Carnival Cruise Lines Takes Delivery Of Victory

Carnival Cruise Lines, a unit of Carnival took delivery of its new $440 million, 893 ft. (272 m) cruise ship, the 102,000-ton Carnival Victory, during the traditional "hand-over" ceremony at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, where the 2,758-passenger vessel was built. Carnival Victory is the third member of the company’s Destiny-class; departing Monfalcone on August 2 on its transatlantic crossing, the vessel is expected to arrive in New York on August 14. From there, Victory will sail on its inaugural voyage – a sold-out two-night cruise-to-nowhere departing Aug. 18, followed by three additional sold-out two-night cruises, an overnight voyage and various travel agent and fund-raising functions. The ship will then launch a program of four- and five-day cruises from New York to the Canadian Maritimes August 31. Following its New York voyages, the Carnival Victory will sail on a series of one- to five-night voyages from Newport News, Va., and Charleston, S.C., before repositioning to Miami to operate a three-day Bahamas voyage and a program of week-long Caribbean cruises beginning Oct. 15.