Carnival Horizon gets new livery and upgrades during emergency drydock

Carnival Horizon has returned to service in the Caribbean out of Miami after completing an emergency drydock in Italy to fix a propulsion issue.

Carnival Horizon was pulled from service on December 5th, 2021 due to technical issues that impacted her top cruising speed, but has now returned to Miami.

Carnival Sunshine and Carnival Liberty were returned to service early to fill the gap left by Carnival Horizon on her 6- and 8-night roundtrip itineraries from Miami.

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During the drydock Carnival Horizon also received the new Carnival Cruise Line livery introduced with the debut of its newest and largest cruise ship Mardi Gras last year.

Cosmetic upgrades were also made to the hotel side of the vessel, such as new carpets and furnishings, but these were more maintenance-oriented, rather than aimed at changing the interior decor of the vessel.

Sailing year-round from Miami, Carnival Horizon’s program features six-night cruises to the Western Caribbean, and varied eight-night itineraries to the Southern Caribbean.

Carnival Horizon departed PortMiami this week bound for the Southern Caribbean, visiting Oranjestad, the capital of the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, Bonaire, La Romana and Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic.

Her Western Caribbean itineraries include calls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos islands, and Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, although Jamaica has been dropped from some itineraries.

Carnival Cruise Line has returned 20 cruise ships to service since July last year, when Carnival Vista (a sister ship to Carnival Horizon) became the first of the cruise line’s vessels to resume operations.

There are now only five Carnival cruise ships still in lay-up, but three of them are scheduled to resume service in March: Carnival Sensation from Mobile on March 5th, Carnival Ecstacy from Jacksonville on March 7th, and Carnival Paradise from Tampa on March 12th.

Carnival Cruise Line’s two non-US-based cruise ships Carnival Spirit and Carnival Splendor remain in lay-up in Dubai, awaiting the resumption of their Australian cruise programs.

Cruises from Australia are banned until at least February, but there are concerns that with the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, they may be suspended further still into 2022.