Carnival Showcases 50 Years of History at Golden Jubilee Bar On Carnival Celebration

Continuing the theme of paying homage to the past with its newest ship, Carnival Cruise Line unveiled details of The Golden Jubilee, a new bar and lounge concept created specifically for Carnival Celebration. Announced at this year’s Seatrade Cruise Global conference, the space, which celebrates Carnival’s 50 years in business, will feature original furniture, art, decorative accents, and memorabilia from several of Carnival’s earlier ships.

“We are getting ready to introduce Carnival Celebration, which culminates the 50th birthday year of Carnival Cruise Line,” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said at the press conference announcing The Golden Jubilee.

As part of the company’s overall celebration, the line took the opportunity to create a space onboard that bridges the Carnival’s past with its future.

“In the spirit of celebration, we’re proud to reveal to you The Golden Jubilee,” said Glenn Aprile, director of new builds, product development for Carnival Cruise Line. “This is a special bar and lounge unlike anything we’ve ever done and it celebrates the evolution of the Carnival “Fun Ships,” from the original “Fun Ships” of the 70s all the way to the innovative Carnival Excel class that we have today.

The Golden Jubilee will be filled will items that range from an original 17’ by 17’ etched glass, nickel and mahogany partition wall from the TSS Mardi Gras casino to an original bronze statue of Carnival founder Ted Arison and Finnish shipbuilder Martin Saarikangas, given as a gift to the line upon delivery of Carnival Sensation in 1993.

Cocktail tables will come from Carnival Fascination’s Hollywood Boulevard and will be adorned with signed sketches representing movie classics by iconic caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. Other decorative elements include hand-drawn designs by past Carnival cruise ship architect Joe Farcus and etched glass inserts from TSS Carnivale’s main lobby doors.

(Most of the original pieces featured throughout the space come from the collection of cruiser writer and expert Peter Knego, who has been rescuing and collecting memorabilia from salvage yards for decades.)

There will also be round windows instead of squared windows, reminiscent of the portholes on the line’s original ships, creating an ambiance similar to the classic cruise ship bar and lounge.

“We’re really celebrating the fact that you’re on a cruise ship rather than trying to disguise it,” Aprile said. “It’s a wonderful thing, it’s a special thing to be out at sea.”

Bar Menu
The bar menu will also take cruisers on a journey through time. Options will include a range of the line’s most popular cocktails throughout the decades since 1972 such as a Harvey Wallbanger and Tom Collins, but reimagined with premium ingredients and new presentations.

The Golden Jubilee, which will also feature a stage for live music, will be part of Carnival Celebration’s final, yet-to-be-announced zone, taking the place of what is the The Brass Magnolia in French Quarter on Mardi Gras.

Promenade
The Golden Jubilee won’t be the only space onboard Carnival Celebration paying homage to the line’s history. Throughout the ship, passengers will find nods to Carnival’s past, including on the Promenade, which will feature a porthole-style timeline gallery installation that will give guests a peek into the past. Each of the six decorative porthole windows will feature three-dimensional dioramas for each of the five decades of Carnival’s history, plus one representing the company today and a look into its future.

The promenade will also have its own version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with coins for every ship, both past and present, embedded into the floor design so that past cruisers can stop an reminisce about their experiences on other ships, including those that are no longer in the fleet.

Carnival Celebration debuts this November in Miami where it will sail five-, six-, seven- and eight-day cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Like its sister ship, Mardi Gras, it will feature five zones. Three will be unique to Celebration including the already-announced 820 Biscayne and Celebration Central. Returning zones are The Ultimate Playground, Summer Landing and Lido.

When it debuts it will be from the line’s newly redesigned Terminal F at PortMiami, which will be shore-power ready in 2023.