New HAL Ship, largest ever

[voyageur9]

Carnival just announced the first new ship in five years for HAL

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1750623&highlight=

 

Part of the announcement follows:

MIAMI, Oct. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) today announced it has reached an agreement for the construction of two new cruise ships – a 99,000-ton ship for its Holland America Line brand and a 135,000-ton vessel for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand.

 

A memorandum of agreement has been signed with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of a 2,660-passenger ship for Holland America Line scheduled for delivery in fall 2015 and a 4,000-passenger ship for Carnival Cruise Lines scheduled for delivery in winter 2016. The total cost for the two vessels combined, which includes the U.S. dollar denominated contract price and all owner's costs, will be approximately $195,000 per lower berth. The memorandum of agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including execution of shipbuilding contracts and financing.

 

The Holland America ship, which will be a new class of vessel for the line, will enter service five years after the last Holland America ship, the ms Nieuw Amsterdam, delivered in 2010. The Carnival Cruise Lines vessel, also a new class of ship, will be launched four years after the introduction of Carnival Breeze, which debuted in spring 2012. The timing of capacity additions for these brands is similar to the five year span between upcoming new ship introductions for both Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises (UK), as previously announced.

[eroller]

Cruise Industry News has reported that Carnival Corp has ordered a new ship for HAL. It is reported to be a new design and the size is 99,000 gt. Delivery is scheduled for Fall of 2015. The shipyard is Fincantieri.

 

A new 135,000 gt ship was ordered at the same time for Carnival Cruise Lines.

 

Ernie

[aliaschief]

Thanks for the heads up. That's pretty large for our taste but we said the same thing about the Signature Class and turned out we loved our Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam cruises.

[cruz chic]

Do you have a link to the story or is this a prank? I googled it but couldn't see anything but just took a quick look. Thx.

 

Edited to say I see there is another thread so don't need the link

[x lindsay x]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2012/10/26/carnival-holland-america-cruise-ships/1660179/

 

Its real!

[x lindsay x]

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 says the Holland America ship will be delivered during the fall of 2015 and the Carnival ship will arrive in winter 2016. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions including execution of shipbuilding contracts and financing, the company noted.

[peaches from georgia]

Cruise Industry News:

 

 

Carnival Cruise Lines and Holland America Line Order New Ships

 

on 26 October 2012.

 

 

Carnival Corporation & plc today announced it has reached an agreement for the construction of two new cruise ships – a 99,000-ton ship for its Holland America Line brand and a 135,000-ton vessel for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand.

 

A memorandum of agreement has been signed with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of a 2,660-passenger ship for Holland America Line scheduled for delivery in fall 2015 and a 4,000-passenger ship for Carnival Cruise Lines scheduled for delivery in winter 2016.

 

The total cost for the two vessels combined, which includes the U.S. dollar denominated contract price and all owner’s costs, will be approximately $195,000 per lower berth. The memorandum of agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including execution of shipbuilding contracts and financing.

 

The Holland America ship, which will be a new class of vessel for the line, will enter service five years after the last Holland America ship, the ms Nieuw Amsterdam, delivered in 2010. The Carnival Cruise Lines vessel, also a new class of ship, will be launched four years after the introduction of Carnival Breeze, which debuted in spring 2012.

 

The timing of capacity additions for these brands is similar to the five year span between upcoming new ship introductions for both Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises (UK), as previously announced.

 

“Today’s order continues the company's strategy of introducing two to three ships per year across the corporation’s 10 brands. We have strategically timed the introduction of these new ships to allow ample time for those brands to further grow their passenger base and absorb the new capacity while minimizing revenue yield dilution in the remainder of their existing fleets,” said Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.

 

Including the newbuilds announced today, Carnival Corporation & plc currently has nine new ships scheduled for delivery – two for 2013, two for 2014, three for 2015 and two for 2016. Arison also noted that the addition of new tonnage is expected, to some extent, to replace existing capacity reductions from possible sales of older ships.

 

The memorandum of agreement with Fincantieri continues the company’s longstanding and successful relationship with the Italian shipbuilder, which dates back more than 20 years.

 

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, said, "These additional orders bring the total number of ships we have built for Carnival Corporation & plc to 61 and confirm Fincantieri's world leadership in the cruise ship sector even at a time of slowing demand." Bono added, "We view these orders as a very positive development for the Italian economy and the global cruise industry."

