The Costa Venezia has officially joined the Carnival Cruise Line fleet, and will sail as the Carnival Venezia.
The ship changed hands Wednesday when Costa Capt. Tihomir Muzic handed over the ship to Carnival Capt. Claudio Cupisti.
The Venezia, built for Costa in 2019, is undergoing renovations to tailor its Italian ambience for a North American audience ahead of its relaunch on May 29 from Barcelona. The ship has an Italian architectural design and atrium modeled after Venice's Piazza San Marco.
The Venezia will offer new food and beverage options, including La Strada Grill serving Italian street food, a Mexican-Italian fusion restaurant called Tomodoro, a bar similar to the Alchemy Bar called Amari, and Frizzante, which will serve bubbly beverages such as Prosecco cocktails along with Italian beer and Italian coffees and biscotti.
The ship will feature Italian-inspired entertainment spaces like the Gondola Lounge inspired by Venetian canals, the Carnevale Bar and Lounge paying homage to Venetian masquerades during Carnevale and events like the Italian Street Party. The ship will also have Italian-inspired youth programming.
The Carnival Venezia will sail a 15-day transatlantic Carnival Journeys cruise from Barcelona on May 29 before sailing year-round from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal in New York, starting June 15.
The ship's move from Costa to Carnival Cruise Line is part of a strategy to adjust capacity between the two lines. Carnival will begin sailing a second Costa ship, the Costa Firenze, out of Long Beach, Calif., in the spring of 2024.