Carnival Cruise Line has plans to grow its fleet by two additional ships by 2023. It’s taking over the delivery of an Excel-class ship that had previously been assigned to sister line AIDA Cruises that will arrive in late 2023, as well as taking ownership of Costa Magica from European sister line Costa Cruises. That 2,700-passenger ship, built in 2004, will go through a dry dock and be renamed to join the Carnival fleet by mid-2022.
These two ships are in addition to the new capacity growth represented by Mardi Gras, Carnival’s first Excel-class ship which starts sailing from Port Canaveral on July 31 and her sister ship, Carnival Celebration, which will be delivered and sail from Miami starting in late 2022, as part of Carnival’s 50th birthday festivities. The four coming ships will expand Carnival’s total guest capacity by nearly 20,000.
The Excellence class will be the first cruise ships in the world to be dual-fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and traditional fuel oil, which is intended to make them more environmentally friendly than traditional, diesel-powered ships. Each ship can carry up to 6,300 guests and are expected to cost $950-million each.
The addition of those four ships will bring the Carnival fleet to 27 by the end of 2023. The ships bring many new restaurants and amenities for guests.
“We are excited about these additions to our fleet which reflect the strong position that Carnival has established in the U.S., the pent-up demand we continue to see for cruise vacations, and the overall plans by Carnival Corporation to optimize capacity and growth in key markets,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “While our immediate focus is on our restart of guest operations this summer, this is another cause for excitement at Carnival, and we will be announcing more detailed plans about homeports, itineraries and ship names very soon.”
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