Today Shipbuilder STX Europe announced the signing of a letter of intent with the fast-growing European lines for the building of a new, 140,000-ton cruise ship to debut in 2012.

The new entertainment cruise ship, to be built in St. Nazaire, France will be a somewhat-larger sister to the MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida.

STX says the new cruise ship will have 1,751 cabins --boasting 100 more than the two earlier cruise ships in the class. The new entertainment cruise liner will accommodate 3,502 passengers at double occupancy. Princess' sister line, Carnival, recently announced plans for a new cruise ship to arrive in 2012. The flourish of agreements breaks an industry's long spell for new orders that dwindled for over a year as the economy plummeted . STX Europe noted in a statement that final confirmation of the MSC Cruises order is still subject to finalization of financing arrangements and board approval. The cost of the new cruise ship has yet to be disclosed.