For years, Royal Caribbean executives have been asked the same question at nearly every public event, and they always give the same careful non-answer.

They never told loyal customers they would not do what was being asked, but they also never said they would.

When the company launched its newest Oasis Class ship, Utopia of the Seas, it broke with past protocol. Traditionally, new ships sail seven-day itineraries and are generally filled with the cruise line’s existing passengers who want to sample the latest hardware.

With Utopia, Royal Caribbean opted for shorter sailings, targeting new cruisers rather than its existing customer base.

“It’s only a few days. It’s less investment of time for new-to-cruise. And we found that when you get the product right, you can stimulate a large amount of demand,” he said during his company’s second-quarter 2024 earnings call.

That decision angered many longtime Royal Caribbean passengers, who prefer a full-week sailing rather than short trips or back-to-back two-sailing itineraries.

Royal Caribbean’s latest move, however, responds to something its existing passengers have been asking about for years. The company is building smaller ships to replace the oldest vessels in its fleet.

Royal Caribbean finally orders the Discovery class

I have been on the last four Royal Caribbean inaugural sailings. They hold a press conference for media, as well as a public event where non-media can ask questions of Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty and Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley.

One of the most frequently asked questions is “When will you build new, smaller ships?”

Royal Caribbean Radiance and Vision Classes accommodate between 2,400 and 2,700 passengers, while its Oasis and Icon Class ships can hold between 6,700 and 7,600 passengers. The older, smaller ships have fewer than 1,000 crew members, while the two newest, largest classes have more than 2,000, according to data from Cruiseline.

The company launched its four oldest Vision Class ships, with a maximum 2,730-guest capacity, between 1996 and 1998. That’s nearing the end of life for that class, something Bayley has repeatedly hinted at during media events, without confirming the new class.

The “Discovery Class” name was even openly used in public, but the cruise line did not confirm plans to build it until its most recent earnings call.

Large ships, like Wonder of the Seas, can only dock in certain ports.

Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com

Royal Caribbean shares Discovery class news

“We are also announcing the launch of the Royal Caribbean brand’s new Discovery Class ships that will redefine how Royal’s guests experience the world,” Liberty said during its fourth quarter earnings call.

Royal Caribbean’s agreement with the shipyard includes putting two Discovery Class ships on “firm order” with “options for four additional ships.”

Bayley answered a question about the new class during the call, but did not give that much detail.

“I’ll talk a little bit about Discovery. Actually, I’m really not going to talk about Discovery. We’ve been working on Discovery for the last couple of years. And from the business perspective, we are really excited with the innovation, creativity and the kind of product that we’ve now created with Discovery. It really is going to be a game-changer,” he said.

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The brand’s CEO did make some bold promises.

“Just as Icon was introduced and kind of changed the game, Discovery is going to do exactly the same thing. We are really looking forward to sharing more details about Discovery with the marketplace, but we’re not planning on saying much about it today or in the next couple of months,” he added.

Two Discovery Class ships will be built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint Nazaire, France, with the first debuting in 2029 and the second in 2032.

Here’s why cruise passengers want smaller ships

As someone who has sailed on 47 Royal Caribbean sailings since 2019, I’ve only sailed on Vision or Radiance Class ships once, and that was because the trip was supposed to go to Cuba. When Cuba was canceled, I was left on a small, older ship with one specialty restaurant and only one music venue.

It was still a lot of fun, but the lack of options would have been an issue on a seven-day cruise, even if it was port-heavy.

New, smaller ships will theoretically offer more specialty restaurants, bars, pools, and entertainment options, while being small enough to dock in more exotic ports. Icon and Oasis Class ships generally operate in the Caribbean, where they call on ports such as Nassau, Cozumel, and Perfect Day at CocoCay, places many experienced cruisers have visited many times.

While Royal Caribbean has not commented on the actual size of Discovery Class ships, Bayley has said at multiple public events that they would be small enough to sail through the Panama Canal.

“To date, the largest vessel to sail through the Panama Canal was Norwegian Bliss. Based on that, it’s likely that Discovery Class ships won’t be larger than 168,000 gross registered tons (GRT) and 1,094 feet long,” according to Matt Hochberg of the Royal Caribbean Blog, which is not affiliated with the cruise line.

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