All the big cruise lines are making moves in the China market, but probably none are going as big or as long as Carnival, which has a joint venture with Chinese investors to run cruises, build new ships and operate as a new brand.
Carnival has already dipped into the market with ships from its Costa and Princess brands already in the market, and plans to add ships from its Aida brand, as well as under the Carnival name itself.
The new venture will operate as a new China-based brand, and will start next year with existing ships, which the joint venture will buy from Carnival.
The joint venture, whose other partners are China State Shipbuilding Corp. and China Investment Capital will also build two new ships, tailored for Chinese tastes. They will be essentially twins of the new Carnival Vista. The actual building will be done by another joint venture, this one between CSSC and Italy’s Fincantieri, which already builds many of the world’s new cruise ships.
