2022 will be another year of recovery for the cruise sector, if the coronavirus and armed conflicts allow it, and it will do so with a major modernization of the fleet, since 22 ships were scrapped during the pandemic.
Article from CruisesNews magazine no. 60 – March 2022
There are ships delivered in 2021 that will actually be launched in 2022, such as the Costa Toscana or the Silver Dawn.
AIDACOSMA
On February 25, the AIDAcosma, sister ship to the AIDAnova and "sibling" to the other ships in Carnival Corporation's Excellence class (Costa Smeralda and Toscana, Carnival Mardi Gras and Celebration, P&O Iona and Arvia), arrived in Hamburg. Powered by Liquefied Natural Gas, this 183,800-ton vessel, with a capacity for 5,250 passengers, will spend March cruising in Northern Europe before moving to the Mediterranean. From April 23 to October 15, 2022, the AIDAcosma will offer cruises from Palma and Barcelona. In the fall, it sets sail for its sunny winter home in Dubai.
The Costa Toscana
begins sailing the seas in early March. A sister ship to the Costa Smeralda, this 185,000-ton vessel is powered by liquefied natural gas and its interior design was coordinated by the prestigious Tihany Design studio. The cruise line has opted to base its inaugural season in Valencia, before it crosses the ocean to sail in Brazilian waters next winter.
WONDER OF THE SEAS
The world's largest new cruise ship, with a gross tonnage of 236,857 and a capacity for 5,734 passengers in double occupancy, will debut in early March in Fort Lauderdale with Caribbean cruises. In May, it will return to Europe, where it was built to spend the summer sailing from Barcelona. It will be the fifth ship in the Oasis class and will feature several new amenities, including a new "neighborhood" for suite passengers, following the industry trend of providing these guests with exclusive spaces.
DISCOVERY PRINCESS
Also in March, the Discovery Princess, the sixth and final ship in the Royal class, will begin commercial cruises. It has a gross tonnage of 145,000 and a capacity for 3,660 passengers. It was delivered by Fincantieri on January 28th, but its first cruise, departing from Los Angeles, is not scheduled until March 27th.
SILVER DAWN
The Silver Dawn, the third ship in the Muse series, is a sister ship to the Silver Muse, built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Sestri Ponente (Genoa) in April 2017, and the Silver Moon, which was delivered in Ancona in October 2020. With a capacity for only 596 guests in its 40,700 gross registered tons, it will make its first commercial cruise on April 1 from Lisbon.
SH VEGA
Swan Hellenic will receive its second ship in mid-April. A sister ship to the SH Minerva, it is a 10,500-ton vessel for just 152 passengers served by a crew of 120. Designed for luxury cultural expedition cruises, its inaugural season's itineraries focus on the Arctic: Iceland, Svalbard, Greenland, and as far south as Nova Scotia, Canada, before heading south in the fall, sailing the entire American east coast to Antarctica.
The
third ship in the Edge class, the Celebrity Beyond, weighing 140,600 tons and accommodating 3,260 passengers in double occupancy, will feature substantial design innovations, such as a redesigned Grand Plaza, a Moroccan-style outdoor club at the stern, and transparent pools on the deck. It will debut on April 27 with a Southampton-Barcelona cruise, but will spend the summer in the Mediterranean alternating cruises from Barcelona and Civitavecchia.
RESILIENT LADY
Never before has a cruise ship's name so perfectly reflected its circumstances. It's the third ship in the Virgin Voyages fleet, a cruise line that had its maiden voyage planned just as the great lockdowns of the pandemic hit the West, and which has since been able to operate very few commercial cruises. And not only that, but it has also built a new terminal in Miami, recently inaugurated. All three ships are 110,000 tons and have a capacity for 2,860 passengers in double occupancy. The Scarlet Lady, the first of the three, is already operating cruises from Miami; the Valiant Lady is scheduled to begin operating in mid-March from Portsmouth before moving to Barcelona in May; and the Resilient Lady will begin a mini-season in the Greek Islands in mid-August, embarking in Athens, before settling in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in November.
the Norwegian Prima
, in mid-August. After a brief season of three cruises in Northern Europe and the Norwegian Fjords, it will cross the Atlantic in September, offering cruises from New York, Galveston, Miami, and Port Canaveral. The Norwegian Prima represents a radical design shift for Norwegian Cruise Line ships. Built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, the Norwegian Prima will be the first in a series of six ships, each with a gross tonnage of 142,500 and a capacity for 3,215 passengers in double occupancy. Its exterior design is similar to MSC Cruises' Seaside class, but the differences are notable. The NCL ship features a large go-kart track on deck, infinity pools along the side promenades, and a straight bow.
DISNEY WISH
After a decade without launching a new ship, Disney Cruise Line will finally receive the Disney Wish in July, six weeks later than the initial launch date in early June. This 144,000-ton ship, with a capacity for 2,500 passengers in double occupancy, will be based at Port Canaveral year-round, offering 3- and 4-night cruises.
CARNIVAL CELEBRATION
A sister ship to the Mardi Gras and therefore a member of Carnival Corporation's Excellence class, this 181,000-ton vessel will also be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas and will set sail for Miami from Southampton on November 6. Its signature attraction, like the Mardi Gras, will be the Bolt roller coaster on deck.
The ARVIA,
another Excellence-class ship from Carnival Corporation, this one for the British brand P&O Cruises, weighs 184,700 tons and has a capacity for 5,200 passengers. It will debut in December with a couple of cruises to the Canary Islands and a stop in Cádiz before heading to the Caribbean. It will return to Southampton in 2023 for 14-day Mediterranean cruises that will include numerous stops at ports on the Iberian Peninsula.
MSC World Europa:
MSC Cruises takes another step in the race to have the world's largest ships with the MSC World Europa. Although its 205,000 tons are still somewhat short of the 236,857 tons of the Cruises of the Seas, the MSC World Europa will also have its stern divided into two sections, leaving the central space for a semi-outdoor park that will house the longest waterslide at sea. Built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the MSC Cruises design differs significantly from that of Royal Caribbean, featuring an indoor pool, a straight bow, and, most notably, the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel. It will be launched in December and initially based in the United Arab Emirates, but in April 2023 it will return to the Mediterranean and offer cruises embarking in Barcelona.
MSC SEASCAPE
And with a few days' difference, MSC Cruises will also receive the MSC Seascape, the second Seaside-EVO class unit, that is, a twin of the MSC Seashore, with 170,400 gross registered tons for 4,540 passengers in double occupancy destined for the North American market, as it will be positioned in Miami from its inauguration until at least April 2023.
OTHER SHIPS LAUNCHING IN 2022
The Emerald Azzurra, Emerald Cruises' first luxury megayacht, built in Vietnam, is already sailing in the Red Sea, where it is undertaking a series of cruises before repositioning to the Mediterranean. Seabourn has delayed the debut of the Seabourn Venture to July 15, while Viking Cruises, which is hard to keep up with, launched its first expedition ship, the Viking Octanis, last month. This will be followed by the Viking Mars and the Viking Neptune, the seventh and eighth ships in the Star series respectively, as well as the Viking Polaris in August, its second expedition ship. In the fourth quarter, Swan Hellenic will receive its third ship, slightly larger than the previous two.
