Ernie

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Seabourn Cruise Line Orders Two New Ultra Luxury Ships

To Be Built at Mariotti Shipyard, Genoa, At an All-In Cost of Approximately 250 Million Dollars Each

MIAMI, Oct. 19
Seabourn Cruise Line announced today that it will build two new, ultra luxury ships, for delivery in spring 2009 and 2010. Seabourn, a division of Miami-based Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE:
CCL)(NYSE: CUK - News), has signed a letter of intent for the project with shipbuilder T. Mariotti S.p.A. of Genoa, Italy. The sister ships
will have an all-in U.S. dollar cost of $250 million each.

Each of the 32,000-GRT ships will accommodate all guests in 225 luxury suites, ninety percent of which will offer private verandas. Combined,
the two vessels will more than double Seabourn's current fleet capacity of 634 berths.

"Our brand has been experiencing more demand in the marketplace than we could fulfill for quite some time now," stated Deborah L. Natansohn, president of Seabourn. "The new ships will allow us to
bring the unique Seabourn experience to a larger number of people, particularly the highly affluent and active baby boomer generation just now heading towards the more leisurely years of their lives."

The letter of intent to build the ships is subject to a number of conditions including definitive contracts, financing and other terms.

According to Micky Arison, Chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc, "This order represents our confidence in the luxury segment of
the cruising market, which has shown significant and consistent revenue growth in recent years, with robust future potential. Through our own and independent research, we know that the luxury consumer views the Seabourn brand as the absolute ultimate in leisure travel. This new generation of yacht-like ships will secure its position at the top of the cruise industry pyramid for many years to come."

The vessels have been specifically designed to enable Seabourn's award- winning staff to deliver the highly personalized service experience that is a hallmark of the brand. "They will be spacious,
with the sleek lines and relaxed, personal feel of an oversized yacht," Natansohn said. "We've essentially taken the signature elements of our existing yachts and added some exciting new features that the larger hulls will allow."

Marco Bisagno, President of T. Mariotti S.p.A. noted, "When they were introduced, the three existing Seabourn ships embodied a new class of
cruising vessel, and they spawned an entirely new niche in the market. We are proud and excited that Seabourn has enlisted Mariotti to craft what will be the next generation of intimate, ultra luxury cruising
vessels, to be built in Genoa by our skilled team."

With this order, Mariotti confirms its leadership in the small/medium size ultra luxury ships market.

The design specifications call for hulls 650 feet long, with a beam of 84 feet and a draft of 21 feet. The ships will be powered by diesel-generated electricity and operate with twin screw propellers,
with a service speed of 19 knots. They will be equipped with two bow thrusters to enhance maneuverability and two stabilizers. The ships
will also be "green ships" employing advanced wastewater treatment technology.

Natansohn said that past guests and luxury-selling travel agents worldwide will be ecstatic at the word of new ships for the brand. "The Yachts of Seabourn have always been the highest-rated ships in the world when it comes to cuisine and service," she stated. "With an increased ability to deliver Seabourn's superior cruise experience to
even more travelers, on state-of-the- art vessels, we will continue to define the standard for ultra luxury cruising."

For information on Seabourn cruise vacations, contact a travel agent.

This is good news; I can't wait to see what they look like. These new ships will definitely give Silversea a run for their money.

These ships are actually quite large - a nice passenger to space ratio but quite a step up in size compared to their present ships. (...will they keep them?)

I only hope that these ships will be DIFFERENT to the Europa and the somhow similar large Silverseas ships.

[ 10-19-2006: Message edited by: Ernst ]

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Originally posted by Waynaro:
I am optimistic how yacht-like these twins will fell and how the "sleek lines" will turn out.

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Wow, new small ships!

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

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I've heard that they will not look unlike their existing ships.

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I hope they will - they are cute - but for me they are not pretty at all. This is of course a question of personal taste - but how the (present) Seabourn ships ended up being called 'sleek' is beyond my understanding.

[ 10-19-2006: Message edited by: Ernst ]

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Originally posted by Fairsky:

A brilliant looking ship. A worthy addition to Seabourn's elegant original fleet.

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[ 10-21-2006: Message edited by: Johan C ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

What else has the Mariotti Shipyard, Genoa, built? Anyone?

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Pascal wrote:
I think they built the Silversea ships and the Seven Seas Voyager and Navigator. Not sure of it.

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SILVER CLOUD (1994), SILVER WIND (1995), SILVER SHADOW (2000) and SILVER WHISPER (2001) all had their hulls and superstructure built at Visentini (Trieste) while outfitting was done at Mariotti (Genoa). SEVEN SEAS NAVIGATOR (1999) was built at Mariotti while SEVEN SEAS VOYAGER (2003) had her hull built at Visentini and outfitting at Mariotti. The Genoa yard also built MINERVA (Swan Hellenic).

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I don't see any tenders on these new images. It seems the size is getting alittle large to not have that option. The Regent PG and Navigator have tenders.

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Originally posted by Panama Canal:
I don't think the seabourns would look good with blue hulls and knowing Carnival they rarely sell ships (they would trie to just keep them all in the fleet). I may be very wrong th

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hehehehe

[ 10-21-2006: Message edited by: dmwnc1 ]

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Panama Canal wrote:
I don't see any tenders on these new images. It seems the size is getting alittle large to not have that option. The Regent PG and Navigator have tenders.

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If you look closely you'll see that there are two tenders (on the starboard side) in the rendering.

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