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Carnival Corporation & plc Exercises Option for New 92,700-Ton Ship for Costa Cruises
Additionally, the company has extended the option for a previouslyannounced 86,000-ton ship for Holland America Line.
The new Costa ship, which is scheduled for delivery in March 2010, willhave 2,260 lower passenger berths and will be built by Italian shipbuilderFincantieri at its Marghera shipyard at an all-in cost of approximately420 million euros. It will be a sister ship to a previously announced92,700-ton Costa vessel which is scheduled to enter service in spring 2009.
With today's announcement, Costa has four new ships on order with acombined capacity of 10,520 lower berths. Once those vessels are introduced,the Costa fleet will have a total of 15 ships.
"Europe is one of the world's fastest growing cruising areas and Costa isthe region's preeminent cruise operator. Continuing to invest in new shipconstruction will enable Costa to maintain its leadership position within theregion while providing new and innovative on-board facilities and features forits guests," said Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation & plc chairman and CEO.
Added Pier Luigi Foschi, chairman and CEO of Costa Cruises, "With this newship order, Costa reaffirms its long-term successful association withFincantieri and its continued role in the development of the Italian economy.We expect this new ship to be highly popular with its many innovativefacilities, including a double-deck-high magradome, Samsara spa, Samsara on-board life style concept and other state-of-the-art features."
Carnival is also extending the option for a new 2,044-passenger HollandAmerica Line ship which, if the option is exercised, would be built byFincantieri and enter service in late 2010. The 86,000-ton Panamax vesselwould be the second in the line's new Signature class. The first in theseries, the Eurodam, will be delivered in June 2008.
With the addition of the new Costa ship, Carnival Corporation & plc has 18new ships on order, 12 of which are being built by Fincantieri.
Giuseppe Bono, chief executive officer of Fincantieri, added, "This neworder, which is a further endorsement of our role as reference builder for theCarnival group and our position as the sector's world leader, marks for bothCosta and ourselves the successes of the past and the important achievementswhich we shall reach together." He added, "This order, which extends ourshipyards' workload until 2010, confirms once again that our company can relyon a sound financial framework."
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in theworld, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe andAustralia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, PrincessCruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises,Cunard Line, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic, and P&O CruisesAustralia.
Together, these brands operate 81 ships totaling approximately 144,000lower berths with 18 new ships scheduled to enter service between March 2007and spring 2010. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates the leading tourcompanies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon, Holland America Tours and PrincessTours. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, CarnivalCorporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both theS&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.
Additional information is available on-line at www.carnivalcorp.com andwww.carnivalplc.com.
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc
Media, US, Tim Gallagher, +1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000, or Investor Relations, US-UK,
Beth Roberts, +1-305-406-4832, both of Carnival Corporation & plc; or Media, UK,
Ruban Yogarajah of Brunswick Group, +44-0-20-7404-5959
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