Upgraded Carnival Ship Leaves Dry Dock With Unique New Look

Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Splendor has just completed her nearly three-week dry dock at Sembcorp Marine’s Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore, and she’s sailing not only refreshed and refurbished, but with a whole new look.

As the ship has left the shipyard, she’s revealed her brand new red-white-and-blue hull livery. That new color scheme first debuted with Mardi Gras in 2021, and has been rolled out to the entire fleet as different ships have gradually undergone dry dock refurbishments.

Carnival Splendor‘s last dry dock was in 2019, before the new livery was introduced. Therefore, her just-completed dry dock renovation on August 5-23, 2024, was the first opportunity to repaint the classic white hull with a more colorful pattern.

It isn’t just the colors that have been added to the 113,573-gross-ton Carnival Splendor, however. As she sailed out of dry dock, the ship revealed a new and one-of-a-kind feature on her midship hull – a stylized swoop with stars, an interpretation of the Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross is an iconic constellation in the southern sky, located at the southern end of the visible portion of the Milky Way. Five bright stars form the cross pattern – Acrux, Mimosa, Gacrux, Imai, and Ginan – which as been instrumental in guiding Australian sailors for centuries.

“Carnival Splendor has departed Singapore following dry dock and we’re thrilled to reveal her stunning new livery!” announced Carnival Cruise Line Australia on social media.

“She now proudly sports the red, white, and blue hull introduced by Carnival in 2021, along with a special Southern Cross design—a nod to our deep connection to Australia. The Southern Cross constellation has guided sailors to Australia for centuries, and now Carnival Splendor shares this symbolic artwork with her soon-to-be sister ships, Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter.”

The two P&O Cruises Australia ships, Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter, have a very similar star pattern on their bows but, for the moment, lack the rest of the hull coloration that now characterizes the Carnival fleet.

No confirmation has been made of whether or not the two ships may receive new hull livery when they are converted to Carnival Adventure and Carnival Encounter before joining the Carnival fleet in March 2025, though such updating does seem likely.

As a special note, the Southern Cross is also featured prominently on Australia’s national flag and is a well-recognized symbol of the proud and distinctive nation.

Carnival Splendor is homeported year-round from Sydney, offering a range of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and South Pacific itineraries. She can welcome 3,012 guests per sailing at double occupancy, and is also home to more than 1,100 international crew members.

The ship is currently sailing a 16-night itinerary calling on ports in Indonesian and Australia as she travels back to Sydney for her arrival on September 9.

More Unique Carnival Hulls

For many years, Carnival Cruise Line’s ships sported simple plain white hulls with the ship’s names and no other adornments. Instead, the cruise line used the classic “whale tail” funnel that debuted with Tropicale in 1982, the first new-build for the young cruise line, as its iconic structural statement.

With the debut of Mardi Gras, however, the cruise line opted for the more colorful hull but still kept the red-white-and-blue coloration so closely associated with “America’s Cruise Line.”

Only one other ship in the Carnival fleet has a unique hull feature, however. When she first floated out during construction in July 2023, Carnival Jubilee revealed the Texas Lone Star on her bow, symbolizing her connection to the Lone Star State and her Galveston homeport.

As many cruise ships shift homeports multiple times throughout their decades of sailing, it is somewhat unusual to put a distinctive icon on the hull that connects to a single homeport.

Read Also: Beneath the Surface – Exploring the Cruise Ship Hull

Of course, hulls can be repainted if necessary, and just because a ship has unique hull iconography does not mean she’ll never move to a different sailing region.

While Carnival Cruise Line has not announced any plans to further customize other ships in the fleet, it will be fun to see if more vessels get unique designs in the years to come.