Carnival Corp has postponed deliveries on perhaps as many as a dozen newbuildings while the cruise juggernaut works on slimming down its enormous fleet.
The Arnold Donald-led owner has announced delaying arrivals of five ships to the end of 2021 and an undisclosed number of others originally scheduled for 2022 and 2023.
The company, which is listed and based in the US and UK, has confirmed delays on only three ships, but records show it may be pumping the brakes on as many as a dozen deliveries.
Carnival's P&O Cruises UK has confirmed that a May 2020 delivery of the Iona from German yard Meyer Werft has been postponed, but a new arrival date has yet to be determined.
"Iona was due for delivery in May to P&O Cruises but due to the impact of Covid-19 upon the yard in Germany, there was a slowdown in work," P&O spokeswoman Michele Andjel told TradeWinds.
"We are all very excited about Iona’s launch and we are in discussions with the yard about final outfitting and delivery date and once confirmed we will advise our guests."
Princess Cruises has, likewise, pushed back a July 2020 delivery of the Enchanted Princess but has yet to say when it plans to accept that ship from Italian yard Fincantieri Monfalcone.
"The delivery delay is due to the country-wide lockdown imposed by the Italian government and public health officials in response to the Covid-19 outbreak," Princess Cruises spokeswoman Negin Kamali told TradeWinds.
Last week, TradeWinds reported that Carnival pushed back the 183,000-gt Mardi Gras delivery from German yard Meyer Turku by three months to February 2021.
Meanwhile, a $200m upgrade refit of the 101,700-gt Carnival Victory (built 2001) — to be renamed Carnival Breeze — at a yard in Spain's Port of Cadiz has been delayed several months amid lockdowns to spring 2021.
Carnival has initiated these delays amid a plan to sell at least 13 older ships in an effort to create a "leaner" company.
It has offloaded eight vessels so far, the latest being the 56,800-gt Costa neoRomantica (built 1993) to Celestyal Cruises.
New ships are still on the way
Carnival has five other newbuildings earmarked for delivery from various yards through 2021, according to records held by IHS Markit.
Costa Cruises expects to receive the 135,500-gt Costa Firenze in September 2020 from Fincantieri's Margherita and the Costa Toscana in June 2021 from Meyer Turku.
AIDA Cruises is set to take the 183,200-gt AIDACosma in April 2021 from Meyer Werft, while Holland America Line expects the 99,836-gt Ryndam in May 2021 from Fincantieri's Margherita.
Princess Cruises plans to take delivery of the 143,000-gt Discovery Princess in September 2021, IHS Markit data show.
Carnival is also slated to take three new passengerships from Fincantieri's Monfalcone yard in April 2022, November 2023 and May 2025.
Four more newbuildings are scheduled from Meyer Turku in April 2022, Meyer Werft in May 2023 and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in June 2023 and December 2023.
The aforementioned yards either declined to comment on the deliveries or did not return calls.
VesselsValue, which shows 32 Carnival newbuildings on order overall through 2028, lists two 246-berth newbuildings for its luxury expedition cruise brand due out in 2021 and 2022 from Mariotti Damen.
That shipbuilder has told TradeWinds, however, that both parties backed out of any agreements to build new ships in February 2019.
