Roundup of Cruise Ships Set for Delivery in 2018

2018 will be another busy year for builders of cruise ships as 16 ships are earmarked for completion and delivery to their owners this year.

The first two months of the year are reserved for finishing touches, however, in March Fincantieri-built Carnival Horizon will open the delivery season.

Carnival Horizon was launched at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard on May 10, 2017.

Featuring 133,500 gross tons and a length of 323 meters, the new cruise ship will be able to accommodate more than 6,400 people onboard, including the staff.

Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas will follow suit in April. The newest member of Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis class of ships was floated out of its dry dock at STX France shipyard to begin the next phase of interior construction in June 2017.

Norwegian Bliss is scheduled for delivery from German Meyer Werft in April 2018 as well, based on the yard’s schedule.

The third ship in the Breakaway-Plus class, Norwegian Bliss will accommodate 4,000 guests and will be the first cruise ship custom built for the Alaska cruise experience, according to Norwegian Cruise Line.

Seabourn Ovation is scheduled for delivery from Fincantieri in May. The 40,350 gross ton cruise ship, being built for Seabourn Cruise Line, was launched at Sestri yard in Genoa in September 2017.

Mein Schiff 1, a next-generation cruise ship built for German cruise line TUI Cruises, will be delivered by Meyer Turku in May as well.

MSC Seaview, owned by MSC Cruises, is set to come into service in June 2018. It is the second of two identical ships in the Seaside generation. The ship, floated out in August 2017, will have the capacity to accommodate 5,429 passengers.

Ponant’s Le Lapérouse’s delivery is also booked for June, followed by the delivery of Le Champlain in August.

July is reserved for the delivery of Viking Orion from Fincantieri.

Hurtigruten’s hybrid-powered cruise ship MS Roald Amundsen is set to debut in August, together with Scenic Eclipse, which is being built by Uljanik.

Star Clipper’s Flying Clipper, a full-rigged sailing ship, launched at Croatian shipyard Brodosplit on June 10, is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of the year.

The final quarter of 2018, will see four ships handed over to their owners.

These include Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Edge taking shape at STX France, Holland America Line’s new Pinnacle-class ship Nieuw Statendam and MS World Explorer.

The World Explorer will be able to accommodate 200 passengers and 111 crew members and is being built by WestSea Yard for Portuguese cruise company Mystic Cruises.

And last but not least AIDAnova is expected to wrap up the year with a delivery ceremony booked for December.

The 183,900-ton, 5200-passenger cruise ship will feature dual-fuel engines and is scheduled to start its first season with a cruise to the Canary Islands.

World Maritime News Staff, Image Courtesy: Fincantieri