Carnival Corp inks deal on new ships for Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America Line
New ships will begin cruising within next four and five years.
A new class of ship is in the works for both Holland America Line and Carnival Cruise Line. A 99,000-ton ship is planned for Holland America Line and a 135,000-ton vessel for Carnival Cruise Lines will be different from the new Carnival Breeze.
What to expect.
The Holland America ship, which will be a new class of vessel for the line, will enter service in 2015, five years after the last Holland America ship, the ms Nieuw Amsterdam, was delivered in 2010. The new Carnival ship, also a new design class, will be launched in 2016. Also confirmed are new ship orders for Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises.
“Today’s order continues the company’s strategy of introducing two to three ships per year across the corporation’s 10 brands. We have strategically timed the introduction of these new ships to allow ample time for those brands to further grow their passenger base and absorb the new capacity while minimizing revenue yield dilution in the remainder of their existing fleets,” said Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.
Including the newbuilds announced today, Carnival Corporation & plc currently has nine new ships scheduled for delivery – two for 2013, two for 2014, three for 2015 and two for 2016. Arison also noted that the addition of new tonnage is expected, to some extent, to replace existing capacity reductions from possible sales of older ships.
In total, Fincantieri ship builders have created a total of sixty-one ships for the Carnival Corporation for more than twenty years.
