Port Canaveral’s busiest sailing season ever got its final homeported ship of the year when Carnival Cruise Line arrived with its Italian-themed Carnival Venezia on Wednesday.

Its debut makes 16 ships calling the Central Florida port home for the winter sailing season, and the fifth for Carnival Cruise Line, a record for one line at the port.

It sailed away before sunset from Cruise Terminal 3 after having arrived from New York where it had been based since its summer 2023 debut.

Unlike other Carnival ships with the signature whale-tail funnel and blue-red-and-white color scheme, this ship has a simple cylindrical funnel amid a yellow-and-black color scheme. The ship is themed to Venice, Italy and sports a moniker on its hull that says “Carnival Fun Italian Style.”

The 135,225-gross-ton, 4,090-passenger ship was originally built for sister cruise line Costa Cruises as Costa Venezia, and thus features Italian design and architectural touches inspired by Venice including the atrium the line is calling Piazza San Marco. It debuted in 2019 and sailed out of China until the COVID-19 pandemic. Carnival rebranded it and a sister ship from Costa that is now known as Carnival Firenze, calling them the line’s Venice class of ships.

“Our Venice-themed ship adds another truly dynamic offering, with a fresh Italian twist on our signature Carnival fun plus the same friendly service our guests love, and further enriches the variety of convenient options available to our loyal guests cruising from Orlando,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line in a press release.

The ship joins Carnival’s Mardi Gras along with Carnival Vista, Carnival Glory and Carnival Freedom sailing from Port Canaveral. The port also has four Royal Caribbean, three Disney and one ship each from Norwegian Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Princess Cruises.

Unique to Venezia will be the higher-end specialty restaurant “Il Viaggio,” which translates to “travel,” featuring cuisine from several regions of Italy. Other Italian fare includes three-course dining at Marco Polo and Canal Grande Restaurants, Italian street food at La Strada Grill and a couple of fusion offerings with Mexican-Italian at Tomodoro and what one might call città dei sapori, or Flavortown, at least in burger form with Guy Fieri’s Guy’s Burger Joint.

Italian bar concepts include cocktails at Amari, bubbly beverages and coffee at Frizzante, frozen drinks at Rococó and Italian wine at Carnevale Bar & Lounge.

Italian-themed entertainment will take center stage at the red-velveted Teatro Rosso as well as at the Gondola Lounge with a design inspired by Venetian canals.

“Our guests who sailed with Carnival Venezia from New York love the ship and its new experiences, and we know that she will add even more value to the Carnival offering in her new winter home at Port Canaveral,” Duffy said.

The ship still features Carnival mainstays such as steakhouse Fahrenheit 555, Bonsai Sushi & Teppanyaki, Chef’s Table, Lido Marketplace, Seafood Shack, Pizzeria del Capitano, Piano Bar 88, Serenity Bar, Heroes Tribute Lounge; Cloud 9 Spa, Camp Ocean, Circle “C” and Club O2 for kids of different ages; and its own WaterWorks water park and SportSquare activity area with ropes course, jogging track, mini golf and outdoor fitness center.

The four-day Bahamas trip that departed Wednesday will shift to seven-night alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings for 15 weeks along with two 14-night voyages through next May.