After the official announcement of three new mega cruise ships for Carnival Cruise Line, it seems that another major order for new builds is on the horizon for Carnival Corporation.
According to Shipping Italy, the Italian shipyard Fincantieri is in negotiations with Carnival Corporation for the construction of a new class of ships for three of its brands: Aida Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, and potentially at a later stage, Costa Cruises. The proposed order includes six new class ships, with an option for two additional ships, each of at least 150,000 gross tonnage, with deliveries expected from 2029. These ships would be built by the Fincantieri shipyards in Genoa Sestri Ponente and/or Marghera. The value of this order is estimated to be around 8 billion euros for the first six ships. Given SHIPPING ITALY’s reliable insider sources, the likelihood of this order being finalized is relatively high.
With a new class of ships in the planning stages, the cruise lines will likely introduce various innovations affecting both guest areas and technical aspects. As part of its Green Cruising strategy, the aims is to achieve emission-free operation in the long term, which will require technical innovations.
The new ship class, anticipated to be delivered starting in 2029, would be the first new ship class for AIDA Cruises since 2018, reports Schiffe und Kreuzfahrten. Nearly eight years after the delivery of AIDAcosma in December 2021, more new AIDA ships could soon join the fleet. With a gross tonnage (GT) of 150,000, these new ships would be smaller than AIDAnova and AIDAcosma (approximately 180,000 GT) but larger than AIDAprima and AIDAperla (approximately 125,000 GT).
On July 23, 2024, Fincantieri signed an agreement with Carnival Corporation & plc for the design, engineering, and construction of three new cruise ships for the Carnival Cruise Line brand. These units belong to a new class of ships powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), with a gross tonnage of approximately 230,000 tons, the largest ever built by Fincantieri, with deliveries scheduled up to 2033. Fincantieri's order book seems destined to be further enriched in the near future with a new order for six plus two ships, which, especially regarding the options, could see the Costa brand again as a recipient of newly built vessels.
