Carnival Corporation today announced that it had signed a memorandum of agreement with Fincantieri to build two new cruise ships for Holland America and Princess.
With the new agreement, Carnival Corporation now has 19 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2017 and 2022, according to a statement.
Holland America Line's new ship will be built at Fincantieri's shipyard in Marghera, Italy, with an expected delivery in 2021, and the ship for Princess Cruises will be built at Fincantieri's Monfalcone, Italy, shipyard with an expected delivery in 2022.
"We are extremely pleased to formally announce these two new ships and build on the success and popularity of their sister ships already sailing guests around the globe," said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation. "Our goal is to exceed expectations of the 11.5 million guests who sail with us each year, and these new ships will offer more opportunities for our guests to create lifelong vacation memories while generating added excitement around the fast-growing global demand for cruise vacations."
Added Donald: "Using our strategic fleet enhancement plan to introduce new ships is an important part of our measured capacity growth strategy, which includes replacing less efficient ships with newer, larger and more efficient vessels."
Holland America Line's new 99,500-ton, 2,660-guest ship will be its third "Pinnacle" class vessel, following the design of the line's newest and largest ship, ms Koningsdam, and its sister ship, Nieuw Statendam, scheduled for delivery in November 2018.
rincess Cruises' new 145,000-ton ship will carry 3,660 passengers and will be its sixth "Royal" class vessel.
The two yet-to-be-named vessels also under construction by Fincantieri scheduled for delivery in 2019 and 2020.
"This is an extraordinary moment for the cruise sector and it is particularly rewarding for us to be able to seize all the opportunities coming from the industry growth, also thanks to our deep-rooted partnership with Carnival Corporation," said Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri. "These vessels will be based on the successful platforms developed for Carnival. On the back of these successful platforms, our Group today aims to further increase its order book, already at record levels, while ensuring profitability in the cruise segment."

After building up MSC Cruises from next to nothing in a challenging South American market, Roberto Fusaro is now in Ft. Lauderdale and part of the team that will build up the Italian brand in North America.
The Argentinean was named president of MSC USA in August. Sailing year-round from Miami, the MSC Divina will be joined by the new MSC Seaside in December 2017 as the company pushes into the North American battlefield.
“The Seaside is happening right now, even though she will be christened in 2017,” said Fusaro. “She will be the most innovative ship in the market, and we need to build on the momentum and keep the sales going.”
Capacity Uptick
The Fincantieri-built Seaside will be named in Miami on Dec. 21 and embark on its first sailing – a Christmas cruise – on Dec. 23.
“This is a ship that will be contrary to what the industry is. It is open to the sea,” Fusaro told Cruise Industry News. The Seaside will debut a new ship design with more open deck space, promising to connect guests to the ocean.
The double-ship year-round operation is still just a fraction of North American capacity, and one look at the 11 ships MSC has on order unveils a bigger global plan.
“We have the most ambitious building plan in the industry,” Fusaro said. “We are building 11 new ships on three prototype platforms. Our market share in the U.S. does not do us justice; closing the gap is one of our main goals.”
That is a two-step approach, filling ships sailing out of Florida with North American passengers, but also sourcing U.S. guests to go to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean on MSC ships.
Trek to MSC
Fusaro became a CPA and was educated at the University of Buenos Aires, working for Arthur Andersen and getting his MBA in the United States.
He joined the cruise industry with American Family Cruises, which had Costa Crociere as a business partner, in the 1990s.
Fusaro was CFO, but the line didn’t work out and folded. He then joined Costa in South America before moving to MSC in 2005.
“It was very exciting,” said Fusaro of his time with MSC in South America. “We were an unknown, and the cruise industry was unknown. We had lots of challenges. The authorities did not understand (cruise) and to a certain extent, they still don’t. Most of my job was to make sure we weren’t overburdened with cumbersome regulations, and that infrastructure was in place to bring new ships to the market.”
The company out-maneuvered its competition in Brazil, bringing in new and better ships, and taking over market share as the region expanded rapidly and then contracted a bit. This coming season, MSC is expected to be the biggest operator in South America by far.
Building Up
Now, Fusaro is onto North America, an established market that has its own set of supply and demand challenges.
“In South America it didn’t make sense to go for market share because the market was small, we had to grow it,” he explained. “Our role here is completely different. The market knows what cruises are about and we need to make sure we differentiate MSC.”
He called brand awareness the company’s biggest challenge in North America. “MSC is the best kept secret in the cruise industry.
“We need to make sure we establish our position in the market,” Fusaro continued.
Part of that positioning will come from customer focus.
“We need to look at things from our customers’ point of view and do what makes sense for them,” Fusaro explained.
​

Fincantieri’s bid for a majority stake in STX France has been approved as the preferred bidder by the South Korean courts.
The French government will keep a 33 percent stake in the yard if the buyout moves forward, while Fincantieri will become the majority owner at two thirds, and was reported to be the only bidder.
It’s a dominating move for Fincantieri, which before the news, accounted for 27 of 73 cruise ships currently on order.
With STX France under Fincantieri’s control, the Italian group now adds another 11 newbuilds to its orderbook, some 38 of 73 ships on order.