According to various news reports, Carnival Cruise Ships will begin building four new cruise ships, each capable of taking 6,600 passengers and hundreds of crew out into the ocean for cruise voyages.
Cruise ships continue to get bigger, more efficient and better able to carry large amounts of people comfortably…(and from our perspective…hopefully safely).
From Bloomberg Business…
The largest cruise line plans to push the limits of cruise ship capacity. Carnival will introduce the world’s largest cruise ship by passenger count—although not by size—with four new vessels capable of accommodating 6,600 passengers alongside hundreds of crew members. The large-capacity cruise ships will set sail between 2019 and 2022.
As part of the news, Carnival sought to stress that the experience won’t make the new vessels any more crowded than other options in its fleet. “A major part of the innovative design involves making much more efficient use of the ship’s spaces, creating an enhanced onboard experience for guests,” the company said Monday in a news release.
The extra space for all the people will come from harvesting some space from the ships’ public areas, keeping the space ratio and cabin sizes the same as on Carnival’s other ships. “It won’t feel congested, it won’t feel confined,” Carnival Chief Executive Arnold W. Donald said Monday in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “People will find it to be a great experience.”
USA Today: New Cruise Ships to Hold a Record 6,600 Passengers
Per the USA Today article…
In another notable development, Carnival Corp. says the new ships will be powered by liquefied natural gas — a cruise industry first. Liquefied natural gas is considered cleaner than the bunker oil and other fuels now used to power cruise ships.
Carnival continues to give its customers base what it wants – access to high entertainment, lower cost vacations. The cruise industry as a whole is reaching more and more vacationers with their brand of high seas travel; food, drink, fun, relaxation – all mixed with adventure, travel and a sense of exploration. Last year the industry took well over 20 million passengers and millions of crew members around the world on various trips.