Carnival Corp. plans to roll out three massive ships beginning in 2029, part of a new ship class at Carnival Cruise Line.
The ships are each expected to carry almost 8,000 guests at full capacity, measure 230,000 gross tons and have more than 3,000 guest staterooms.
By comparison, the Carnival Jubilee, it's latest new Excel-class ship, is 183,000 gross tons.
Carnival inked the deal with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the trio of ships, which will be powered by liquefied natural gas. These will be the largest ships ever built by Fincantieri or in Italy.
When they'll arrive
The ships are due out in the summers of 2029, 2031 and 2033. The order is contingent upon financing, which is expected to be completed later this year.
The ship order comes as Carnival Cruise Line is seeing demand at "historic levels," according to Carnival Corp. The next class of ships will be focused on creating innovative guest experiences to take the future, said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.
Josh Weinstein
Five new ships have already been announced for the cruise line this year. Carnival placed newbuild orders for two more Excel-class ships to join the fleet in 2027 and 2028. Carnival Cruise Line is also absorbing five ships from its sister brands to join the fleet between 2023 and 2025, with the latest two coming from P&O Cruises Australia.
"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," said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corp.
The new ships will grow the cruise company's capacity by an average of 1.5% per year between 2025 and 2033.