Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Adds Three Ships Extending Orders to 2037
Norwegian Cruise Line Holding and Fincantieri announced that they have added three more orders to an already large cruise ship orderbook, extending deliveries to 2037. It follows a trend in the industry to lock in the limited building slots at the major yards as the major cruise lines plan long-term capacity additions and fleet modernization.
The new order adds three sister ships to already planned classes of cruise ships, with one ship each for Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and Oceania Cruises. No value was announced for the order, but Fincantieri categorized it as a “very important” cruise agreement order, meaning its aggregate value is over €2 billion.
The public parent company of the three cruise lines had already booked orders for 14 new cruise ships, all to be built by Fincantieri. The existing orders extended to 2035. They are now adding a fourth ship for Regent Seven Seas Cruises due in 2036, as well as a fifth ship for Oceania Cruises due in 2037. Norwegian is also planning a new class of 227,000 gross ton cruise ships, which will not enter service till 2030, but they already added a fifth ship to the class, which will also be delivered in 2037.
“This agreement secures access to valuable shipyard capacity through the end of 2037, supporting our long-term growth while maintaining financial discipline and driving sustainable shareholder value,” said John Chidsey, who was just appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of NCLH last week.
Work is underway on two of the new classes of cruise ships, with Regent Seven Seas due to launch the first of its Prestige class in the fourth quarter of 2026. The ship, Seven Seas Prestige (76,550 gross tons), was floated in December 2025 and, at 257 meters (843 feet), is larger than the current ships and will have a capacity of 822 passengers. The line had already ordered a second ship due in 2030, and had recently extended the order for a third ship due in 2033.
The keel block for the first of Oceania’s new cruise ships, Oceania Sonata (86,000 gross tons), was laid in February. With accommodations for 1,390 passengers, the cruise ship is due in 2027. The line had already ordered a sister ship, Oceania Arietta, due in 2029, and two others for 2032 and 2035.
Norwegian Cruise Line is scheduled to launch its ultra-large cruise ships starting in 2030, each with accommodations for more than 5,000 passengers. The first is scheduled to be followed by sisters in 2032, 2034, 2036, and now 2037. First, the company has Norwegian Luna (156,000 gross tons with accommodations for 3,565 passengers) about to enter service and two enlarged sister ships due in 2027 (Norwegian Aura at 170,000 gross tons) and another in 2028.
Across the three brands, the group has a total of 34 cruise ships with more than 71,000 berths. It has been planning fleet modernizations, with Norwegian Sky (77,000 gross tons, built in 1999) going on charter to Cordelia Cruises in India later this year. The Norwegian Sun (78,000 gross tons, built in 2001) follows in 2027.
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The company was also planning to shed the oldest ships in its luxury brands. A start-up resident firm, Crescent Seas, had in 2025 agreed to assume Regent’s Seven Seas Navigator (28,800 gross tons, built in 1999) and Oceania’s Insignia (30,000 gross tons, built in 1998). Crescent, however, relinquished the agreement for the ships in November 2025, saying it instead intends to build a purpose-designed resident cruise ship. Oceania has also chartered a sister ship, Regetta, to an Australian firm that plans long world cruises.
The orders come as the global cruise orderbook is being restored after a long pause during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The cruise ship order book stands at 75 ships valued at over $70 billion. By 2036, the industry was scheduled to add more than 200,000 berths and more than 8.7 million gross tons.