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Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE; LSE: CCL) announced today an agreement for Princess Cruises to construct a new 116,000-ton cruise ship, a sister to the Caribbean Princess, to be built at Fincantieri's Monfalcone yard. Built at an approximate all-in cost of $500 million (U.S.), the new vessel is expected to be delivered in May 2006. By utilizing an existing hedge against the euro, the new Princess vessel will be built at approximately 92 cents (U.S.) to the euro versus the current exchange, which is approximately $1.10 (U.S.) today.

In addition, the company has reduced the number of Holland America's "Vista-class" vessels from five to four. Holland America's Vista-class includes the Zuiderdam, introduced last year, along with three other newbuilds scheduled to enter service through early 2006.

"The addition of four Holland America 'Vista-class' vessels will result in a 59 percent capacity increase over a three-and-a-half-year period, which is a more rational growth rate for an up-market premium brand," said Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.

The company has also stretched out the delivery of three cruise ships being constructed at Italy's Fincantieri shipyard. The vessels with adjusted deliveries include: Carnival Cruise Lines' Carnival Valor -- delivery adjusted from Sept. 2004 to Dec. 2004; Cunard Line's Queen Victoria -- delivery adjusted from Jan. 2005 to March 2005; and Holland America Line's fourth "Vista-class" vessel -- delivery adjusted from Oct. 2005 to Jan. 2006.

This realigned newbuilding schedule further demonstrates Carnival's flexibility, allowing it to maximize its newbuilding program especially when it encompasses multiple companies building ships at the same yard.

"We're less than two weeks into the new Carnival/P&O Princess combination and we are already working on optimizing asset utilization to benefit the brands and maximize returns for the group," said Arison.

"The reality is that we would have scheduled our deliveries differently had we been making decisions for this portfolio of brands two years ago. Slowing down the delivery schedule gives us a more rational and efficient timetable to absorb additional capacity. It is also a testament to our excellent relationship with Fincantieri, which has shown incredible flexibility in working with us in accommodating this new schedule. Eleven of our 17 newbuilds are under contract with Fincantieri and the level of cooperation they have demonstrated only serves to further strengthen our business partnership," Arison stated.

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Princess Cruises Announces New Ship in 2006

Princess Cruises has placed an order for a new ship to debut in May, 2006. The 116,000-ton ship, a sister to Caribbean Princess -- the first in a new design for the cruise line and which is anticipated for a summer 2004 launch -- will also be deployed, year-round, in the Caribbean. The ship, dubbed, temporarily, Caribbean Princess 2, will have the same unusual features as its older sibling, such as "Dive-In Movies," held on a giant, outdoor state-of-the-art LED screen located poolside, and Club Fusion, a Jules Verne-themed "edutainment" lounge. As with the original Caribbean Princess, the second ship, according to a company statement, will also make a bigger effort than is usual to theme onboard programs and amenities around the region in whose seas it sails.

In an interesting sign that times-have-changed, the Caribbean Princess 2 announcement was made under Carnival Corporation auspices and clearly makes the point that Princess' fleet is targeting Royal Caribbean as a major competitor.

Princess plans to spend $500 million to build Caribbean Princess 2 at Fincantieri's Monfalcone yard.

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Princess is now also going start themeing things? I guess the signs were there with the tacky mannequins of palace qaurds standing outside the casino on the Coral Princess. They are just on their way to becoming another tacky line like RCI. It's just sick. Sick, sick, sick.

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Isn't there anyone out there willing to design a new class of ships?

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Cunard did a great job with Queen Mary 2 , I just hope no other company's will build ships like QM2.

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Originally posted by CGT:
[

Princess is now also going start themeing things? I guess the signs were there with the tacky mannequins of palace qaurds standing outside the casino on the Coral Princess. They are just on their way to becoming another tacky line like RCI. It's just sick. Sick, sick, sick.

CGT[/QB]

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And you can't blame Carnival for any of it. Princess was tacky long before Carnival came along... they did a great job of cheapening themselves into just another mass-market line without the help of anyone. Now, with another year round Caribbean ship, it can only get worse.

