Carnival Cruise Line is commemorating its golden anniversary with 17 special voyages, with the first “Sailabration” aboard Carnival Miracle which departed from the Port of Long Beach on Sunday with 2,000 guests onboard.

Carnival’s 50th birthday celebrations run through March 10, 2022, and feature meetups, special entertainment and programming. Carnival Miracle welcomed the first guests to the birthday party with music and decor. Once onboard, the fun continued with a 50th Birthday Bash Sailaway Party.

Carnival Miracle's 14-day Sailabrations cruise stops in Honolulu, Maui, Kona, Hilo, and Ensenada. On March 5, Carnival Miracle will meet up with Carnival Radiance in Baja, Mexico, outside of Ensenada, to host one of history's biggest birthday parties at sea.

'As we kick-off our year-long 50th Birthday celebration, we are thrilled that Carnival Miracle is the first to set sail on our special Sailabrations cruises,' said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. 'We're ready to show our guests the celebration of a lifetime with unique entertainment experiences and exciting limited-time offerings.' Carnival restarted operations from Long Beach in August 2021 and will have its entire fleet back in service by this summer. The line is the leader in cruising from the West Coast, with three ships: Carnival Miracle, Carnival Panorama and Carnival Radiance departing from the Port of Long Beach.

Fun Facts from Carnival's 50 Years

Carnival has been a presence on the West Coast for about 40 years, operating week-long cruises from Southern California in the 1980s and introducing short cruises in the mid-1990s.

Carnival Corporation acquired the Long Beach Cruise Terminal, including a portion of the geodesic dome - once home to Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose - in 2003. In 2018, Carnival Corporation purchased the remaining portion of the dome and dramatically expanded the facility with significant upgrades. The expansion more than doubled the size of the terminal to 146,000 square feet.