For all of you, like me, who have been eagerly awaiting news from Celebrity about enlarging their fleet - Here it is! I just received this press release and thought it might be of interest:

CELEBRITY CRUISES ORDERS NEW CRUISE SHIP,
LAUNCHES INNOVATIVE NEW CLASS

MIAMI -- July 12, 2005 - Celebrity Cruises will build a new cruise ship and
launch a new class of landmark ships, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and
German shipbuilder Meyer Werft announced today after signing a letter of
intent. Celebrity also has an option for a second ship. The agreement is
subject to customary conditions being satisfactorily met.

Celebrity incorporates many features typically associated with luxury
cruising in its new ship. More than 90 percent of the ship's staterooms are
outside cabins, and more than 90 percent of those rooms have balconies.

The standard stateroom on this ship is much larger than the standard
stateroom in the cruise industry. The average standard stateroom on
Celebrity's new ship is 215 square feet.

Other distinctive features are planned for the new design and will be
announced in coming months. Their inclusion on the ship, like the added
balconies and larger staterooms, is the result of Celebrity's close dialogue
with its guests and trade partners.

The new ship, Celebrity's first wide-body construction, has a volume of
117,000 gross registered tons, and length and width of 1,033 feet by 121
feet, making it a post-Panamax vessel. The 1,425-stateroom ship
accommodates 2,850 guests (double occupancy) and 1,250 crew.

"Today's announcement clearly demonstrates the company's continuing
commitment to the growth and innovative development of the Celebrity brand,
"said Dan Hanrahan, president of Celebrity Cruises. "It also strengthens our
hand in delivering the incredible service and amenities and the phenomenal
cruise experience Celebrity is known for."

"We are excited to be collaborating with Celebrity on this new, breakthrough
design and its market-leading innovations," said Meyer Werft Managing
Partner Bernard Meyer. "It has taken us many months to develop a strong,
working prototype and this next-generation of ships is truly extraordinary."

The company expects delivery of the new ship in Fall 2008. It estimates
the all-in cost of the ship to be approximately $225,000 per berth. The
exercise date for the second ship is March 15, 2006, subject to certain
conditions.

With today's new ship and current ship orders, the company predicts fleet
capacity to increase by 2.8 percent in 2006, 7.4 percent in 2007, and 7.2
percent in 2008.

Celebrity Cruises is owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., a global cruise
vacation company, which also operates Royal Caribbean International. The
company has a combined total of 29 ships in service, two under construction
and one on firm order. The company also offers unique land-tour vacations
in Alaska, Canada and Europe through its cruise-tour division. Additional
information can be found on http://www.celebrity.com, http://www.royalcaribbean.com or
http://www.rclinvestor,com.

That is excellent news!

Tom

My only concern is whether they can maintain their standards with such a big ship that also seems to have a lower space ratio than the M class ships. We have enjoyed Horizon and Galaxy and are looking forward to trying Summit next so we will just have to wait and see I guess. It is a pity though that they seem not to be replacing the Horzon with a similar sized up-scale ship as the new biggies will probably not fit Tampa Bay.

Without question, at 117,000 tons it will be the largest ship in the premium market, but iwth a space ratio of only 41, it looks like Celebrity will redefine the premium market, not by space, but by amenities? It should be interesting to see how this ship fits.

Tom

What itinerary is this ship going to sail? They have left a big void in the Carribean, so maybe it will sail out of Florida.This fall and next winter the only 7 day cruise they have is the Millenium and it is very expensive. Tom

Thomas,
At this point I do not think Itinerary has been decided (or at least they are not releasing that information). It certainly would be nice if they were to add at least one more ship back into the Caribbean market, if not this one - than maybe some redployment of one of their other ships.
Nancy

Tom,

remember that this ship has not even been ordered, yet. Although I am very sure that this letter of intent will result in the signing of a firm contract, the NCL / Aker LOI some months ago was a good example that LOIs are sometimes not followed by firm orders.

By the way, Meyer Werft scored a firm newbuilding contract from AIDA Cruises today for a third 68,500 gt ship to be delivered in Spring, 2008. The future is certainly looking bright for this traditional German yard again, which had been suffering from a low number of orders two years ago only.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raoul Fiebig,