[jtl513]

Do you have a link to the story or is this a prank? I googled it but couldn't see anything but just took a quick look.

deleted - I was too slow. :p

[cruz chic]

Thanks for the info. So much for the rumor thread that said the next ship wouldn't come from Fincantieri:D.

[GmaPajama]

The article also states:

 

"Arison also noted that the addition of new tonnage is expected, to some extent, to replace existing capacity reductions from possible sales of older ships."

 

I so love the S Class Ships. Just might change plans here and cruise them while we can. Gosh, I'd hate to see them go. :(

[eldercruser]

They just keep getting bigger. I am sure it is all about efficiency and keeping costs under control. However, ports are getting inundated when three, or more of these big guys arrive at the same time.

 

Just had some friends back from the Nieuw Amsterdam Med cruise who said the stops in the Greek Islands were horrible trying to handle all the pax from the large ships in port.

 

We are starting to rethink our future travel plans. Cruising is losing its charm and uniqueness.

[Jumbiecruiser]

I don't like this for the HAL brand. Not surprised but still do not like it. I think that the S class will be moved out of the fleet starting within the next few years. I guess Carnival will be using this new class for HAL, Cunard and P&O.

[aliaschief]

Either everyone is in shock or in the shower. I would have expected at least 50 post by now. LOL

[InTheWASide]

I don't like this for the HAL brand. Not surprised but still do not like it. I think that the S class will be moved out of the fleet starting within the next few years. I guess Carnival will be using this new class for HAL, Cunard and P&O.

 

But keep in mind it is usually Princess and P&O that share hulls (Just think about Azura and Ventura as well as the new builds. Royal/Regal Princess and P&O's which to my knowledge has no name yet.

 

As for this one, it will be less tonnage than I had heard from my source, but the huge focus will be on dining and entertainment... have heard from reliable sources that Le Cirque will be a stand-alone restaurant on this one, would imagine Tamarind will make a 3rd appearance, not sure if Canaletto would be its own venue although the fact there is now a charge could make that more likely than a year ago...

 

The new design has been called the Pinnacle Class and it's been confirmed through my sources that at least one S Class ship is on the way out but even they were uncertain of which of the 2 prime candidates it would be (Statendam or Veendam... Statendam is older but Veendam is... well... on here do I really need to elaborate?). Obviously there will be significant green technologies aboard as well.

 

You can also tell from the tonnage that HAL is terrified to break that 100k mark which may mean no going back to a regular statement of "midsize" which would be lost at that point. Ships in general are at a point where there really is no more "mid" just large, extra large, jumbo, beastly, massive...

[Jumbiecruiser]

But keep in mind it is usually Princess and P&O that share hulls (Just think about Azura and Ventura as well as the new builds. Royal/Regal Princess and P&O's which to my knowledge has no name yet.

 

As for this one, it will be less tonnage than I had heard from my source, but the huge focus will be on dining and entertainment... have heard from reliable sources that Le Cirque will be a stand-alone restaurant on this one, would imagine Tamarind will make a 3rd appearance, not sure if Canaletto would be its own venue although the fact there is now a charge could make that more likely than a year ago...

 

The new design has been called the Pinnacle Class and it's been confirmed through my sources that at least one S Class ship is on the way out but even they were uncertain of which of the 2 prime candidates it would be (Statendam or Veendam... Statendam is older but Veendam is... well... on here do I really need to elaborate?). Obviously there will be significant green technologies aboard as well.

 

You can also tell from the tonnage that HAL is terrified to break that 100k mark which may mean no going back to a regular statement of "midsize" which would be lost at that point. Ships in general are at a point where there really is no more "mid" just large, extra large, jumbo, beastly, massive...

 

P&O has a Vista clone or two in their fleet. That same design was used for HAL and Cunard also. Of course the Vista design was pulled from the Costa/Carnival Spirit class design. Carnival Corporation is the worst when it comes to ship design. They remind me of General Motors.

[InTheWASide]

Also, by comparison since you could pretty much imagine HAL would go larger to keep up with Celebrity (remember when it seemed the other way around?)

 

HAL Signature Class 2100 pax 86000 tons

HAL Pinnacle Class 2660 pax 99000 tons

Celeb Solstice Class* 2850 px 122000 tons

*Solstice at least. I know they got more guests and more decks on some later additions to the class

 

13000 more tons for 560 people seems decent, but compared to the Solstice Class where there is 190 less people and 23000 less tons... now it doesn't seem so impressivle.

