The keel has now been laid at the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg for the fifth ship in the so-called “Excel class” for the American Carnival Group, which also includes the type ship, the “Aida Nova”, for example.
However, this new ship with construction number 724 is destined for Carnival Cruise Line (USA), which already has four ships in this series: the “Mardi Gras”, “Carnival Celebration” and “Carnival Jubilee” — some of which were also built at the sister company Meyer Turku. The “Carnival Festivale” is scheduled for delivery in spring 2027.
“We are delighted that the partnership between the Meyer Werft Group and Carnival Cruise Line will continue in this way,” says Bernd Eikens, CEO of Meyer Werft. Since 2018, Meyer Werft in Papenburg and Meyer Turku have built nine cruise ships with LNG propulsion for four cruise lines in Carnival Corporation’s portfolio on a joint technical platform. The new ship will also be built on this platform and, with a length of around 344 m and a size of approx. 180,000 GT, will offer space for more than 6,400 guests.
“This order is a clear sign that the cruise market has recovered and that there is once again a very high demand for sea voyages,” adds Thomas Weigend, Chief Sales Officer of Meyer Werft Group.
“From the two new music venues to the expansive and family-friendly water park, “Carnival Festivale” will continue the tradition of adding innovative new features to our fleet,” said Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line. “Each of her three sister ships has been a great success, and we have confidence in the expertise and craftsmanship of Meyer Werft.”
Order book at Meyer well filled
The ships enable the shipyard to focus on the long term and make a decisive contribution to securing jobs locally and at partner companies. Meyer Werft’s order book currently comprises seven cruise ships, one research vessel and the steel construction for four offshore converter platforms. For this purpose, further components were recently taken over from the 123 m long heavy-lift vessel “Topaz Danube” of P&O Maritime Logistics for the 900 MW converter platform DolWin delta, with destination port Cadiz in Spain.
The components will be completed there at the Dragados shipyard. DolWin delta is the first converter platform to be manufactured in Germany in many years. With this order, Meyer Werft is taking another important step in its entry into the offshore business segment. Amprion Offshore GmbH commissioned Dragados Offshore and Siemens Energy to build the platforms around three years ago. The consortium awarded parts of the production to Meyer Werft at the end of 2023. The scope of work for the production of platform components at Meyer Werft amounts to around 43,500 tons of steel. Of this, around 11,500 tons will be used for sections of the 900 MW DolWin4 and BorWin4 projects. For the 2 GW platforms BalWin1 and BalWin2, the figure is around 32,000 tons.
