UPDATE:Carnival Corp has since announced that the deal is actually 3 ships total. Two for Carnival Cruise Lines and one for Britain’s P&O Cruises. The P&O ship will also be delivered in 2020 but will be built at Meyer’s Papenburg Germany yard. P&O teased a render of the ship:
After last delivering the Carnival Miracle in 2003, Carnival Cruise Line will have a ship built in Finland at the Meyer Turku yard(in 2003 it was known as Kvaerner Masa-Yards). Our newbuild list has been updated accordingly.
via Carnival:
Carnival Cruise Line is scheduled to take delivery of two new 180,000 gross-registered-ton cruise ships in 2020 and 2022 which will be the largest in the fleet of the world’s most popular cruise line. Both ships will be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas under Carnival Corp.’s exclusive “green cruising” design and will mark the first time an LNG-powered cruise ship is based in North America.
The two ships, with an approximate passenger capacity of 5,200 based on double occupancy, are being constructed by Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku at the company’s Turku, Finland shipyard. The agreement represents a return to shipbuilding in Finland for Carnival Cruise Line for the first time in 12 years. The company has 12 ships in its current fleet that were constructed in Finland, including its eight Fantasy-class ships and four Spirit-class ships.
“This new ship order signifies an extraordinarily exciting future for Carnival Cruise Line and the opportunities that lie ahead to introduce a variety of magnificent new features and innovations to further enhance our outstanding guest experience,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “We are also thrilled to be introducing Carnival Corporation’s ‘green cruising’ design platform to North America. Both of these ships will be fully powered at sea and in port by Liquefied Natural Gas, which is the world’s cleanest burning fossil fuel. These ships are being designed for maximum energy efficiency and environmental friendliness,” Duffy added.
Specific design details and itinerary information for the new ships will be announced at a later time.
Editor’s note: This original post was written based off of communication from Carnival Cruise Lines. It has since become clear that the order is for three ships. I’ve updated the post at the top to clarify.
That’s what I get for wanting to be one of the first to break this news 🙂