World's largest cruise company finalizes
agreement with Meyer Werft for
new world-class cruise ship scheduled for delivery in 2027
MIAMI, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival
Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's
largest cruise company, today announced it has signed an agreement
with leading German shipbuilder Meyer
Werft to build a fourth Excel-class cruise ship for its
namesake Carnival Cruise Line brand. The ship, the 10th Excel-class
ship in the corporation's fleet across four of its world-class
brands, is expected to enter service in Spring 2027.
Joining current Carnival Cruise Line Excel-class ships
Mardi Gras, Carnival
Celebration and Carnival Jubilee, the new 180,000-ton ship will
carry over 6,400 guests and be powered on a liquefied natural gas
(LNG) technology platform. This new ship is the first newbuild
order placed by Carnival Corporation in five years.
"Our Excel-class ships have been a tremendous addition to the
Carnival fleet and proven very popular with our guests," said
Christine Duffy, president of
Carnival Cruise Line. "As the world's most popular cruise line,
this new ship enables us to continue the growth of our incredible
fleet as we welcome our loyal guests back to cruise more frequently
and attract new-to-cruise guests to experience all that a Carnival
cruise has to offer."
"Building on our strong performance and growing momentum around
the world, we are excited to resume our newbuild program and
further enhance our global fleet with yet another state-of-the-art
ship that will wow Carnival Cruise Line's guests," said
Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival
Corporation. "With one newbuild scheduled for delivery in 2025,
none for 2026, and this order being our only expected newbuild in
2027, our responsible capital approach will support utilizing our
substantial free cash flow over the next several years to
strategically improve our balance sheet, significantly reduce our
leverage levels and continue to transfer value from debt holders to
shareholders.
"We are following through on our measured capacity growth
strategy with the addition of one to two ships per year beginning
in 2027, which will be allocated to our cruise lines that most need
the capacity to satisfy outsized demand, delivering an attractive
payback period. We also remain focused on driving revenue growth
throughout our portfolio of world-class cruise lines by continuing
to improve execution across all aspects of our operation, yielding
higher return on invested capital," said Weinstein.
"We are very pleased that the partnership between the MEYER
Group and Carnival Corporation will continue with this new order,"
said Bernd Eikens, CEO MEYER Group.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest global cruise
company, and among the largest leisure travel companies, with a
portfolio of world-class cruise lines – AIDA Cruises, Carnival
Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, P&O
Cruises (Australia), P&O
Cruises (UK), Princess Cruises, and Seabourn.
Additional information can be found on www.carnivalcorp.com,
www.aida.de, www.carnival.com, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com,
www.hollandamerica.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.pocruises.com,
www.princess.com, and www.seabourn.com.
For information on Carnival Corporation's industry-leading
sustainability initiatives, visit
www.carnivalsustainability.com.
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