Carnival Corporation is growing again. Today, the mother ship of Carnival Cruise Lines and many others that make it the worlds largest cruise line announced it has reached agreements for the construction of three new cruise ships, one 132,500-ton vessel for its Costa Cruises brand and two 125,000-ton ships for its AIDA Cruises brand. The ships will be the largest ever constructed for these two cruise lines and continues the company’s strategy of introducing two to three ships per year.
The order for the two AIDA ships marks a return by Carnival Corporation & plc to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries which built two ships for Princess Cruises in 2004. The contract with Fincantieri continues the company’s longstanding and successful relationship with the Italian shipbuilder, which dates back nearly 20 years.
Including the new orders for Costa and AIDA, Carnival Corporation & plc currently has 10 ships on order – three for 2012, two for 2013, two for 2014, two for 2015 and one for 2016.
Carnival Corporation added its 100th cruise ship to its fleet on Wednesday April 27, 2011 with the delivery of the Carnival Magic. This illustration above depicts the new vessel along with the company’s first ship, Carnival Cruise Lines’ Mardi Gras which began service in 1972. At 130,000 gross tons, the Carnival Magic is almost five times the size of the Mardi Gras’ 27,250 tons. Carnival Magic stretches 1,004 feet in length with a beam of 158 feet and a capacity of 3,690 guests compared to the Mardi Gras’ 650-foot length and 86.5-foot beam and passenger capacity of 906.
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