Carnival Cruise Line is currently the second largest cruise line in the world with 27 ships in service. However, they do offer cruises from more ports in the U.S. than any other line.
Our free cruise newsletter offers the latest news and deals: Sign UpOver the past six months, Carnival has placed orders for five more new cruise ships that will all be in service by 2033.2027 – 4th Excel class ship2028 – 5th Excel class ship2029 – 1st 230,000 gross ton ship2031 – 2nd 230,000 gross ton ship2033 – 3rd 230,000 gross ton shipTwo More Excel Class ShipsIn February, Carnival Cruise Line announced an order for a fourth Excel class ship that will be a sister ship to Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee.The ship is currently scheduled to debut in the spring of 2027.A month later, a fifth Excel class ship was ordered and is expected to enter service in 2028.The ships will be in the ballpark of 180,000 gross tons in size.They will both be built at the Meyer Werft shipyard.Excel class ships offer something that no other cruise ships in the world have, a roller coaster on the top deck. BOLT travels up to 35 mph around the Lido Deck.The first three ships in this class have have names from previous Carnival cruise ships. It will be interesting to see if Carnival continues that trend.Three New 230,000 Gross Ton ShipsCarnival Cruise Line was the first cruise line to ever have a ship over 100,000 gross tons in size when Carnival Destiny (now Carnival Sunshine) debuted in 1996.Last week, the cruise line announced their first ships that will be over 200,000 gross tons in size.This new class will usher in the era of mega cruise ships for Carnival. At 230,000 gross tons in size, they will be the third largest class in the world and the largest outside of Royal Caribbean. They will also be in the top 10 largest cruise ships ever built.The ships are currently scheduled to debut in 2029, 2031 and 2033.The cruise ships will have 3,000 cabins and carry up to 8,000 passengers at maximum capacity.The ships will be built by Fincantieri and will be the largest ever constructed in Italy.Carnival Cruise Line has not given any other details on this new class of ships. It will be interesting to see what Carnival does with these massive ships and the new features that they will have.This will not be the first class of ships over 200,000 gross tons that Carnival has worked on. 20 years ago, Carnival was developing a futurist ship prototype that was truly ahead of its time. Many of the features on Project Pinnacle have been incorporated into new ships.One thing I would love to see on this new class from Carnival are some of the features that were planned for the Pinnacle class.Project Pinnacle had everything from a lazy river to a people mover system.Project Pinnacle was a cruise ship prototype from Carnival Cruise Line that was never built. Cruise Fever will have all details about these five new ships from Carnival Cruise Line when they are announced.All five of the ships that Carnival Cruise Line has on order through 2033 are currently unnamed.