MIAMI -- Costa Crociere, parent of Costa Cruises, reached a deal
with a Finnish shipyard to build an 82,000-ton ship, Carnival
Corp., co-owner of the Genoa, Italy-based cruise company, said. The
unnamed 2,100-passenger ship, which will be built by Kvaerner
Masa-Yards for an estimated $390 million, would become the line's
largest vessel. A spokesman for Costa Crociere said the ship is
expected to be finished in 2000.
The deal signals the start of an anticipated construction push
by Carnival Corp., which is expected to sign at least another $1.6
billion in new ship orders for its Holland America and Carnival
brands.
Kvaerner has built six 70,000-ton Fantasy-class ships for the
Carnival brand since 1990 -- the Ecstasy, Fantasy, Fascination,
Imagination, Inspiration and Sensation -- with two additional ships
in the series, the Elation and Paradise, due to be delivered this
year.
Carnival Corp. also has four ships under construction for
Carnival and Holland America at Italy's Fincantieri shipyard -- the
Carnival Triumph and Carnival Victory -- sister ships to the
101,000-ton Carnival Destiny -- and two unnamed, 65,000-ton ships
for Holland America Line.
Negotiations with these and possibly other shipyards for the
additional new builds are continuing, Carnival officials said.
In a recent interview with Travel Weekly, Carnival chairman
Micky Arison hinted that the next generation of Carnival and
Holland America ships may be more in the range of 80,000 to 85,000
tons, smaller than the Destiny class and small enough to transit
the Panama Canal.
Costa Crociere was acquired by Carnival Corp. and London-based
Airtours last year, and Costa officials said the order to build the
megaship reaffirms Carnival's confidence in the Costa brand. The
new Costa ship, the eighth in that line's fleet, will have Costa's
three-funnel design and blue and yellow colors, but beyond that no
other design details were available, the spokesman said.
He added that the new ship is expected to be the first in a
series of new Costa vessels. "We are pushing the expansion of the
line," he said.
The ship will operate summers in the Mediterranean, but no
decision had been made regarding its positioning during the rest of
the year. The ship will be 6,000 tons heavier than the
CostaVictoria, Costa's first megaship, which was introduced in 1996
and accommodates 1,950 passengers.
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Royal Caribbean Negotiates to Build 'Voyager Class' MIAMI -- Royal
Caribbean International is negotiating with shipyards for the
development of a series of ships to be known as Voyager class, a
spokesman for the line said. He also said an agreement could come
in February.
At the same time, Royal Caribbean is continuing discussions with
Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Finland on a possible third Eagle-class
ship. The two Eagle-class vessels still under construction will be
introduced in 1999 and 2000.
The spokesman said an option for the third ship -- which was to
run out at the end of last year -- was extended and Royal Caribbean
is "in discussions now" with the yard. -- F.G.