Carnival Corporation has announced an order for a 5th Excel class ship that will enter service for Carnival Cruise Line in 2028.
Carnival Cruise Line currently has three Excel class ships in their fleet. Last month, the cruise line announced an order for a 4th Excel ship for 2027 and will now be adding a 5th ship in 2028.
This 5th Excel class ship will be built at the Meyer Werft shipyard and it will be the 11th of its class across all of Carnival Corporation’s cruise lines.
“Carnival’s Excel-class fleet will soon be a quintet of these very popular ships that provide outstanding guest amenities and tremendous operating efficiencies,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “Since the introduction of Mardi Gras in 2021 and the subsequent expansion with Carnival Celebration in 2022 and Carnival Jubilee in 2023, these Excel-class ships are driving excitement, demand, and strong guest satisfaction ratings. With the arrival of Carnival Firenze in April, we are completing the addition of five ships to our fleet in less than 20 months, and then we will pivot to another phase of growth with these two Excel ships.”
This 5th Excel class ship will be a sister ship to Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and Carnival Jubilee. It will be 180,000 gross tons in size and be lowered by LNG. It will carry 6,400 guests and 1,800 crew members.
“This new order continues to balance our commitment to growth with our responsible capital approach to utilize strong 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,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.
“Carnival Cruise Line continues to perform at an outstanding level, and we are focused on adding capacity across the company where it aligns with demand and our position in the marketplace. This measured capacity growth strategy will result in our adding one to two ships per year beginning in 2027, and we will be identifying additional fleet plans over the coming months for our cruise lines to meet capacity demand and improve execution across all aspects of our operation, with the benefit of yielding higher return on invested capital,” said Weinstein.
“We are proud of the role the Excel-class from MEYER WERFT and MEYER TURKU has played in contributing to the success of Carnival Corporation for many years now. We look forward to continuing this success story together,” said Bernd Eikens, CEO MEYER Group.
The order for this new cruise ship is contingent on financing, but Carnival is expecting that to be completed later this year.
