Somewhat down from the peak of a few years ago, when there were more than 100 cruise ships on order, the current total of 64 still shows confidence in a once again booming market.
Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest group, contributes just four to that list: the two recently ordered Excel class for Carnival Cruise Line, Star Princess for Princess Cruises and Queen Anne for Cunard.
Royal Caribbean contributes two Oasis class and two Icon class for the main fleet, Silver Ray for Silversea Cruises and the last of the Edge class for Celebrity. The Mein Schiff joint venture with TUI adds a further three ships, making a total of nine for the group.
Now the third largest cruise group, MSC has just three World Class ships on order for its own fleet and five smaller ships for subsidiary Explora Cruises.
NCL has the final four ships in the Leonardo class, and one ship for Oceania Cruises. Viking has a further six vessels due for its ocean fleet, and coastal operator American Cruise Lines has a total of ten ships on order.
The remaining 22 ships are a mixed bag of luxury and expedition vessels and single ship orders. Aroya Cruises’ Saudi Arabian-owned Aroya Cruises has pushed back the start date to the end of 2024 for its ship, formerly Genting’s World Dream, currently under refit in Bremerhaven.
