Carnival Corporation & plc has finalized contracts with the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri S.p.A. to build five new cruise ships as part of a memorandum of agreement signed in 2015.
The five new ships include two that will be built for Costa Asia for deployment in China, two ships for Princess Cruises and one designated for P&O Cruises Australia, with deliveries expected in 2019 and 2020.
Including the five new ship orders with Fincantieri, Carnival Corporation has a total of 16 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2020.
The new ships for both Costa Asia and P&O Cruises Australia are expected to be 135,500-ton vessels with the capacity to carry 4,200 passengers.
The 143,700-ton, 3,560-passenger ships for Princess Cruises will be the brand’s fourth and fifth Royal-class vessels, featuring the design platform used on Royal Princess, Regal Princess and the new Majestic Princess coming in 2017.
The five new ships across three brands will be built at Fincantieri’s shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy.
The contracts were formalized on April 2 as part of the official handover ceremony for Holland America Line’s ms Koningsdam at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Marghera, Italy.
Besides the ms Koningsdam, Carnival has taken delivery of another new vessel so far in 2016, namely the AIDAprima, which joined AIDA Cruises on March 14.