Carnival orders its three largest ever cruise ships
Carnival Corporation announced today it is to build three new cruise ships, one 4,928-passenger vessel for Costa Cruises and two 125,000-ton ships for its AIDA Cruises brand.
The ships will be the largest ever constructed for these two cruise lines.
A contract has been signed with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, subject to financing, for the construction of a 132,500 ton vessel for Costa that is scheduled for delivery in October 2014.
A memorandum of agreement has been signed with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build two 3,250-passenger ships for AIDA which are scheduled for delivery in March 2015 and March 2016.
Additional design and itinerary details for the three new vessels will be announced at a later date by Costa and AIDA.
Today's AIDA order marks Carnival's first new ship delivery for 2016 and continues the company's strategy of introducing two to three ships per year.
Including the new orders, Carnival currently has 10 ships on order – three for 2012, two for 2013, two for 2014, two for 2015 and one for 2016.
The delivery of the new Costa ship in autumn 2014 is expected to replace capacity from the sale of older ships beginning with Costa Marina, which will leave the fleet in November 2011. In the third quarter of 2011, the company will record a loss on the sale of approximately $0.02 per share.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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