Carnival Corporation will add two ships to its China fleet in 2016. The move will increase Carnival's total capacity in China by an additional 58 per cent in 2016, which continually delivers double-digit annual returns and is expected to eventually become the largest cruise market in the world.
Carnival's fleet of six China-based ships will include expanded offerings from its two leading brands in the market – Costa Cruises and Princess Cruises – that are each adding one new ship to meet growing cruise demand in China.
Together, the Costa and Princess brands will potentially offer about four million passenger cruise days in 2016.
Included in this new deployment is today's announcement made during a press conference in Beijing that Princess Cruises will send its Golden Princess ship to northern China in 2016, sailing out of Tianjin on a seasonal basis, with itineraries visiting a variety of destinations in northern Asia. Golden Princess joins the brand's first China-based ship, Sapphire Princess, which has been homeported in Shanghai since 2014 and will start sailing year-round in China in 2016. The brand's two-ship deployment in 2016 will more than double its total available guest capacity in China compared to 2015.
Costa Cruises will debut Costa Fortuna in April 2016 as its fourth ship based in China. Costa Fortuna joins Costa Serena, Costa Atlantica and Costa Victoria already based in China, increasing the brand's total available capacity in China by 43 per cent in 2016.
In addition to expanding its presence in China in 2016, Carnival recently announced that the latest ship under construction for its Princess brand will be based in China year-round when introduced in summer 2017. Based in Shanghai, the ship will be the first year-round international luxury vessel designed and built specifically for Chinese guests.
Carnival Corporation is also exploring potential joint ventures in China with China Merchants Group (CMG) and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) designed to accelerate the growth of the overall cruise industry in China, including the possibility of launching a Chinese domestic cruise brand, building new ships in China, and supporting port and infrastructure development.