This quote from the official Press Release made me LOL! Who are they kidding.... "a true royal experience". What a joke... give me Royal Caribbean or Celebrity any day.

"We like to say that Princess offers the `only truly royal experience' in the Caribbean," said Ratcliffe. "Our innovative, choice-filled ships, with their `small ship' atmosphere and truly flexible dining provide the very best experience in the Caribbean. Princess is offering affordable luxury with a level of service currently not offered by any other cruise line operating there."

I still don't like the idea of adding an entire deck of new cabins without any increase in public space. I figure they can get away with this because of their 'personal choice' dinning.

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Originally posted by Fairsky:
I think it is clear that Carnival's plan for Princess is to make it into a mass market alternative to Carnival... priced at the same level but without the tacky glitz of Carnival ships.

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That's exactly what Princess' plan for Princess was, too ! The "downfall" of which you speak began years ago...

[ 04-28-2003: Message edited by: cruiseny ]

What, from tacky to tacky? Remember it's Princess that is lowering itself to RCI's level. RCI is already down at the bottom when it comes to tacky.

CGT

[ 04-28-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

I remember my first cruise back in 1981. It was on the then "new" ss Norway in cabin A-052 which was the size of a closet with bunk beds and a huge TV on a stand that took up most of the floorspace in the cabin. I also remember that the shower water always went from scalding hot to ice cold back to scalding hot over and over again. This was my first, and so far still my favorite cruise, regardless of the scalding-freezing shower and closet-sized cabin.

I remember sailing with 3 other college friends on the StarShip Royale of Premier Cruise Lines in 1985.
I also remember my room was the size of a closet, the shower curtain stuck to me from head to foot because of the teeny-tiny shower. I also remember that I had great time!

I have cruised on Oceanic in 1989 where the bathroom smelled like an open sewer and that was in one of the higher priced cabins with a balcony (which was always covered in black soot). Also had a great time.

I cruised on Premier's Majestic in 1990 where my cabin was even smaller than a closet and was floor-to-ceiling formica! Too make matters worse, it was ugly formica! Did I have a great cruise? Of course!

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Originally posted by CGT:
What a joke... give me Royal Caribbean

What, from tacky to tacky? Remember it's Princess that is lowering itself to RCI's level. RCI is already down at the bottom when it comes to tacky.

CGT

[ 04-28-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

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Well, to each his own. I think RCI ships are far more beautiful, distinctive, and innovative then Princess could ever hope to be. The quality of materials used and attention to detail are of a much higher level then Princess.

At least on Royal Caribbean cocktails are not ordered "small, medium, or large" at the bar, nor is the atrium turned into a Turkish bazaar. Thankfully, the cabins also look better then a worn Holiday Inn room that is a few years old.

Yeah with shopping mall chain restaurants

nor is the atrium turned into a Turkish bazaar

No, RCI just went ahead and built the shopping mall

Now dats CLASS

Hell, at least the Turkish Bazaar can be carted away...

CGT

[ 04-28-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

I think your post is very pertinent, well thought out and full of sense (as usual in fact).

Even as a liners afficionado for nearly 30 years, I fully agree with you, big cruise companies have no choice than "going downhill" and attract new cruisers to survive nowdays. The only small thing I tend to differ with is that, according many reports here and elsewhere, it seems Carnival has in fact slightly improved its product and quality during the last 5 years or so.
As you pointed out, we cannot really establish a fair and reliable hierarchy (in term of quality, "better or worse") with cruises of the past since it's "just different" now.

Excepted few exceptions, I'm less attracted by the new megaships (though some are really of my liking) than by the older ones which make me feel intense emotions because of their character, charm, aesthetic, connection to the Sea and history sometimes. However, that's all subjective and if I had to express an objective opinion about the current cruise product, yes, what cruise companies propose now by today standards (amenities, space, room in cabins, layout, comfort hygiene, price accessibility...) is better than the product which "fully satisfied" us in the past.

