Norwegian Cruise Line will follow up its Prima-Plus class with its largest ship class to date. Fincantieri has received a firm order for the construction of four new Norwegian cruise ships each with a gross tonnage of approximately 226,000, which will make this new class of ships the largest ever built for the cruise line.

Norwegian Cruise Line had already announced it was planning to compete with Royal Caribbean in the big-ship game, but details on just how big its new Pinnacle class would be were revealed Wednesday. In a press release from Italian shipyard company Finacantieri,

An order by Norwegian Line Holdings with Italy's Fincantieri for four new cruise ships is worth around 9 billion euros ($9.34 billion), a source close to the matter said on Wednesday.

That makes each vessel slightly smaller than the world’s largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a gross tonnage of 250,800 – though the giant Royal Caribbean ship has a maximum passenger capacity of 7,600, or 5,610 based on double occupancy.

Italian shipmaker Fincantieri locked up its largest ever order for cruise liners, agreeing to build four new vessels for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. for about €9 billion ($9.4 billion).

Norwegian Line Holdings (NCL) and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri said on Wednesday they had agreed a deal for four new cruise liners, which a source close to the matter said was worth around 9 billion euros ($9.

Fincantieri said Wednesday that it has landed an order to built four massive cruise ships for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH). The State-controlled Italian shipbuilder defined it as a "very important" agreement,