A testament to the popularity of cruise vacations, a bunch of new cruise ships are on the horizon and coming out in 2011, 2012 and beyond.

The recent worldwide recession has caused cruise lines to redeploy ships to more profitable waters with Royal Caribbean pulling out of the West coast US market altogether. But new ships on order, while slowed during recession's lowest point, have returned with several new orders made in just the last few months.

• Celebrity Cruises sails Celebrity Silhouette in the Fall of 2011 followed by another yet-named ship in the Spring of 2012
• Costa Cruise Line's new Costa Favlosa sets sail in the Summer of 2011 ahead of Costa Fascinosa in Spring 2012
• Disney Cruise Lines new Disney Dream sails in January 2011, followed by Disney Fantasy in 2012, more than doubling the size of the Disney fleet
• MSC Cruises continues to grow with MSC Fantastica in May 2012
• Norwegian Cruise Lines, still high off the debut of Norwegian Epic last July has ordered two more ships to debut Spring 2013 and 2014
• Princess Cruises also has two new unnamed ships on order, one for 2013 and one for 2014
• Seaboun Cruises who just added Seabourn Sojourn this year, will add Seabourn Quest in May 2011

As the cruise industry continues to grow and mature, look for more new-builds and the refurbishment of older ships to add new-ship features during scheduled dry-dock maintenance.

Filed under: Cruises