The world’s-largest ship title just got a new winner. Carnival has just ordered nine new ships, and four of them, at 180,000 tons and 6,600 passengers, will be the world’s largest. That beats Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships that hold up to 6,450.
Company spokesperson Roger Frizzell says the new ships will be environmentally-friendly and capable of fitting into most ports, despite their size. CEO Arnold Donald, in an interview with Bloomberg, said “While it’s a lot of people, it won’t feel congested.”
Each of the ships will burn liquefied natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel. They will be the first cruise ships to run on LNG power.
The four super-ships will go to Carnival’s Costa group, which includes the Italian Costa line and German Aida line. At least two will be assigned to Aida; the other two may go to other Carnival lines. There’s some online speculation the other two might end up doing China-based tours. Each will be fitted out for its intended market, so they might end up as sisters with very different onboard amenities.
Two of the ships are being built in Germany; the other two will be built in Finland. The other five smaller ships will be built in Italy.
Earlier carnival ship under construction. Photo: Kristijan Bracun / Wikimedia
