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Carnival Cruise Line gets another Excel newbuild and a Costa ship

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Destined for the Fun Ship fleet — at left, another Excel-class newbuild, originally designated for AIDA, and at right, Costa Magica, to be converted and renamed
Carnival Cruise Line will take on two additional ships by 2023 — one, a newbuild that was planned for AIDA Cruises and the other, Costa Magica.

Carnival is taking over the delivery position of an Excel-class ship that will arrive in late 2023 from Meyer Werft. Plus, the line will take ownership of the 2003-built Costa Magica, which will be renamed and converted to join the Fun Ship fleet by mid-2022.

In addition to Carnival Celebration

These two vessels are in addition to Carnival Celebration, scheduled to be delivered from Meyer Turku and sail from PortMiami starting in late 2022.

The 180,000gt, LNG-powered Excel series began with the recently delivered Mardi Gras.

27 ships by year-end 2023

These additions will bring the Carnival fleet to 27 by year-end 2023.

'We are excited about these additions to our fleet which reflect the strong position that Carnival has established in the US, the pent-up demand we continue to see for cruise vacations and the overall plans by Carnival Corporation to optimize capacity and growth in key markets,' Carnival President Christine Duffy said. 'While our immediate focus is on our restart of guest operations this summer, this is another cause for excitement at Carnival, and we will be announcing more detailed plans about homeports, itineraries and ship names very soon.'