Image: Carnival Cruise Line
When Carnival announced earlier this year that Carnival Adventure would stop sailing year-round from Australia in 2028, one fairly important detail was missing: where exactly was it going?
We now have the answer.
Carnival Adventure will spend the northern summer sailing from Seattle to Alaska, with Carnival confirming a substantial programme of 18 seven-night cruises between May and September 2028.
The former Pacific Adventure will then finish its North American summer with a longer Alaska cruise followed by a 16-night Hawaii sailing.
It's the first detailed look at what Carnival has planned for Adventure during the months it will no longer be based in Australia year-round.
Image: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Adventure will sail 18 Alaska cruises
Carnival Adventure will make its Alaska debut from Seattle on 9 May 2028.
The ship will operate 18 seven-night Alaska Inside Passage & Glacier cruises, with departures running through to 5 September.
The itineraries include:
- Juneau
- Ketchikan
- Skagway
- Scenic cruising through Endicott Arm Fjord
- Victoria, British Columbia
Adventure will be joined in Alaska by Carnival Spirit from Seattle and Carnival Legend from San Francisco as part of Carnival's wider 2028 West Coast deployment.
For Australian cruisers familiar with Adventure's usual South Pacific, Queensland and short domestic itineraries, it will be quite a change of scenery.
There's also a longer Alaska cruise
Adventure won't immediately leave Alaska when its regular seven-night season finishes.
On 12 September 2028, it will depart Seattle on a nine-night Carnival Journeys Alaska cruise.
Carnival Journeys cruises are the line's longer itineraries, generally offering a different experience from its shorter mainstream sailings.
And after that, Adventure heads somewhere considerably warmer.
Carnival Adventure will sail to Hawaii
On 21 September 2028, Carnival Adventure is scheduled to depart Seattle on a 16-night Carnival Journeys Hawaii cruise.
That means its first northern summer away from Australia will include Alaska and Hawaii before the ship eventually returns to this part of the world.
Carnival hasn't included the ship's Australia-to-North America repositioning itinerary or its eventual return voyage in this latest announcement, so there are still some pieces of Adventure's 2028 schedule to come.
Those repositioning cruises could be particularly interesting for Australian passengers, especially if Carnival offers a longer transpacific itinerary rather than relocating the ship without passengers.
Why is Carnival Adventure leaving Australia?
Carnival announced in February that Adventure would become a seasonal Australian ship from April 2028, ending its current year-round deployment here.
At the time, Carnival said the decision reflected more favourable market conditions elsewhere and what it described as an uncertain regulatory environment in Australia and New Zealand.
Carnival Country Manager Peter Little said the company was seeing stronger momentum and greater government support in other major tourism markets.
The company stressed that it wasn't abandoning Australia, with Carnival continuing to operate year-round cruises in the region.
Adventure currently sails primarily from Sydney, along with selected departures from Melbourne, Adelaide and Auckland.
From Pacific Adventure to Alaska
Adventure's move is particularly interesting because the ship has spent most of its recent life closely associated with the Australian cruise market.
Originally launched as Golden Princess in 2001, the ship later became P&O Cruises Australia's Pacific Adventure before joining Carnival Cruise Line when P&O Cruises Australia ceased operations in March 2025.
It was renamed Carnival Adventure and has continued sailing locally under the Carnival brand.
In 2028, however, Australians will effectively be sharing Adventure with the North American market.
And Alaska isn't exactly a small experiment.
Eighteen seven-night cruises, followed by a nine-night Alaska sailing and a 16-night Hawaii cruise, gives Adventure a full northern summer programme rather than a brief deployment.
What happens to Carnival's Australian cruises?
Adventure becoming seasonal doesn't mean Carnival is leaving Australia.
Carnival Splendor remains an important part of Carnival's Australian operation, while the cruise line has continued releasing itineraries from Australian and New Zealand ports.
But losing Adventure for several months each year will still mean a reduction in Carnival's locally based capacity compared with having both ships here year-round.
And Carnival hasn't been particularly coy about why it made the decision.
Its February announcement specifically pointed to “more favorable market conditions elsewhere” and uncertainty surrounding the regulatory environment in Australia and New Zealand.
Adventure's newly announced Alaska deployment now shows exactly what one of those opportunities looks like.
One itinerary we're still waiting for
For Australian cruise fans, there is still one rather interesting gap in the schedule.
How is Carnival Adventure getting from Australia to Seattle?
Carnival has confirmed that Adventure relocates to North America in April 2028 and begins its Alaska programme from Seattle on 9 May, but its latest announcement doesn't detail the repositioning voyage between the two regions.
A passenger-carrying transpacific cruise could potentially become one of Adventure's more interesting itineraries for Australian cruisers.
For now, though, we'll have to wait and see what Carnival has planned for the trip north.
And after years of cruising to Moreton Island, the South Pacific and Queensland, seeing Carnival Adventure surrounded by glaciers is going to look slightly strange. 😂
