According to a Wall Street analyst, Carnival Corp. may place a ship order for a North American brand in the near future, with Princess Cruises likely at the top of the list.
In 2008, Carnival Corp. put the brakes on ship orders for North American brands, citing the sagging dollar and increased shipbuilding costs at the European shipyards.
"We recognize that we are unable to build new ships for our U.S. brands at present dollar-valued costs, [given] our own internal return projections," said Carnival Corp. CEO Micky Arison last year.
UBS equity analyst Robin Farley said this week that shipbuilding prices in euros are currently at the same level that they were five years ago, and that Carnival has ordered ships at these prices in the past. She also noted that commodity prices were down.
"The yards are willing to lose a little money to get an order but not $100-200 million, so the yards probably won’t go any lower on price than where they are currently," Farley wrote in a note to investors.
Princess hasn't placed a ship order since the Ruby Princess, which entered service last year.
It was a marked slowdown for the line, which launched the Crown Princess and Emerald Princess in 2006 and 2007. In 2004, Princess took delivery of three ships in a 90-day period: the Caribbean Princess, Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess.