Just when I thought the ubiquitous series of Carnival Destiny-based ships was nearing the end of the line, Costa Cruises has gone and ordered two more of them. Of the Concordia-class variety - that is, sisters to the existing Costa Concordia and Serena and 2009’s Costa Pacifica - the two new ships will debut in 2011 and 2012 and like their three older sisters will measure 114,200 GT and carry 3,012 passengers. Unlike the three older ships, which hail from Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente yard in Genoa, the newer pair will come from Marghera, Venice.
These new ships will bring the grand total of Destiny-based ships up to 16, built from 1996 to 2012. Carnival will seemingly get its last Destiny derivative with Carnival Splendor next year, before moving on to a new 130,000 GT design for Carnival Dream in 2009 and Carnival Magic in 2011. Costa, on the other hand, has apparently elected not to adopt the new design - at least not yet.
In addition to Costa Pacifica and her two newly-announced sisters, Costa also has two 92,000 GT, 2,260-berth ships on order from Fincantieri; Costa Luminosa will enter service in 2009 and an as-yet-unnamed sister in 2010. This gives Costa the largest number of ships on order of any cruise line. Costa is also one of only two cruise lines (the other is Disney) with an order book that stretches to 2012.
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