New ships have been ordered for Carnival Cruise Lines and Holland America Line in deal worth almost $1.3 billion.
A memorandum of agreement has been signed by parent company Carnival Corporation with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the a 2,660-passenger ship for delivery in autumn 2015 and a 4,000-passenger ship for Carnival Cruise Lines to enter service in winter 2016.
The HAL ship will be a new class of vessel for the premium line and will enter service five years after its ship, the Nieuw Amsterdam, delivered in 2010.
The Carnival Cruise Lines vessel, also a new class of ship, will be launched four years after the introduction of Carnival Breeze, which made its debut this spring.
The timing of capacity additions for these brands is similar to the five year span between upcoming new ships for both Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises, Carnival Corp said.
Chairman and CEO Micky Arison said: “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.”
The two new builds mean that Carnival Corporation has nine ships scheduled for delivery – two for 2013, two for 2014, three for 2015 and two for 2016.
Arison added that the addition of new tonnage is expected to replace existing capacity reductions from possible sales of older ships “to some extent”.