Nine Next-Generation Cruise Ships On Order For Carnival Corporation Brands

Carnival Corporation may not build the world's largest cruise ships for the brands in their World's Leading Cruise Lines portfolio, but when they place an order for new vessels it's a biggie. The world's largest travel and leisure company has announced the signing of two strategic memorandums of agreement that will add a total of nine new cruise ships to the company's fleet over a four-year period from 2019-2022.

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, the world's largest cruise ship building company, will develop and construct five ships at its shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy, and German shipbuilder Meyer Werft, a leading global shipbuilder founded in Germany in 1795, will build its four ships at its shipyards in Papenburg, Germany, and Turku, Finland. Meyer Werft has become well known for constructing large, modern and sophisticated cruise ships, including 39 luxury ships the company has built for its customers around the world. Each shipbuilder will construct the new ships based on Carnival Corporation's next-generation ship designs, which will produce the most efficient ships in the company's history. The new ships are expected to serve established cruise markets in North America and Europe, as well as newer markets, including China. Each new ship will be specifically designed and developed for the brand and guests it will serve.

"We're excited to take this next step in our fleet enhancement plan with these two new agreements that are consistent with our long-term strategy of measured capacity growth over time," said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation. "Our goal as a company is to exceed the expectations of every guest on every ship every day, and these new ships will further enable us to do just that. These will be the most efficient ships we have ever built and the great guest experience will create even more excitement around cruising, helping new cruisers realize the superior vacation experience and value that cruising offers versus land-based vacations."

As part of each shipbuilder's long-term strategic partnership with Carnival Corporation, additional new ship orders are being explored over the coming decade. More information about Carnival Corporation's cruise ship design, and which of the company's nine global brands will add these next-generation vessels to their fleets will be made available at a later date.

Carnival Corporation's fleet enhancement strategy will add two new ships to its fleet in 2015 and remove four ships from the fleet. P&O Cruises UK officially launched Britannia, the largest ship ever designed exclusively for Britain, earlier this month. Later this year, the AIDA Cruises fleet will welcome AIDAprima, which is expected to be one of the most technically advanced and sustainable cruise ships ever built. In addition to these new ships, Carnival Corporation continues to enhance its guest experience on existing ships. The overall fleet enhancement strategy combines new ship builds with an ongoing program to further elevate guest experience across the company's existing fleet and nine brands.

As noted, the only thing missing from this announcement is for which brands the new ships are specifically being designed.