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Carnival Corporation & plc Exercises Option for New 130,000-Ton Ship for Carnival Cruise Lines
3,652-Passenger Vessel Set to Debut in Summer 2010
MIAMI, Dec. 18, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc(NYSE: CCL; LSE) (NYSE: CUK) today announced that it has exercised an optionfor a new 130,000-ton ship for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand.
The new vessel, which will have 3,652 lower passenger berths, will bebuilt by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri at its Monfalcone yard at anestimated all-in cost of 565 million euros. The ship is scheduled fordelivery in summer 2010.
The vessel will be a sister ship to a previously announced 130,000-tonship slated to enter service in fall 2009 that will begin a new class for theline. The two sister ships will be the largest ever constructed for CarnivalCruise Lines.
"Carnival Cruise Lines remains the undisputed leader in contemporarycruising and these new ships represent the most spacious and innovative designever created for a Carnival 'Fun Ship,'" said Bob Dickinson, Carnivalpresident and CEO. "In addition to introducing a host of new and excitingfacilities and features, this groundbreaking class of ship will enable us tobuild upon our distinction as world's most popular cruise line," he added.
With today's announcement, Carnival Cruise Lines now has four new ships onorder or under construction with Fincantieri representing a combined 13,284total lower berths.
Corporate-wide, Carnival Corporation & plc now has 19 new ships on order -- 13 of which are being constructed by Fincantieri.
Commented Enrico Buschi, Fincantieri merchant ship general manager, "Onceagain the excellent relationship between industry leaders Carnival Corporation& plc and Fincantieri is underlined. We wish that such a strong relationshipmay continue with the same success in the future. The Carnival group operatessome of the world's best known cruise brands and we are truly pleased that thecompany has placed its trust in Fincantieri's expertise one more time."
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 19 new ships scheduled to enter service between March 2007and summer 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
CONTACT: Media, US, Tim Gallagher of Carnival Corporation & plc,
+1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000, or UK, Ruban Yogarajah of Brunswick Group,
+44-0-20-7404-5959, or Investor Relations, US-UK, Beth Roberts of Carnival
Corporation & plc, +1-305-406-4832
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