The name Carnival Corporation was adopted in 1993, to distinguish the parent company from its flagship cruise line subsidiary.

[11] Originating as the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company in England in 1837, P&O operated the world's first commercial cruise ships.

[14] It was agreed that P&O Princess Cruises plc would remain a separate company, listed on the London Stock Exchange and retaining its British shareholder body and management team.

[15] Carnival sold Windstar Cruises to Ambassadors Group in February 2007[16] and Swan Hellenic to Lord Sterling in March 2007.

[20] In June 2018, Carnival Corporation announced that it had acquired the White Pass and Yukon Route from TWC Enterprises Limited for US$290 million.

[23] After months of cancelled cruises, Carnival Corporation & plc announced in September 2020 that it intended to dispose of 18 ships, a full 12% of the global fleet.

[29] The company's fourth quarter (ending 30 November 2020) financial statement released on January 11, 2021, indicated that one extra ship, in addition to the 18 previously planned, was to be sold.

[31] In June 2023, Carnival restructured its corporate umbrella and created six new separate units that have full executive control of the brands in their portfolio.

[32] AIDA Cruises originated from the state-owned East German shipping conglomerate Deutsche Seereederei, established in Rostock, Germany, in 1952.

[35] Carnival Cruise Line was founded in 1972 as a subsidiary of American International Travel Service (AITS), by Ted Arison and Meshulam Riklis.

[38] Costa purchased the ship in 1947 and it operated between Italy and South America from 1948, later converting to full-time cruising and serving with the company until 1971.

[39] On January 13, 2012, Costa Concordia, a ship operated by the line, hit an underwater rock and ran aground in Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, resulting in 32 deaths.

[42] The early 1900s saw increased competition for speed, particularly from Germany, which led the British government to subsidise the building of Mauretania and Lusitania, which both won the Blue Riband.

Cunard continued to operate independently until 1971, when it was acquired by the conglomerate Trafalgar House, which was in turn taken over by the Norwegian company Kværner in 1996.

[48] Holland America continued to thrive well into the 1980s, consolidating its business with the acquisitions of Westours, Windstar Cruises and Home Lines.

[54] In 2002 the Carnival Corporation pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Miami to criminal charges related to falsifying records of the oil-contaminated bilge water that six of its ships dumped into the sea from 1996 through 2001.

The Carnival Corporation was ordered to pay $18 million in fines and perform community service, received five years' probation and must submit to a court-supervised worldwide environmental-compliance program for each of its cruise ships.

As part of its plea agreement, ships of the parent company Carnival Cruise lines were subjected to a court supervised environmental compliance plan for five years.

The new violations included discharging plastic into waters in the Bahamas, falsifying records, and interfering with court supervision.