Vista Spirit hybrid-class cruise ship explained
The
Vista Spirit hybrid-class cruise ship is the culmination of two
cruise ship designs. Carnival Corporation had two competing and very similar ship designs, the and . The Italian shipbuilder
Fincantieri constructed Vista-class ships for
Holland America and P&O Cruises and the Finnish STX shipbuilder built
Spirit-class vessels for the Carnival and Costa brands. Both designs incorporated
Azipods, and were
Panamax ships around .
Background
The visual differences between the ships include:
- Vista-class ships had an external observation lift mid-ship on both sides of the ship, a wider forward and aft deck-width and a tiered forward section on the passenger cabin decks. Vista-class vessels also tend to have an additional upper deck just forward of the funnel.
- Spirit-class ships have an alternate wide-narrow-wide-narrow-wide deck width along their length and a flat forward section leading to the bow of the ship with small windows
Hybrid design
The hybrid design was first launched as Queen Victoria in 2007.
The hull, bow, and stern of the Vista Spirit hybrid class are identical; except for Queen Victoria which differs in some details. A 2017 refit for the Queen Victoria fitted additional cabins her stern which makes her more similar in appearance to Queen Elizabeth.
Ships in class
Bermuda