Unconfirmed media reports coming out of Japan earlier this week had Mitsubishi Heavy Industries moving towards a two ship newbuild order for an unnamed customer. (click here to read)

Since then rumors have been heating up regarding a potential order for cruise ships out of the Japanese shipyard.

A source familiar with the matter told Cruise Industry News that negotiations between the yard and customer will still ongoing, and said that other yards in Asia were also being considered. Those yards could be Samsung Heavy Industries, which has already signed a letter of intent to build the Utopia residence ship, or, Daewoo, which is trying to break into the cruise market.

Shipyards would not comment to Cruise Industry News, and if the alleged negotiations are currently ongoing, it would be assumed the yards would not talk about potential deals.

Carnival Corporation has stated repeatedly that it plans to build two to three new ships a year, and has a history of building at Mitsubishi with the Diamond and Sapphire Princess ships. Currently Carnival has one new ship on the cruise ship orderbook for 2014, and another for 2015, at Fincantieri, both unnamed, for Princess Cruises.