Carnival orders new LNG liner for AIDA Cruises

Carnival Corporation signed a shipbuilding contract for a third LNG-powered cruise ship for its AIDA Cruises brand to be built by the German shipbuilder Meyer Werft at its shipyard in Papenburg.

Scheduled for delivery in 2023, the new 180,000-ton ship will include an estimated 2,700 staterooms, and will also feature Carnival Corporation’s “green cruising” design

The ship will also be fully powered at sea and in port by liquefied natural gas (LNG), significantly reducing air emissions.

With the new shipbuilding contract, AIDA Cruises now has a total of three LNG ships on order.

AIDAnova is scheduled to join AIDA Cruises’ fleet in December as the first ship of its new generation of LNG vessels, and the first-ever cruise ship in the world to be fully powered by LNG. The second ship of this series will be christened in the spring of 2021.

The three next-generation LNG ships for AIDA Cruises are part of Carnival Corporation’s ongoing fleet enhancement strategy with 20 new ships scheduled for delivery between 2018 and 2023.

In total, Carnival Corporation has agreements in place with leading German and Finnish shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku to build nine LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its nine global cruise brands with delivery dates between 2018 and 2023.

Three of the vessels are for AIDA Cruises with expected delivery dates between 2018 and 2023, two for Costa Cruises with expected delivery dates in 2019 and 2021, two for P&O Cruises UK with expected delivery dates in 2020 and 2022 and two for Carnival Cruise Line with expected delivery dates in 2020 and 2022.