The current order book for Carnival Corp is the smallest for many years, with just five ships on order for delivery between 2023 and 2025. The new ships entering service in 2023 are Seabourn Pursuit and Carnival Jubilee, as well as Cunard’s Queen Anne and the first of the LNG-fuelled 180,000gt ships for Princess Cruises in 2024; the second LNG ship will appear in 2025.
The group shed 20 ships during the pandemic, with the Costa fleet, when transfers are also taken into account, being one of the most affected, due in large part to its exposure to the Chinese market. Three Costa ships are in the process of transferring to Carnival Cruise Line. However, both the Carnival and Holland America fleets also lost a large number of ships. Cunard and Seabourn are the only group companies to have maintained their fleets intact.
The loss of many smaller older ships, and the recent announcement that there will be three more disposals (including two from the Costa fleet), when taken in conjunction with the new ships recently added, means that overall, the group’s passenger capacity for 2023 will be three per cent higher than that in 2019.
During the pandemic Carnival Corp’s total debt increased from $12 billion to more than $34 billion, and paying that down will take a higher priority than new ships, so nothing new is expected in 2026, but thereafter there could be one or two new ships each year.