Today, at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard, there was the launch of the “Carnival Magic”, the new flagship of Carnival Cruise Lines, a brand in Carnival Group, the world’s leading cruise operator. Delivery is due in Spring 2011.

The launch was marked by the customary “coin ceremony” a tradition to bring a ship good luck in which a silver dollar is place on the ship’s last deck. Godmother to the ship was Laura Buttignon who has worked for the shipyard for thirty five years.

Weighing in at 130,000 gross tonnes, for a length of 306 metres with a beam of 37 the “Carnival Magic” is the sister ship of “Carnival Dream” which Monfalcone shipyard delivered a year ago. This means that in building the  “Carnival Magic” Fincantieri will once again build the largest passenger ship in the history of  Italian shipbuilding. Compared to her sister the “Carnival Dream” will have a larger number of cabins – 1,845 – plus 746 for the crew for a total maximum capacity of almost  6,000. 

Over the next few months the  “Carnival Magic” will be fitted out to the highest standards of  comfort and prepared so as to offer her passengers a wide range of entertainment such as bars, restaurants, theatres, shops and wellness centres.

Since 1990 Fincantieri has biuilt 55 cruise ships and a further 10 ships are under construction or scheduled to be built at Fincantieri shipyards.