That's quite a contradictory feeling since I often prefer the ships of the past but I admit the new ones are usually better (that's a simplified and general statement I'm making here and I'm speaking of the mass market ones, niches are another thing).

I do hope we will still have choice between the two experiences as long as possible. Most important is to save the choice and freedom of preferences and I personally opt for the alternation. The notion of choice is really essencial for satisfying every people with all their differences.
Other significant parameters into the choice are the service and public targeted by such or such big companies/ships too. I'm quite a quiet man.

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Originally posted by Fairsky:
Isn't there anyone out there willing to design a new class of ships?

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It is much cheaper to build standardised ships to the same set of drawings.

These ships are being built for the general cruising public who in the most could not tell the differance from the QE2 and a vista class!

I personally to do not think it is shameful bringing cruises to the masses. We here might not like tacky ships, but lots of people obviouly do?

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Originally posted by BigUFan:
The attention was more personalized because there were fewer people on board.

I guess I should be happy that I was able to experience cruising when it was truly great.

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They are a bad influence, that's why.

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Originally posted by CGT:
They are a bad influence, that's why.

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I see... So cruise ships are a "bad influence"?

Obviously you think that anything which is not to your taste shouldn't exist because it is a "bad influence" on everything else.

How about QM2. Do you think they'd really be building her if it weren't for all these "bad influences"? And would Cunard even be in business without all the money Carnival makes from their "bad influences"? Would there even be a passenger shipping industry altogether today without these "bad influences" considering that before they came around, the industry was on the verge of total nonexistence?

It is a bad influence. Would Princess have introduced "Anytime Dining" if NCL had not introduced "Foodcourt (Freestyle) Dining"? Would Princess be building the "Caribbean Princess" behemoths with the gimmicky giant video screens if they were not trying to compete with RCI (RCI is the gimmicky line)? I don't think so.

How about QM2. Do you think they'd really be building her if it weren't for all these "bad influences"?

QM2 would have been built anway. The bad influence comes in here from RCI. Remember, QM2 was supposed to be a much smaller ship, somewhere in the 80,000 odd GRT range (or maybe along the size of the QE2, I can't remember exactly, but I know she was supposed to be more "normal" sized). Then they look over at RCI with it's "Voyager" class, the biggest cruise ships in the world, and decide the QM2 MUST be bigger than that, so suddenly she balloons up to 150,000 GRT. When I heard she was going to be so large I thoght that that was just ridiculous. I personally think she is too big, although I know that she will "only" be carrying 2,600 passengers, and I know she will be quite sapcious and comfortable because of her size, I still wish she were smaller (and carried less passengers). Also QM2 gained her own gimmicks (a la RCI) as well. For example: A freaking planetarium? Who the frick needs a planetarium at sea? FOR WHAT? I'll tell you for what. For no good reason other than they can say, "the first and only planetarium at sea". Kind of reminds you of the rock climging walls and ice skating rinks, doesn't it (in that respect)? At least the planetarium can also double as a cinema (or is it a cinema that doubles as a planetarium?) Thankfully, as a gimmick, it's quite subtle. However, why the "Royal Court" theatre couldn't have hosted both stage and film performances is beyond me. Why they needed both venues I'll never see a good explanation for. I also see shades of NCL's influence (and even the new Diamond Princess) in the "Kings Court" buffet transforming into four "themed" dining venues at night: Asian, Italian, Carvery and "Chef's Galley", although once again, being done with more subtlety. Since this example isn't "permanent" (it only sets up this way at night, as apperently retractable walls slide out to make it so), and is a regular buffet for breakfast and lunch, this may not be so bad, after all.

What sort of alternative future would you propose that could do away with all these "bad influences" anyhow?

It's too late. The bad influences are here to stay. The bad influences steadily arose as cruise lines targeted the crass mass market. Ideally I'd love to see NCL and RCI and their ilk not existing any more, but that, kiddo, is only a day dream. Pandoras box is open, it's been open for awhile, and it ain't pretty!!! It's downright tacky!!!!

CGT

P.S. Don't tell me you're surprised by anything I've said here, it's entirely consistent with my views.

[ 05-02-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]