Carnival Cruise Line to add additional ships to its fleet
The US-based cruise line will grow its fleet by two additional ships by 2023
The company is taking delivery of a 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 another of its European sister lines, with that ship going through a dry dock, renaming and Carnival-branded conversion. It will join the fleet by mid-2022.
These two ships are in addition to the new capacity growth represented by Mardi Gras, Carnival's first Excel-class, liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ship, which starts sailing from Port Canaveral on 31 July 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.
Bringing the Carnival fleet to 27
The addition of these four ships will bring the Carnival fleet to 27 by year-end 2023, and these ships bring many new amenities and features for guests, as well as environmental benefits and enhancements as Carnival continues to exceed and expand targets for emissions efficiencies.
"We are excited about these additions to our fleet, which reflect the strong position that Carnival has established in the US, 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."
Earlier this month, Carnival Corporation received US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s acceptance of its port agreements for a number of key homeports.