MIAMI — Carnival Corporation & plc is planning to add a total of nine new cruise ships to the company’s industry-leading fleet over a four-year period from 2019-2022.
The shipbuilding agreements, which include options for additional ship builds in the coming years, are subject to several conditions, including satisfactory financing.
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri S.p.A and German shipbuilder Meyer Werft will each build new ships based on Carnival Corporation’s next-generation ship designs for 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.
Fincantieri, the world’s largest cruise ship building company, will develop and construct five ships at its shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy.
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.
As part of each company’s long-term strategic partnership with Carnival Corporation, additional new ship orders are being explored over the coming decade.
Additional information on 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, in a naming ceremony 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.