It now appears that Carnival Corp. are set to order 1-2 new ships this summer for a delivery in 2017.
The brands expected to benefit from this news with new vessels are Princess Cruises and/or Costa Cruises respectively.
Both vessels are likely to be in the 3,600 passengers range. Interestingly Princess Cruises recently launched its new 3,560-passenger ship called the Regal Princess in Europe, and Costa launched a 3,724 passenger capacity so called the Costa Diadema (launch in November) .
In order to meet a realistic time frame for confirming an order with a shipyard, which offers sufficient time for a 2017 delivery, Carnival would need to place the order by the end of August 2014.
Carnival Corp. are studying the possibility to order a ship design that could be utilized across several brands within the group. This is a fascinating concept, however it may conflict with the current brand diversification focus. In the end only time will tell to what actually transpires and all eyes will be on Carnival in August.
