The Excellence class — Carnival Corporation's Helios platform — is the group's shared LNG-powered big-ship design, built by Meyer Werft at Papenburg and Meyer Turku in Finland and delivered between 2018 and 2022. At 183,858 to 186,364 GT, these were among the largest cruise ships afloat on debut, and the first in the fleet designed to run primarily on liquefied natural gas, cutting the class's environmental footprint while supporting a common hull, machinery and hotel platform across brands. Five ships appear in this phase: AIDAnova for AIDA Cruises, Costa Smeralda and Costa Toscana for Costa Cruises, and Iona and Arvia for P&O Cruises — one engineering base, restyled for three quite different national markets.
