Carnival Corp to build four new ships as part of ‘growth strategy’

Posted on 4 January, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Corporation has announced it will build four new cruise ships for its Costa Asia, P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises lines.

Two of the four new ships will be built for Costa Asia for deployment in China, and one will be built each for P&O Cruises Australia and Princess Cruises.

This takes the company’s total number of new ships scheduled to be delivered by 2020, to 17.

The four new ships will be built by Fincantieri at the company’s shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy, with deliveries expected in 2019 and 2020.

The two new 135,500-ton ships for Costa Asia and one new ship for P&O Cruises Australia will carry 4,200 passengers.

Princess Cruises’ new 143,700-ton ship will carry 3,560 passengers and will be its fourth “Royal Princess” class vessel, featuring the same design platform used on Royal Princess, Regal Princess and Majestic Princess.

Chief executive of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald, said: “These ships will be great additions to our fleet that support our goal to exceed guest expectations and create great vacation memories for each guest onboard our ships.

“These strategic investments in new ships that wow our guests are an important part of our measured growth strategy, which includes replacing less efficient ships with newer, larger and more efficient vessels over a very specific period of time.”

The company said specific features and amenities for the ships, along with deployment details, will be revealed in the coming months.

Princess, Costa Asia and P&O Australia getting new ships

Posted on 2 January, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Princess Cruises is getting a fourth Royal-class ship.

Carnival Corp. signed a memo of agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for another Royal-class vessel for its Princess Cruises brand and two Costa Asia ships to operate in China.

A fourth ship was ordered to sail for P&O Cruises Australia. Deliveries of the ships are expected in 2019 and 2020.

“Each of the four new ships will be specifically designed and developed for the brand and guests it will serve,” Carnival Corp. said.

The Royal-class ship will be 143,700 gross tons and carry 3,560 passengers. It will be the fourth in the series; the third, the Majestic Princess, is to be delivered in 2017. Carnival Corp. said that in addition to brand hallmarks like a “soaring” atrium and multiple dining and entertainment venues, the new ship would include “brand-new innovations to enhance the guest experience even further.”

The Costa Asia ships will be 135,500 gross tons and carry 4,200 passengers.

The P&O Cruises Australia ship will also be 135,500 gross tons with 4,200 berths, and it will be that line’s largest vessel. “Australia is one of the top performing cruise markets in the world, with an average annual passenger growth rate of 20% over the past decade,” Carnival Corp. said.

The orders are part of an agreement Carnival Corp. announced in March to build nine ships, five at Fincantieri and four at Meyer Werft, for delivery between 2019 and 2022.

In June, Carnival Corp. said the vessels developed at the Meyer Werft yard in Germany would be powered by liquefied natural gas; two will sail for Aida Cruises, but Carnival Corp. has not assigned the other two.

Costa trials onboard robots

Posted on 17 December, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Pepper robots are being used on board Costa and Aida cruise ships

By http://www.passengership.info/

Costa Group has signed an exclusive agreement with French company Aldebaran to use its Pepper robots on board vessels to assist passengers on Costa and Aida cruise ships. Pepper is the world’s first robot that reads main human emotions.

Michael Thamm, chief executive of the Costa Group, said: “With an emotional robot on board our cruise ships we are once again continuing our tradition of innovation. For us, this is an important step towards a digital future for our brands.”

Pepper has successfully completed a trial on board AIDAstella. The first batch of Peppers will join the crew and start helping on board AIDAprima and Costa Diadema in spring 2016, guiding guests when they embark and while on board. They will also be on hand to provide recommendations and tips on restaurants, events and excursions. They can communicate in German, Italian and English. By summer of 2016 the rest of the robots will be joining the crew aboard the Costa and Aida fleets.

Pepper was developed in Japan and is the first humanoid robot capable of recognising the main emotions and to take his environment into account and proactively act accordingly. Pepper is well equipped with features and a high-level interface for communicating with those around him, to move fluidly and analyse expressions and voice tones using the latest advances in voice and emotion recognition.

The robot measures 120cm tall and weighs 28kg. Its movement is provided by three omnidirectional wheels while a 3D camera detects people and their movements and it has a 10 inch touch screen.