Cruise boom prompts £335m Carnival order

Carnival, the cruise company that merged with P&O Princess in 2003, revealed it has ordered a €475m (£335m) ship as the popularity of cruise holidays continues to grow.

Carnival, the cruise company that merged with P&O Princess in 2003, revealed it has ordered a €475m (£335m) ship as the popularity of cruise holidays continues to grow.

On order with an Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri, is a 112,000-ton vessel for Carnival's Costa Cruises division, which serves a growing demand from Italian, French and Spanish customers for cruises around the Mediterranean. With a capacity of 3,800 guests, the ship will be one of the largest in Carnival's fleet.

It will be a sister ship to the Costa Concordia, which is being built at the moment and will launch in the spring of 2006. The latest vessel will be ready for cruises in 2007.

The Concordia and the newest, as-yet-unnamed ship will have four swimming pools, two with retractable roofs. This new technological development will allow Carnival to offer cruises in the Mediterranean in the winter. At present, Costa customers can sail in the Mediterranean only in the summer, and cruises transfer to the Caribbean or Latin America during the winter months.

Carnival, which has 77 ships with a capacity for 132,000 berths, now has 13 ships under contract, scheduled for delivery between this year and 2009. Following the contract for the new ship, Carnival's capacity will grow 7.6 per cent in 2007 and 6.6 per cent in 2008, compared with previous forecasts of 6.6 per cent and 5.7 per cent respectively.

Micky Arison, the chief executive of Carnival, said: "Continuing to invest in the Costa brand and introduce new vessels for its fleet is key to maintaining Costa's position and to ensure its fleet is the most modern in the European market."

One of its existing Costa vessels, the Costa Tropicale, is being transferred to the group's P&O Australia division later this year. This ship, which can hold 1,022-passengers, will be renamed Pacific Star. It is more than 20 years old but underwent a major refurbishment in 2001.

The new Costa ship will have 1,500 bedrooms. The Queen Mary II, which is the largest cruise ship in the world, is Carnival's biggest vessel, weighing 150,000 tons. It cost more than $800m (£425m) to build.