Carnival Corporation has announced it has signed an agreement with German shipbuilder Meyer Werft to build a fourth Excel class cruise ship for Carnival Cruise Line.
The yet-to-be-named new ship, the tenth Excel class ship in the corporation’s multi-brand fleet, is expected to enter service in the spring of 2027.
With a capacity of over 6,400 passengers and powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), the new 180,000-ton vessel will join the current Carnival Cruise Line Excel-class ships Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and Carnival Jubilee. The upcoming cruise ship will be the first newbuild for Carnival Corporation in five years.
“Our Excel class ships have been a tremendous addition to the Carnival fleet and proven very popular with our guests,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.
“As the world’s most popular cruise line, this new ship enables us to continue the growth of our incredible fleet as we welcome our loyal guests back to cruise more frequently and attract new-to-cruise guests to experience all that a Carnival cruise has to offer,” Duffy continued in a press release.
“Building on our strong performance and growing momentum around the world, we are excited to resume our newbuild program and further enhance our global fleet with yet another state-of-the-art ship that will wow Carnival Cruise Line’s guests,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation.
According to Weinstein, the new ship is Carnival Corporation’s only expected newbuild for 2027. The CEO explained that the company’s “responsible capital approach will support utilizing our substantial free cash flow over the next several years to strategically improve our balance sheet, significantly reduce our leverage levels and continue to transfer value from debt holders to shareholders.”
He went on to explain that Carnival Corp. is “following through on our measured capacity growth strategy, with the addition of one to two ships per year beginning in 2027 which will be allocated to our cruise lines that most need the capacity to satisfy outsized demand, delivering an attractive payback period. We also remain focused on driving revenue growth throughout our portfolio of world-class cruise lines by continuing to improve execution across all aspects of our operation, yielding higher return on invested capital.”
Bernd Eikens, the CEO of MEYER Group (owners of the Meyer Werft shipyard), commented that the company is “very pleased that the partnership between the MEYER Group and Carnival Corporation will continue with this new order.”
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Are you happy to hear that Carnival will have a new Excel-class ship in 2027? What do you think the new ship will be named? I’d love to hear your thoughts (and name guesses!) in the comments below!
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