Completing another milestone towards its August 2020 debut, Carnival Corporation and shipbuilder Meyer Turku have carried out a keel-laying ceremony at the shipyard in Turku, Finland, for Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras. Steel-cutting for the XL class cruise ship, the first vessel of its kind to operate on liquified natural gas (LNG) in North America, commenced in November 2018.

Carnival’s Senior Vice President of Newbuilds Ben Clement and Mardi Gras Captain Giuseppe Giusa, Chief Engineer Ferdinando Ruocco and Hotel Director Pierre Camilleri joined Meyer Turku CEO Jan Meyer at the festivities to mark keel-laying for the 180,000 ton vessel capable of carrying up to 6,500 passengers and 2,000 crew.

“This is a historic day for Carnival – the official start of construction of the spectacular Mardi Gras which will usher in an exciting new chapter for our company and introduce so many guest-pleasing innovations,” said Clement.

“We have been very excited to design and now finally to start assembling Carnival Mardi Gras. All these different features onboard require a lot of engineering and design expertise which we have been happy to provide to our customer,” CEO of Meyer Turku Jan Meyer states.

Mardi Gras is set to debut in Europe Aug. 31, 2020, then reposition to New York for a series of voyages before shifting to Port Canaveral, Florida, for year-round Caribbean departures.

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