Carnival Cruise Line has officially announced one of the venues of the new Gateway themed zone of the new Carnival Celebration, set to sail in November 2022. The Golden Jubilee is going to take place of the Brass Magnolia on the Mardi Gras and will pay homage to the Carnival Cruise Line brand over the span of their 50 years of operations.

A lot of thought went into the design of this new venue as there are many different elements brought in from previous ships up to the recent demise of the Carnival Sensation. Textiles that will be included in the Golden Jubilee include:

• A two-deck-high ceiling adorned with a multi-piece brass chandelier and surrounded by reproductions of blueprints depicting the evolution of Carnival’s Fun Ships, including some hand-drawn designs by world-renowned architect Joe Farcus all set to hang above the new bar.
• TSS Carnivale’s Riverboat Lounge’s chairs paired with Carnival Fascination’s Hollywood Boulevard cocktail tables containing signed sketches representing movie classics by iconic caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
• Separating the bar from the promenade will be the TSS Mardi Gras’ casino’s original 17’ by 7’ full-height etched glass, nickel and mahogany partition wall with 24 windowpanes.
• Walk through Carnival’s history through one of the lounge’s entrances which will be adorned by original decorative etchings of musical instruments with polished brass and glass night-club doors from TSS Carnivale.
• Original bronze statue of Carnival founder Ted Arison and Finnish shipbuilder Martin Saarikangas, given as a gift from the Kvaerner Masa-Yards to the line upon delivery of Carnival Sensation in Helsinki, Finland, in 1993.
• A view into special Carnival moments including Carnival Fascination’s naming ceremony and the first transit of the Carnival Inspiration through the Panama Canal will be visible through reproductions of hand-drawn sketches by Farcus blended into mirrors.
• The main bar will feature floor tiles that are a stylized maple leaf pattern from the Grand Ballroom on TSS Mardi Gras that carried over from the ship’s former life as Empress of Canada for Canadian Pacific Line.
• Mirror inserts integrated into the bar front and bottle display inspired by the etched glass inserts of TSS Carnivale’s main lobby doors.
• Reminiscent of the older cruise ships, the windows in this space will be circular in design, rather than the more common square version.

The Golden Jubilee is the ultimate nod to our 50^th Birthday – a nostalgic but timeless lounge where our guests can re-live and connect with Carnival’s yesteryears while enjoying a glamorous and elegant space that embraces our current Carnival style.

Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line

To tie in the 50th birthday celebrations with the launch of this new ship, there will be other nods to the history of the cruise line in the area that’s immediately adjacent to the Golden Jubilee:

• Six decorative porthole windows featuring a first-of-its-kind gallery installation about the evolution of the Fun Ships with three-dimensional dioramas for each of the five decades of Carnival’s history and one celebrating the company today and a look to its future.
• Original vintage engine telegraph from 1955 installed on TSS Carnivale​ and permanently set to “Full Ahead” sign as a symbol of Carnival’s forward movement.
• Every ship that has sailed for Carnival Cruise Line (past and present) will have a coin embedded into the floor design of the promenade.
• At the entrance to the Carnivale Restaurant, there will be a TSS Carnivale model, recovered from MS Inspiration.
• 1:100 scale, 12-foot-long ship model of Carnival Celebration.

As I read through the press release about this new venue planned for this ship, I got goose-bumps several times. I appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into the design of this new area. I hope that others who sail onboard the Carnival Celebration will enjoy this glimpse into the history of pleasure cruises that Carnival has embodied. I am energized for our sailing on her in January 2023 and again in February 2024.

If you want to read further into these details, head over to the press release.