Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) and German shipbuilder Meyer Werft have signed an agreement to construct a fourth Excel-class cruise ship for the company’s namesake Carnival Cruise Line brand. The ship is scheduled to go into service in the spring of 2027 and is the tenth Excel-class ship in the corporation’s fleet, representing four of its renowned brands.
With a capacity of 6,400 passengers and an LNG technology platform, the new 180,000-ton ship will join the current Carnival Cruise Line Excel-class ships Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and Carnival Jubilee. Carnival Corporation has placed its first newbuild order for this ship in the last five years.
“Our Excel-class ships have been a tremendous addition to the Carnival fleet and proven very popular with our guests. 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.”
Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line.
“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. With one newbuild scheduled for delivery in 2025, none for 2026, and this order being our only expected newbuild in 2027, our 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.
We are 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.”
Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation.
Carnival Corporation reported that 2023 full years revenue hit an all time high of 21.6 billion USD. The company entered 2024 with its best booked position on record, for both price and occupancy. The business projects that in 2024, net yields (in constant currency) will increase by approximately 8.5% compared to 2023, with full-year occupancy reverting to historical levels overall net per diems (measured in constant currency), demonstrating sustained strength in pricing and onboard spending.
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Image: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
