Two luxury cruise lines will order new ships before 2015 if the industry grapevine is to be believed. New tonnage is already on the books for Seabourn, Ponant and Regent – and the other luxury lines look set to respond.

First up, Crystal Cruises’ President Edie Rodriguez has not made it a secret she intends to order a newbuild for Crystal before the year is out.

Crystal’s Symphony was built at what is now STX-Meyer in Finland, while the Serenity was built at Chantiers de l’Atlantique – which is now STX France. The latter of the two yards recently launched the ultra-luxury Europa 2.

Crystal’s parent company, NYK, operates the ex-Crystal Harmony, which was built in 1990 at Mitsubishi. The Japanese yard has recently gotten back into the cruise business and is building a pair of megaships for AIDA Cruises. However, Mitsubishi has said it intends to bow out of the cruise-ship building business due to profitability issues. Are previous talks between NYK and Mitsubishi still ongoing for a Crystal ship?

Silversea may be close to an order as well, as rumors from Italian sources point to the company adding a 40,000-ton newbuild to its arsenal with a projected 2017 delivery date.