Adora Cruises Limited (formerly CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping) is a Chinese

cruise line A cruise line is a company (law), company that operates cruise ships that operate on Cruising (maritime), ocean or River cruise, rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from Passenger ship, passenger lines whic ...

that was scheduled to begin operation in 2020, but was delayed due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

History

Adora Cruises was founded as CSSC Carnival in October 2015 as a joint venture, worth about $4 billion over ten years, between United Kingdom and United States'

Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is a British and American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over ninety vessels across eight cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of the Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carnival ...

, Chinese

sovereign wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as ...

China Investment Corporation China Investment Corporation (CIC) is a sovereign wealth fund that manages part of China's foreign exchange reserves. China's largest sovereign fund, CIC was established in 2007 with about US$200 billion of assets under management. In Mar ...

, and Chinese shipbuilder

China State Shipbuilding Corporation The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is a state-owned shipbuilding conglomerate of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Background CSSC is one of the top 10 defence groups in the PRC. It consists of various shipyards, equip ...

(CSSC). CSSC Carnival was headquartered in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and majority owned by the Chinese shareholders, which collectively owned 60% of the company, with Carnival holding the remainder. In September 2016, the company announced plans to order two new ships, with options for two more, with deliveries planned to begin in 2022. In February 2017, two more options were added to the order, and it was announced that the vessels would be built at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Company through a joint venture between CSSC, owner of the shipyard, and Italian shipbuilder

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

, with the first ship to be delivered in 2023. In November 2018, the contract for the first two Chinese-built ships was formally signed at a cost of about $1.5 billion, and CSSC Carnival announced that it planned to purchase two ships already in service, to enter its fleet beginning in late 2019. In June 2023, CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping was renamed to Adora Cruises after Carnival Corporation decided to withdraw from the Chinese market and become only a minority stakeholder in the company.

Fleet

Adora Cruises will begin operations with two ships purchased from

Costa Cruises Società per Azioni, S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1948 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to ...

, ''

Costa Atlantica ''Margaritaville at Sea Islander'' is a previously owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. She was built in 2000 by the Kvaerner Masa-Yards Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland as ''Costa Atlantica'' for Costa Cruises. ''Costa Atlantica'' wa ...

'' in 2020 and ''

Costa Mediterranea ''Adora Mediterranea'' is a operated by Adora Cruises in the Chinese market. She was built in 2003 in Finland as ''Costa Mediterranea'' for Carnival Corporation & plc's Costa Cruises brand, and began operating with Adora Cruises in 2023 as ''Me ...

'' in 2021. The first Chinese-built vessel, to be constructed off of the ''Vista''-class design, is expected to be delivered in 2023, with the sister ship following in 2024. If all four options are exercised, a new ship will be delivered annually through 2028. As of October 2023, ''Mediterranea'' has entered service for the brand, which will be followed with ''Adora Magic City'' in January 2024. ''Costa Atlantica'' however was resold in October 2023 and will not enter service with the brand.

Current ships

Future ships

Former ships

References

External links

Adora Cruises official website
(in Chinese) {{Members of the Carnival Corporation China Investment Corporation Shipping companies of Hong Kong Cruise lines