship and removes what is essentially a one-off vessel platform for P&O, while Queen Anne’s transfer to P&O increases the line’s capacity dramatically.
Other Carnival Corporation ship swaps are looking more permanent, too. Carnival Cruise Line’s acquisition of the former Costa Venezia for its “Carnival Fun Italian Style” brand seems to have taken on a more permanent stance recently with the repainting of its funnel from Costa’s yellow brand to Carnival Cruise Line’s livery. It is expected that sister ship Carnival Firenze will follow suit.
Carnival Corporation has been divesting itself of Costa’s tonnage in recent years, with the sale of both Costa Atlantica and Costa Fortuna to Margaritaville at Sea.
The truly interesting part of this is that the cruise industry is, in some ways, returning to how it was in the 1980s and 1990s, when fleets would consist of a combination of newbuild vessels and repurposed second-hand tonnage.
Although Carnival Corporation has not announced further ship transfers between brands, expect this trend to continue as the company looks to maximise profits and fine-tune capacity requirements heading into the next decade.
