Carnival Orders Three Mega Cruise Ships from Fincantieri
Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise company, announced on Tuesday that it has ordered a trio of ultra large cruise ships from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for its Carnival Cruise Line brand.
At nearly 230,000 gross registered tonnes, and with capacity for nearly 8,000 passengers in 3,000 guest staterooms, the new ships will be the largest in Carnival's global fleet.
The three liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled ships will be delivered in the summers of 2029, 2031 and 2033, respectively, each featuring advanced energy efficiency, waste management and emission reduction technologies, Carnival said.
The order, which Carnival said comes amid "historic" cruise demand, grows the number of ships ordered by the U.S.-based cruise giant in 2024 to five following orders placed at German shipyard Meyer Werft for two Excel-class ships to join the Carnival Cruise Line fleet in 2027 and 2028—Carnival's first newbuild orders in five years.
“We are doubling down on the growth of Carnival Cruise Line – our highest-returning brand – to keep up with the incredibly strong demand we continue to see for the world’s most popular cruise line,” said Josh Weinstein, chief executive officer of Carnival Corporation & plc. “At this point, our newbuild pipeline is just one delivery in each of 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031 and 2033. We continue to take a disciplined approach to growth, strategically directing new capacity to the areas of highest demand at a rate of one to two new ships per year.”
The global cruise industry has rebounded strongly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with passenger volumes reaching 31.7 million in 2023, 7% higher than 2019, according to trade group Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Global cruise capacity is forecast to grow at least 10% from 2024 to 2028.
Weinstein said Carnival's most recent order will take the company’s overall measured capacity growth between 2025 and 2033 to an average of approximately 1.5% per year. “This gives us the headroom to strategically provide new capacity to the brands in our portfolio like Carnival Cruise Line, which provide outsized returns while continuing to execute against our responsible capital strategy, using our strong free cash flow over the next several years to improve our balance sheet, significantly reduce our debt, and continue to transfer value from debt holders to shareholders,” he said.
Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO, Fincantieri, said, “We are excited to join forces with Carnival Cruise Line to debut a new class of ship, which will be the largest cruise ship ever constructed by Fincantieri and the largest ship ever built in Italy. We are proud of the role Fincantieri has played in helping Carnival Corporation secure its position as the world’s largest cruise company and look forward to continuing this success story together.”
Fincantieri noted it has delivered 75 cruise ships to Carnival Corp brands to date, with another vessel currently under construction at its yard in Monfalcone.