 

This will be an interesting thing to watch as more news comes out

[InTheWASide]

P&O has a Vista clone or two in their fleet. That same design was used for HAL and Cunard also. Of course the Vista design was pulled from the Costa/Carnival Spirit class design. Carnival Corporation is the worst when it comes to ship design. They remind me of General Motors.

 

P&O only has one, it's a Signature Class clone, and that's only because Cunard took one of the 5 HAL Vista Class to turn it into the Queen Victoria, then changed their mind (hence the Cunard funnel on Arcadia in P&O colors) and transferred it to P&O. Search the web. You'll find Queen Victoria renderings from those days that show midship glass elevators and they look an awful lot like Eurodam if she had 1 funnel.

 

They're also not exact clones. With the exception of Arcadia, the design which has been used by numerous brands is actually all based around the Carnival Spirit Class more closely. Look at the sides of the ships. Where the glass elevators are on HAL it comes back out and there are more staterooms... that is the design that QV and QE have, as well as some PCL ships, CCL's Spirit CLass, Costa has several of them as well.

 

But yes, they are all similar

[Randyk47]

Bigger ships on any line get an "ugh" from me. :( Can't say I'm surprised but i'm not booking one anytime soon.

[superoma]

Either everyone is in shock or in the shower. I would have expected at least 50 post by now. LOL

 

Everyone must be focusing on Sandy coming up the eastern seaboard. I, too, would have thought there would be more posts by now.

 

We have not saild the monsters. We have been on a 3000+ Princess ship and did not like it. We loved the Amsterdam and the Maasdam and will try the Eurodam in Feb. Might like that one too. But, getting close to 3000 pax is getting a little too big for me even if it is brand new and state of the art.

[Mary Ellen]

HAL Signature Class 2100 pax 86000 tons

HAL Pinnacle Class 2660 pax 99000 tons

Celeb Solstice Class* 2850 px 122000 tons

*Solstice at least. I know they got more guests and more decks on some later additions to the class

 

HAL Pinnacle Class has a space ratio of 37.2. The Solstice on X is 42.8. I know on which we'd rather sail. Sorry HAL.

 

I've been on two cruises so far this year, with another one coming up. None of which involve HAL. We had been pretty exclusive to HAL for over 30 years (other than a few on the late, lamented Royal Viking Line), but times are changing.

[sail7seas]

I was expecting 110,000 ton so pleasant surprise. :)

 

While we truly love 'our' Maasdam, we also love Noordam and no one was more surprised than us how much we like Eurodam. We never expected to. Going from Signature class at 86,000 to to 99,000 ton is not going to be such a big deal for us depending upon what is done with those extra ton. We enjoy all the classes of HAL ships despite the large size difference and it is highly likely we'll enjoy the new class HAL is now adding.

 

 

I see the agreement is again with Fincantieri. :) Hopefully they will make some changes in a few places I think could use some 'adjustments'.

 

This is very good news despite there seems to be confirmation our beloved Maasdam may be 'for sale'. We know it has to happen one day and that day might be imminent if buyer can be found.

 

Can't wait to learn more about them. :)

 

[sail7seas]

Instead of making Canaletto a stand alone restaurant, why not bring back Odyssey and Marco Polo restaurants even if they have to make them additional charge. Those restaurants were in a totally different class than anything we've seen or tasted in Canaletto. JMO......

 

I like the sound of "Pinnacle Class". Wonder how that name was picked but it works fine on several levels. :)

[RuthC]

I feel so fortunate that I was able to sail the seven seas with HAL while they still had ships of a comfortable size. I know the only reason I would need to sail this new ship would be to "complete the full set" of HAL ships. That's not a good enough reason for me.

Now I know that I can move on to other lines where the ship is the destination, and have the small, intimate cruise I have so enjoyed on HAL.

[InTheWASide]

Instead of making Canaletto a stand alone restaurant, why not bring back Odyssey and Marco Polo restaurants even if they have to make them additional charge. Those restaurants were in a totally different class than anything we've seen or tasted in Canaletto. JMO......

 

I like the sound of "Pinnacle Class". Wonder how that name was picked but it works fine on several levels. :)

 

I don't see anything being revived from the dead but having full venues for eerything currently in the fleet plus maybe a new concept or 2 would definitely be a good idea

[mamaofami]

The big ships hold no appeal for me. I would guess that Veendam will keep sailing for a while until the new ship is ready. I have to begin looking elsewhere for cruise ships. Not sure where to start. ANy suggestions?