New cruise ships on the horizon

The boom in cruise ship building may have peaked in the ‘noughties, but new vessels are still being built and two of them will make their debuts in the UK next summer.
The 4,000-passenger Norwegian Breakaway will set out from Southampton at the end of April on its maiden voyage, a Transatlantic crossing to set up home in New York. A few weeks later, the 3,600-passenger Royal Princess will be christened in Southampton. The name of the godmother has yet to be revealed, but it would be no surprise if the cruise line were hoping to persuade a real princess, or perhaps a duchess, to do the honours.
Each of those ships will be followed a year later by a sister vessel – Norwegian Getaway and Regal Princess. It will be 2015 before P&O gets a new ship, five years since the launch of Azura.
There are no new ships on the drawing board for Cunard, and if companies such as Thomson Cruises and Fred Olsen are to acquire additional tonnage – unlikely in these straitened times – it will be from the second-hand ship lot.
Carnival Sunshine will be a new name sailing from Dover next year but the ship is the 3,000-passenger Carnival Destiny which is about to receive a $155 million (£100 million) makeover to bring it up to date and add the latest Fun Ship features.
In the 10 years up to 2012, new ships seemed to be arriving almost every month, and they were getting bigger every time. There are only 19 on the horizon between now and 2016 and none matches the gigantic size of the 6,000-passenger Oasis and Allure of the Seas.
Two new Project Sunshine ships which Royal Caribbean has on the drawing board are being planned in great secrecy, but they are not expected to carry more than 4,000 passengers.