Carnival Corporation will wave goodbye to a total of 18 ships, a decision made to cut costs as they report a loss of $3.9 billion this quarter alone.

The world’s largest cruise company, which owns Princess, P&O Australia, Carnival, Cunard and Holland America, added ten more vessels to the eight it had already announced as leaving the fleet.

While the names of the additional ships have not yet been disclosed, Carnival Corp said in their preliminary third-quarter report that they would be the “less efficient” vessels on the chopping block.

In an effort to optimise their fleet, farewells will be said a little earlier to ships that “were previously expected to be sold over the ensuing years,” the report says.

The 18 ships make up roughly 12 per cent of the fleets pre-COVID number.

Carnival Corp owns nine cruise lines.

At this point, P&O maintains the newly refurbished Pacific Adventure and newest addition to P&O Australia’s fleet, is expected to complete her maiden voyage out of Sydney on December 18.

That would be one day after the current government ban on foreign cruise ships ends.

At the moment she is anchored off the shores of Singapore alongside the Ruby Princess, Carnival Splendour, Diamond Princess and others.

Carnival Cruise Line currently has all cruises cancelled until January 7 when the Carnival Splendor is due to return to Sydney. The Carnival Spirit will not sail out of Brisbane before June 2021.

Fans of older cruise ships may need to prepare themselves for heartbreak or open their wallets as the ships come up for sale.

Old hand Carnival Holiday will be up for sale in the UK in October and anyone can make a bid. Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Fascination, Carnival Imagination, Carnival Inspiration and Costa Victoria were all sold for scrap in July.

Carnival Imagination, Carnival Fantasy, and Carnival Inspiration have been spotted at a scrapyard in Aliaga Turkey, looking more like a sunny day at sea than a sad ending.

Holland America Line and P&O Cruises announced in July that Amsterdam, Maasdam, Rotterdam, Veendam and Oceana would be leaving their fleets and transferring to undisclosed buyers.