Carnival Corporation president and CEO Arnold Donald revealed the decision while delivering third quarter results.
Donald said: "In keeping with our company's strategy of measured capacity growth, this will be our only new build in 2017.
"And we also have plans underway to sell the smaller Ocean Princess."
It is not known at this stage who the ship will be sold to.
Princess Cruises will be launching a sister ship to the Royal and Regal Princess in 2017.
Ocean Princess has been operating with Princess Cruises for 14 years, previously named Tahitian Princess. It was built in 1999, by the now defunct Renaissance Cruises, which had a fleet of 8 identical ships. Multiple cruise lines including; Azamara Club Cruises, P&O and Oceania Cruises all have identical ships to the Ocean Princess.
Azamara Club Cruises revealed they need extra capacity to fill demand, so it would seem possible for the cruise line to purchase Ocean Princess, the identical sister to their current fleet of 2, Azamara Journey and Quest, instead of an expensive new build.