Carnival Fantasy was a cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She was the first ship of her namesake class, which was the largest by number of ships, before the scrapping of the Fantasy, Inspiration, Imagination, and the selling of the Fascination in 2020. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on December 9, 1988, completed on January 27, 1990 and formally named on March 1, 1990, as Fantasy by Tellervo Koivisto, wife of the then President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto. During 2007, in common with all of her Fantasy-class sisters, she had the prefix "Carnival" added to her name.

Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on tours known as "shore excursions". On "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages", some cruise ships make two- to three-night round trips without visiting any ports of call.