By
Alex Smith |
Carnival Corporation has ordered three new ships for Carnival Cruise Line from Fincantieri in a new class of vessel, each of which will be nearly 230,000 GT.
The agreement with Fincantieri provides for the design, engineering and construction of the LNG-powered ships, which will be delivered in the summers of 2029, 2031 and 2033, respectively.
“We are proud to be known as America‘s cruise line with tremendous guest loyalty and an outstanding team that has enabled us to deliver memorable vacations to over 100 million guests,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “For this next generation ship, we are focused on creating innovative guest experiences that will take Carnival Cruise Line into the future with new FUN features and excitement that we know our guests will love.”
The ships will be the largest in Carnival Corporation’s global fleet, with capacity for almost 8,000 guests in over 3,000 staterooms. Once delivered, Carnival Corporation will have a total of 16 LNG-powered ships in its fleet, making up almost 30 per cent of its global capacity. The new ships will also feature advanced energy efficiency, waste management and emission reduction technologies.
“We are excited to join forces with Carnival Cruise Line to debut a new class of ship, which will be the largest cruise ship ever constructed by Fincantieri and the largest ship ever built in Italy,” said Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri. “We are proud of the role Fincantieri has played in helping Carnival Corporation secure its position as the world’s largest cruise company and look forward to continuing this success story together.”
The new order means that there have now been five new ships ordered for Carnival Cruise Line in 2024, adding to the two further Excel-class ships that will be delivered by Meyer Werft in 2027 and 2028. Carnival Corporation has also previously announced that five vessels will be transferred from sister brands to the Carnival Cruise Line fleet between 2023 and March 2025.
The order will also take the company’s overall measured capacity growth between 2025 and 2033 to an average of approximately 1.5 per cent per year.
“We are doubling down on the growth of Carnival Cruise Line – our highest-returning brand – to keep up with the incredibly strong demand we continue to see for the world’s most popular cruise line,” said Josh Weinstein, chief executive officer of Carnival Corporation & plc. “At this point, our newbuild pipeline is just one delivery in each of 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031 and 2033. We continue to take a disciplined approach to growth, strategically directing new capacity to the areas of highest demand at a rate of one to two new ships per year.”
Design details and itinerary information for the new Carnival Cruise Line ships will be announced at a later date.