Is Carnival Corp about to place an order for a new ship?

Here's a story I picked up from the States indicating that Carnival Corp may well be considering placing an order for a new build - potentially Princess Cruises..!!

Not since 2008 has Carnival placed any orders for a ship for its North American brands. Micky Arison last year sited the present dollar-valued costs and internal projections as the main reason.

UBS equity analyst Robin Farley said this week that shipbuilding prices in euros are currently at the same level that they were five years ago, and that Carnival has ordered ships at these prices in the past. She also noted that commodity prices were down.

"The yards are willing to lose a little money to get an order but not $100-200 million, so the yards probably won’t go any lower on price than where they are currently," Farley wrote in a note to investors.

Princess Cruises hasn't placed a ship order since the Ruby Princess, which entered service last year. This followed a period of growth where Princess launched three ships in 90 days. The Caribbean Princess, Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess - all in 2004, Crown Princess in 2006 and Emerald Princess in 2007.

Phil's comment: I will keep my ears to the ground and if there is to be a new addition to the Princess fleet, I will report the full details here at www.mycruiseblog.co.uk

This is a cruise blog entry by Phil