The first details of the new elements on board the biggest ship in the Carnival Cruise Lines fleet will start emerging in the fourth quarter of next year.
The home port and itineraries for the 4,000-passenger Carnival Vista, which is due to enter service in 2016, will emerge when sales open.
The line’s 25th and largest vessel will incorporate many of the elements introduced on Carnival Breeze which was launched last year.
However, chief marketing officer Jim Barra revealed that a number of new ideas are under consideration which will make Vista different.
He and chief executive Gerry Cahill (pictured) remained tight-lipped on the details as the name was announced on board newly reconstructed ship Carnival Sunshine in Marseille.
Barra said the name Vista would act as a “touchstone” for the design of the new 135,000-ton vessel and the onboard offering would be “extremely connected to the ocean”.
“It will be about views out into the ocean. We want an experience that connects to the ocean,” he said.
Barra also disclosed plans for a relaunch of the Carnival Cruise Lines brand in the US in the autumn with a new advertising campaign as part of a three-pronged marketing programme designed to counteract the negatives resulting from the breakdown of Carnival Triumph and technical issues on other ships earlier this year.
He stressed the need for a healthy and strong travel trade distribution as part of the plan.
Meanwhile, Cahill said he was “optimistic” that the line would only withdraw from Europe for one year in 2014, citing high air fares for middle Americans – who make up 90% of the company’s passengers – as the reason for the two ships sailing closer to home next year.
UK and Ireland managing director Adolfo Perez, who is returning to the Carnival headquarters in Miami after two years in London, said he would be focusing on finding ways to help UK agents repackage cruises from US ports such as those in Florida and New York.
Cahill said: “The UK has been a very competitive price-wise market in the past year. Pricing was not as great as we had hoped.”