Darian Lipscomb has had a pretty exciting birthday week.

He turned 16 on Wednesday, and he spent about an hour Tuesday shaking hands and posing for photos in front of a giant vehicle from Carnival CruiseLine, emblazoned with the company spokesman, Shaquille O’Neal, parked in front of his home in Prospect.

The visit from Carnival came from the company seeking to obtain by trade the Snapchat handle

@CarnivalCruise, made by Darian.

Darian is a student at Buckingham County High School and involved in area sports programs, playing baseball, basketball and golf.

He said he made the Snapchat handle, @Carnival Cruise, while on a cruise a few years ago.

“At the time I was really young,” Darian said Tuesday. “I was kind of excited to go on a cruise. It was random. I couldn’t think of another name to use, so I just used the name. I didn’t think it would get this big.”

Representatives from Carnival said Darian would embark on the cruise given to him in exchange for the handle. His brother, mother and step-father will also be aboard come Saturday.

The cruise will travel through Barcelona and will be on the company’s new cruise ship, Carnival Horizon. A release from Carnival noted that Carnival will follow Darian’s experience on the cruise.

Carnival spent a few days traveling through the Farmville area, placing billboards noting that they were seeking to meet Darian. The vehicle reads, on one side, “Darian, you’ve got our name on Snapchat. Let’s talk.”

The other side reads, “Hey Prospect, does anyone know Darian?”