Carnival Corp. joins the cruise industry in ordering more new ships

Industry giant Carnival Corp. today announced it had reached an agreement with Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard to build a 2,660-passenger vessel for Holland America and a 4,000-passenger vessel for Carnival.

Carnival is expecting the delivery of nine ships by 2016. Photo by Jerry Swiatek

Carnival says the Holland America ship will be delivered during the fall of 2015 and the Carnival ship will arrive in winter 2016. The company is paying about $1.3 billion for the two vessels, with the deal subject to customary closing conditions including execution of shipbuilding contracts and financing.