Carnival and other lines buck bad economy and order new ships to be built

Carnival Corporation announced that they are indeed flourishing in these troubled economic times. Well, not exactly in that fashion, but the statement was made when it announced that they have ordered another ship to be built. Carnival signed an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to build another sister ship to the newly-released Carnival Dream. The ship will also be built at 130,000 tons, same as the Dream, which gives indication that times when shipbuilding was on hold are now over for the major cruise lines. This order is Carnival's first in over two years.

The new ship being built, which has not been named, will follow the Carnival Magic, which is scheduled to be put into service in May 2011. Magic is also a sister ship to Dream, and the new ship will be a third in the Dream class of the Carnival fleet. The three ships in this class hold over 3,500 passengers when sailing at full capacity.

Carnival Corporation reportedly is to have 13 new ships to be delivered between when the Magic arrives and spring of 2012. Other lines expected to order ships include Carnival company Princess Cruise Lines as well as the third-largest cruise line in the world, MSC Cruises. No word has been given yet how many of each line have been ordered, nor has announcement from Royal Caribbean been forwarded regarding their future ship orders. Royal Caribbean just released its new Oasis of the Seas into service on Tuesday.

For more of the cruising experience, please stay tuned for future articles. Until then, Bon Voyage!

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