DOVER, England -- Carnival Cruise Lines broke the ceremonial champagne bottle on its 23rd ship, the Carnival Splendor, in an unusual way: By having a diver from the British Royal Navy climb out of the sea with a bottle of British sparkling wine.
As British celebrity and Splendor godmother Myleene Klass played the piano on the Splendor's lido deck, Petty Officer Christian Rumming surfaced just underneath the bow and, in wetsuit and flippers, scaled a 60-foot rope and drew a bottle of Nyetimber sparkling wine from a pouch he was carrying. After he smashed the bottle, the crowd on deck, who had watched Rumming's progress on the Splendor's giant pool-deck movie screen, gave a big cheer.
The ship's christening here highlighted many English elements, from the choice of bubbly to comments made by the line's president, Gerry Cahill, that Carnival was "catching on" in the U.K. This year it has doubled the number of passengers it sourced from the U.K., he said.
The Splendor itself will be familiar to Carnival cruisers. At 3,006 passengers and 113,300 gross tons, its Carnival's biggest vessel to date. But it's a slightly bigger version of Carnival's Conquest-class ships, and passengers who've sailed Carnival before will be familiar with the Splendor's layout.
A small-but-cute water park for young cruisers is installed on one of the Splendor's top decks. One of the biggest changes is an expansion of the spa, to 40,000 square feet. The Splendor's spa facility, stretching out over two decks, includes "spa cabins," a multi-room thermal suite and the line's first thalassotherapy pool.
The Splendor will operate Carnival's first Northern Europe cruises, which officially start from Dover on July 13; in keeping with cruising to a slightly cooler clime, the thalassotherapy pool is covered by a glass dome, and the pool deck has a retractable roof.