by Jason Leppert
Last updated: 2:30 PM ET, Tue September 13, 2016
Carnival Cruise Line's latest Carnival Vista is a hit, and already the company has begun construction on its new sister ship - the recently named Carnival Horizon.
The line has released a fun video, hosted at my Popular Cruising YouTube channel and embedded below, previewing what was simply known as Vista II when unveiled. In the video, the initial Fincantieri building plaque lists the 133,500-ton ship as hull number H. 6243 at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard in Italy near Naples, where the forward bow ship section was launched into the water on May 18, 2016.
[READMORE]RELATED VIDEO: WATCH: Preview New Carnival Vista as a Floating City[/READMORE]
Peter Gonzalez, who hosted the great series of Carnival Vista construction videos, is back to kick off a behind-the-scenes look at the Carnival Horizon, saying that the more traditional float-out used for the keel section is, "a very rarely used technique for Carnival ships." When asked why it was used this time around, Jennifer De La Cruz, Vice President Corporate Communications at Carnival Cruise Line, indicated, "that Fincantieri shipyard is a smaller one that doesn't have a dock facility that would have allowed for the typical more modern approach."
More often than not, large sections like the one seen in the video are assembled in a building basin where they are first welded together. Then when the superstructure is complete, the basin is flooded to float the entire ship for the first time. Fincantieri has several shipyard locations, however, and as the manufacturing company is currently swamped with new-build orders from several cruise lines, is likely having to strategically employ all of its facilities to accommodate each and deliver them on time.
[READMORE]RELATED VIDEO: WATCH: A Unique Video Tour of the New Carnival Vista[/READMORE]
In fact, the Castellammare di Stabia yard is on the west coast of Italy, and the current construction of the Carnival Horizon is located at the Marghera shipyard on the northeastern coast, closer to Venice and a staggering distance away. It's not the first time that Fincantieri has had to be creative to assemble a ship. When Disney Cruise Line ordered its first vessel, the Disney Magic, two complete halves of the ship were built at separate yards 100 miles apart. The bow section was constructed at Ancona and was then towed to Marghera to join the stern section.
Now, the Carnival Horizon is under construction with a scheduled launch date in March 2018, less than two years after the Carnival Vista set sail in May of this year. With almost four months having lapsed since its initial hull launch, the Horizon is much closer to completion, and we'll keep you updated as its progress continues.
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