SEATTLE, Feb. 18 -- Holland America Line, a unit of Carnival
Corporation (NYSE: CCL), today announced that it has reached an agreement with
Italy's Fincantieri shipyard for the construction of a new sister ship to its
recently delivered Rotterdam.

The estimated cost of the new 1,380-passenger, 61,000-gross-ton cruise ship
is $300 million. Delivery is scheduled for the fall of 2000.

The addition of this new luxury cruise vessel will bring Holland America
Line's fleet to 11 ships, with a total capacity of 14,560 berths.

A. Kirk Lanterman, chairman and chief executive officer of Holland America
Line, said: "Our now flagship, Rotterdam, has enjoyed enormous demand since
her introduction last November. All of her cruises, including the Grand World
Voyage, have sailed at or near capacity, and we expect her popularity to
continue. Based on the success of Rotterdam, we decided to proceed with
ordering a second Rotterdam-class ship, which will offer new and exciting
worldwide itineraries to our loyal guests."

Micky Arison, chairman of Carnival Corporation, pointed out that this new
ship does not represent the new generation of ship that the company has been
referencing in recent months. "This ship will be a modified sister to the new
ms Rotterdam with some new innovations," he explained. "We are continuing to
work out the details for a new generation of cruise ship for Holland America
Line, which we hope to announce in the near future."

Corrado Antonini, chairman of Fincantieri, said: "This new agreement
continues a long and successful relationship between Fincantieri and Holland
America Line. The five cruise liners built by Fincantieri have been widely
praised and are highly regarded as the most beautiful ships in the world
today."

According to Arison, Carnival Corporation is also very pleased with its
relationship with Fincantieri, which has already delivered six vessels for the
company at a cost of approximately $1.65 billion. "We have all the
confidence, in the world in Fincantieri's ability to design, manage and
deliver some of the most beautiful and technologically advanced passenger
vessels in the world and that is why they have $1.75 billion of new ships on
order from us," Arison said. Holland America already has two other vessels
under construction at Fincantieri, the Volendam and Zaandam, expected for
delivery in May and November of 1999, while Carnival Cruise Lines has the
100,000-gross-registered-ton Carnival Triumph and Carnival Victory under
construction. They are scheduled for delivery in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

The new ship will have the same length and beam as the Rotterdam, but will
have a slightly larger gross tonnage -- approximately 61,000 gross tons, as
opposed to the Rotterdam's 59,652 gross tons -- due to an increase in the
number of staterooms. Passenger capacity of the new ship will be 1,380, while
the Rotterdam's is 1,316.

The new ship's all-suite deck will be extended and it will have two
penthouse suites and 50 suites, all with large verandahs. "The new ship also
will feature 120 deluxe mini-suites with verandahs, 385 large outside
staterooms and 133 large inside staterooms, for a total of 690 staterooms.

Holland America Line operates its award-winning, five-star fleet of eight
luxury cruise ships to 253 destinations worldwide, including Alaska, the
Caribbean, Panama Canal, Hawaii, Eastern Canada and New England, Europe, South
Pacific, South America and its Grand World Voyage.

Holland America Line-Westours Inc. is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation,
the most successful cruise company in the world.