What Theme Parties Are on a Carnival Ship?

January 6, 2024January 6, 2024 Randy Young

Carnival has always positioned itself as the fun cruise line, and you can usually feel that from the moment you step onboard. It just has a different energy from other cruise lines. Everyone just seems ready to have a great vacation. As part of the cruise, Carnival hosts theme parties or events.

Previously, it seemed that Carnival was trying to standardize all the events across the fleet. However, it seems that has gone by the wayside. John Heald, Carnival Brand Ambassador, recently shared the theme parties that will be occurring on each ship in the fleet, and they’re pretty varied. It comes down to a lot of factors like the Cruise Director, sailing length, and ship.

Take a look at the different parties below and how they work.

Update 12/30/2023: John Heald provided an updated list and we’ve put the details below.

What is a Carnival theme party?

Several nights on a Carnival cruise, they host a party with a specific theme. The parties usually take place on the main Lido pool deck or in the ship’s Atrium area. Guests are encouraged to dress to fit the theme, but it’s not required. Unfortunately, Carnival only schedules 30 minutes for most of these events, which seems way too short for an event you go out of your way to dress up for.

What types of theme parties are there?

There’s a variety of parties, here are some of the more popular ones.

White Hot Night Party

Electric White Night Party on the Carnival Horizon

This is the easiest party to dress for; just wear white. The more, the better. White hats, glasses, watches, accessories, go all out. Most ships with a white party are equipped with black lights to make you pop. It’s an amazing experience to see a room full of people in glowing white dancing away.

Mega Deck Party

This “mega” party will usually take place on the deck by the main pool if the weather allows. The music will be pumping, and Carnival’s fun squad will keep the energy up. There will be limbos, choreographed dances, and more. Carnival recommends wearing red or blue to this party, but we rarely see people dress up in theme for this one.

80’s Rock & Glow

Rock and Glow Deck Party on the Carnival Horizon — Rock and Glow Party on the Carnival Horizon

Get ready for lots of neon, leg warmers, and high hair. The 80’s Rock and Glow party celebrates everything 80’s. Usually taking place on the Lido Deck, the party features all your favorite music from the 80’s. It seems like one of the better attended and dressed for events on the cruise ship.

Decades Theme Parties

Some ships will also have a theme party dedicated to a specific decade. Typically, in our experience, fewer people dress for these events, but they usually have a great turnout.

Silent Night Disco

silent disco on a cruise ship — In a silent disco, all the music comes from headphones. You can choose two channels and they light up to show the channel you’re on.

The Silent Night Disco is a recent addition to the Carnival fleet but has been on other cruise lines for some time. In a silent disco, you get a set of headphones to listen to the music. There’s a button to change between two different live streams of music on the headsets. That means you can be dancing next to someone who’s listening to a completely different song. If you really want to have fun, go without headphones and enjoy the surreal experience of seeing people dancing in a completely silent room. Well, not completely silent; you’ll have people singing along to the different tracks at the same time, which adds to the experience.

What theme parties are on your Carnival cruise?

John Heald provided the list below in mid-March. Keep in mind these parties can change because of weather, change of cruise director, or adjustment of the cruise itinerary. Usually, you’ll get an email a few weeks before your cruise outlining the parties so you can be prepared. It’s frustrating that Carnival can’t just post this information in the online cruise planner to make it easy for everyone. They have a listing about it on their general website, but it’s outdated and hard to find.