Carnival Cruise Line goes after Royal Caribbean with order for three Oasis-sized ships

Just weeks after Royal Caribbean took delivery of its new Oasis class ship Utopia of the Seas, Carnival Cruise Line has announced a new ship order for three 230,000 gross ton mega ships.

The entirely new class of cruise ship will be built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and will be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), with delivery expected in the summers of 2029, 2031 and 2033, respectively.

This latest order brings Carnival Cruise Line’s total ship orders for the year to five, after it placed its first newbuild orders in five years for two more Excel-class ships that will join the Carnival Cruise Line fleet in 2027 and 2028.

“We are proud to be known as America’s cruise line with tremendous guest loyalty and an outstanding team that has enabled us to deliver memorable vacations to over 100 million guests,” said Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line. 

“For this next generation ship, we are focused on creating innovative guest experiences that will take Carnival Cruise Line into the future with new fun features and excitement that we know our guests will love,” she added.

The new ship orders come amid resurgent demand for cruises in the North America market following the COVID-19 pandemic. Carnival Corporation already announced a series of strategic shifts since the pandemic to optimise the composition of its global brand portfolio.

The company has increased guest capacity for Carnival Cruise Line, transferring a total of five vessels from sister brands to the Carnival Cruise Line fleet between 2023 and March 2025.

“We are doubling down on the growth of Carnival Cruise Line – our highest-returning brand – to keep up with the incredibly strong demand we continue to see for the world’s most popular cruise line,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation.

“At this point, our newbuild pipeline is just one delivery in each of 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031 and 2033. We continue to take a disciplined approach to growth, strategically directing new capacity to the areas of highest demand at a rate of one to two new ships per year,” he added.

With over 3,000 guest staterooms, the new ships will be the largest in the Carnival Corporation global fleet and will carry almost 8,000 guests at full capacity. For comparison, Royal Caribbean’s largest ship Icon of the Seas (the largest in the world at 250,000 gross tons) has a capacity of 5,610 passengers at double occupancy, or 7,600 passengers at maximum capacity.

Once the third ship is delivered in 2033, Carnival Corporation will have a total of 16 LNG-powered ships – including eight Carnival Cruise Line ships – making up almost 30% of its global capacity and delivering immediate greenhouse gas emission reductions. 

The new ships will also feature advanced energy efficiency, waste management, and emission reduction technologies to further reduce the company’s environmental footprint. Design details and itinerary information for the new Carnival Cruise Line ships will be announced in the coming months, and the order is contingent upon financing, which is expected to be completed later this year.